Max Verstappen set the pace in a soaked final practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Having strung together a subdued outing yesterday, the reigning World Champion restored parity by returning to the top of the timing tower for the first time this weekend.
The drivers who initially ventured out onto the track did so fitted with Wet tyres, though a switch to the Intermediate compound swiftly became the way to go within minutes.
Whilst the order continuously changed, Verstappen’s best effort of 1:24.664s was enough for him to edge out the lead Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by two-tenths.
The top two in the standings from last season were a cut above the rest, with Leclerc over a second clear of Fernando Alonso in third for Aston Martin.
Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate, Carlos Sainz, had similarly appeared in competitive shape through the opening exchanges.
However, his progress ended midway through, with the Spaniard cementing that all three practice sessions would be disrupted by a red flag period at some stage.
Having set his fastest lap time, Sainz got on the painted line at Turn 1 and spun off into the barrier, ripping the front nosecone off and damaging the rear wing of his SF-23.
The Ferrari racer is also under investigation by the stewards for blocking Alex Albon’s Williams earlier in proceedings.
Kevin Magnussen wound up an encouraging fourth for Haas, ahead of Sainz, Pierre Gasly and home participant Lance Stroll in the second of the Aston Martin cars.
Despite being fortunate to escape from a spin out of Turn 4 at the start, Tsunoda finished up in eighth, eight places above AlphaTauri partner Nyck de Vries.
Valtteri Bottas was buoyed by the pace shown by Alfa Romeo on Friday and the Finn, who bagged third here in a wet qualifying in his rookie year in 2013, was inside the top 10 once again.
Bottas’ ex-Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 10, 1.9s adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark run.
The seven-time World Champion’s improvement came right when heavier showers began to descend on the Montreal circuit, resulting in further improvements being ruled out in the dying embers.
Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix takes place later today at 16:00 local time.
