Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Montreal

Image source, Reuters

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took pole position in a wet qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix with Alpine's Fernando Alonso a surprise second.

Verstappen was in control throughout the session as the track started wet and progressively dried and ended up 0.645 seconds clear of the field.

Alonso took his first front-row grid slot since he was on pole for the 2012 German Grand Prix in a Ferrari.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was third, ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

Who had Fernando Alonso on the front row on their Canadian Grand Prix bingo card?

Conditions should be dry for tomorrow's race, so back to normal tyres and straightforward strategy. Maybe.

We'll be back at 17:30 BST on Sunday to build up to what should be, we hope, a cracking event for Canada's return to the F1 calendar.

I'll leave you with Andrew Benson's qualifying report.

Enjoy the rest of you Saturday night and see you tomorrow!

El Plan x10.

"High risk, high reward," George Russell tells Sky Sports. Unfortunately, Turn One wasn't quite ready for the slicks experimentation.

Sergio Perez holds his hands up and apologises to his Red Bull crew. "I did a mistake, I'm very sorry to my team," he tells Sky Sports. "I let them down today. Hopefully I'm able to recover."

The Mexican adds before his red flag incident, he locked up on the previous lap at Turn 10, flat-spotted his tyres, which meant he was "probably a bit out of shape."

No potty mouth words or smashed doors for Haas team principal Guenther Steiner. Here's what he had to say to Sky Sports following Mick Schumacher's and Kevin Magnussen's performances in Q3:

"The whole team did a great job, stayed calm. In rain, in these conditions, we know we are not bad, so we just got it home with both cars this time.

"It seems like when it's cold, we can get the tyres to work. In FP3 we couldn't get the intermediates to work but we made some changes and it seem like it worked. Pretty happy for the whole team.

"First of all, we need to finish because we didn't do that in the last race -well, at least with one car didn't - so we need to get to the finish and we just need to try and keep the positions.

"Or even better, if something happens in front of us! But first of all if we can hold these positions, I will be more than happy at this moment tomorrow."

Mick Schumacher has been speaking to Sky Sports and here's what the Haas driver, who qualified a career best P6, had to say: "The car was feeling great, especially in these rainy conditions

"I found grip everywhere I put the car - which is obviously what I wanted. Unfortunately on those last set of tyres, that wasn't the case. Up to then, I was very, very happy and it's something I can build on.

On the wet conditions: "I always love to go racing in the wet conditions and going quick and trying to find a limit. Especially in a qualifying like this and a track like this, there's big potential for drivers to show what they can do, and I felt like I was able to do that today.

"It will be tough, for sure. But we will try our best."

Sainz's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc will be looking on from the rear of the field at lights out tomorrow.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who will line up third: "Today I was feeling quite OK with the car, especially as the track was drying.

"I think I was going purple one then in sector two, I knew I had lost a bit too much. And then in the last corner, I just tried to do a very quick last corner and that cost me half a second, just trying to go for it, for the pole.

"In the end, it was that mistake but the rest I think we're in a good position for tomorrow. It's going to be a good fight with with Max up front and let's see what we can do with Fernando because he's been very good all weekend,

"Let's see how it goes."

Fernando Alonso, who will line up on the front row for Alpine: "It feels great. It was an unbelievable weekend so far for us, thanks to the wet conditions. The car was mega.

"I'm so comfortable with driving this car and I think also the fans pushed me to make an extra push.

On his race strategy tomorrow, the Spaniard quipped: "I think I will attack Max on the first corner."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who will start on pole position: "Still expect it not to be a straightforward race today, with the tricky conditions today.

"We stayed calm, we made no mistakes, so of course super happy with that, with pole position here - and also to be back here in Montreal. It's great to see all the fans.

"You really get that go-karting sensation with proper kerbs around here. We always enjoy driving here and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Right, shall we hear from our top three drivers?

"Ha hey!! Good job guys! Well done! Good car to drive!"

What a great qualifying showing from Mick Schumacher. He's had a couple of heavy crashes this season, but hopefully some points are on their way to the German driver and the Haas team tomorrow.

Full times for you to have a glance over.

"I think I will attack Max on the first corner," jokes Fernando Alonso.

1. Max Verstappen

2. Fernando Alonso

4. Carlos Sainz

4. Lewis Hamilton

5. Kevin Magnussen

6. Mick Schumacher

7. Esteban Ocon

8. George Russell

9 Daniel Ricciardo

10. Guanyu Zhou

The crowd are going wild for Fernando Alonso.