Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Montreal

Ferrari say they have changed part of the underfloor plank on Charles Leclerc's car because it was damaged on the way to the grid.

Max Verstappen starts on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, he told Sky Sports: "It was a good day but of course today is very different so we will see, there's very low grip, so throughout the race there will be a lot of rubber on the track which will also influence the tyres quite a bit, but we will see."

Alex Albon will start P10 in the Williams and told Sky Sports: "We knew this track would suit us more just naturally, a bit more straight line speed, but they are working well, it's hard to know, just by lap times we are up there."

On starting alongside the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, he added: "They are not really our race are they, we will see what we've got, I think these McLaren's are going to be the ones we're racing and the Haas up front so yeah obviously points are what we are going for."

Image source, Getty Images

Lovely rendition of 'O Canada'. The organisers crank the volume up by a few decibels and blast out 'We Will Rock You' by Queen out of the PA system.

Martin Brundle catches up with polesitter Max Verstappen on the grid. The Dutchman is obviously happy heading into the Canadian Grand Prix but he says "it would be nice" if Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin was in the mix come the chequered flag.

Jacques Villeneuve is here too. "Everybody is happy," he says, in regards to the tribute helmet saga and adds he just hopes Charles Leclerc has a good race wearing it.

National anthem time.

Jeremiah Kariuki: Verstappen will dash off into the lead and no one to come close to him. But Alonso will have to deal with the Silver Arrows. They may not beat him to turn 1 but with a good strategy, they will edge him out of the Podium.

Matthew Murnaghan: And to think we'd have a full weekend where it was wet. Strangely enough, I've had little to no rain where I am.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Montreal

Image source, Pirelli Motorsport

The strategy computers of the teams say this race is finely poised between a one-stop and a two-stop, with almost identical race times. The risk of a one-stop is that drivers are vulnerable to rivals coming up from behind on faster tyres on a two-stop on a track where overtaking is relatively easy.

The hard tyre is expected to be the favoured race tyre, as it is less likely to suffer from the graining experienced by teams on the medium in Friday practice. This is why so many teams have saved two sets of the hard tyre for the race - only Mercedes, Ferrari and Alpine have not done so.

Pit-stop time loss is in the region of 19 seconds, or 11 seconds under caution. Rain is possible.

I don't think Martin Brundle's grid walk is going to paved with celebrities but Gordon Ramsey and his daughter, Holly, are here in Montreal.

The mechanics are tinkering away underneath Charles Leclerc's Ferrari on the grid. "We damaged the plank on the kerb," says team principal Fred Vasseur to Brundle.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Alpine's Pierre Gasly was impeded by. the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in qualifying, resulting in the Spaniard's grid penalty. He told Sky Sports: "Obviously very disappointed for yesterday because we were quick all weekend and were not able to show it yesterday but confident we will come back and fight for points today."

On maximising the car's speed for the race, he added: "Different strategies and as I say we have made good small progress as a team over the last few weekends and there's good speed in the car and we will use it, try with the strategy and fight our way back to points."

Image source, Getty Images

Will Nico Hulkenberg ever get to experience what it's like to celebrate on an F1 podium?

The veteran German driver, who made his return to the grid this year with Haas after being dropped by Renault in 2019, has had his front-row spot taken away for the Canadian Grand Prix but Hulkenberg tweeted the pressure is something he is relishing.

"P2 but starting P5. Tough race ahead just how I like it!!" wrote the 35-year-old.

Hulkenberg starts in the top five but he will have to fend off the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in sixth and overtake George Russell's Mercedes to secure a fourth P4 finish of his career.

Richard Browne: Just remove RB / Verstappen from the rest of the season and it might be interesting.

Trevor Priestman: The Canadian GP is one of my favourites of the season. Shame it isn't set to rain, always makes for an exciting race here. Alonso to win after Verstappen ends up in the Wall of Champions. OK, it won't happen and Max will win, but you never know!

George Russell spoke to Sky Sports as he starts on the second row in P4. On whether Mercedes can overtake Alonso, he said: "I mean the goal is to be ahead of him at the end of the race obviously, we will take the opportunity if it's there at the start. I think looking at what the strategy was last year and that pre-race prediction, I think we've got a bit of a chance to put him in a bit of an awkward position, especially with Lewis and I being there together. It's going to be an exciting one.

"Max is out of the picture, that's just the reality. We can definitely split the strategy It's quite interesting as well we've got the two mediums and one hard, Fernando's got the two hards and only one medium, so that may favour him, it may favour us, it may not favour anyone if it's just an easy one stop. There's a lot of question marks to be answered but it will be a good race and I think we've got a chance to finish ahead no matter what the strategy throws at us."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Can Lewis Hamilton and George Russell claim another double podium finish for Mercedes?

The Spanish Grand Prix two weeks ago was the first time the Silver Arrows have celebrated both drivers in the top three since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the end of last season.

Hamilton and Russell have both moved up the pecking order in Canada and the seven-time world champion thinks the team-mates could be popping more champagne tonight.

"I definitely think a podium is on the cards [Sunday], yeah," said Hamilton.

"I hope that we can compete with Alonso. It will be interesting to see how our long run [performance] is, but it would be good to have a battle with him."

Russell, in P5, agrees that the Aston Martin driver is the one Mercedes have to beat.

He said: “It’s a good place to start, the race pace is good, we’ve only Fernando in front of us, who I think will be our challenger. Max is obviously going to be probably in a league of his own out there tomorrow – let’s bring it on.”

Pirelli has tweeted to say the projected fastest strategy in Montreal involves two sets of hards – but some drivers only have one set left for the race.

Image source, Pirelli Motorsport

Pushp Aggarwal: It ain't raining where it should.. Montreal F1.. And it is raining where it shouldn't .. Edgbaston Ashes.. Aarghh..

Andrew Priestley: Hulkenburg’s 3-place grid penalty is awful news for him and his Haas team, but it gives us a great spectacle at the start with Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton and Russell all lined-up and raring to go in positions 1-4.

Image source, Getty Images

If you had put money on Alex Albon topping a qualifying segment at some point during the season, then the bookies would've had to pay out after Q2 in Canada on Saturday.

The Williams driver took the gamble to start the second session on the dry-weather tyres, which paid off handsomely, as Albon ended up topping the timesheets ahead of the likes of Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

"There was a line and I was glad I had a clear visor on because it was honestly about 15-20cm, if you went either way you were on the wet side of the circuit and you would have definitely crashed," the 27-year-old said.

"But I really like those conditions. It feels like the more you're willing to risk, the more tyre temperature you have and then the more grip you have.

"It's a positive spiral. You just keep going quicker and quicker and that's what it felt like."

Albon will start the race in ninth place today, Williams' best grid position so far in the 2023 campaign.

Image source, BBC Sport

Charles Leclerc posed for photos with Gilles Villeneuve's widow Joann and daughter Melanie before qualifying in Montreal yesterday after an issue with him wearing a tribute helmet to the Canadian former Ferrari driver.

Villeneuve's son Jacques, the 1997 world champion, said it was a "shock" to see Leclerc with the helmet because the family had not been consulted.

Jacques has posted a statement on Instagram, external today to clear up the confusion.

The 52-year-old said his sister rang him "in a state of anger" as the family had no "prior knowledge or communication" that Leclerc intended to wear it.

Villeneuve added he conveyed the message to Leclerc, who was "kind enough" to call him and sincerely apologise in a "heartfelt conversation".

Stating he personally had no issue with it, Villeneuve said he stressed the importance to Leclerc of reaching out to his sister, Melanie, as she is the one who handles their father's image rights.

"Unfortunately, the incident was blown out of proportion, turning it into an unnecessary controversy..." Villeneuve ended his post with.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Montreal

Image source, Getty Images

Charles Leclerc was quite critical of Ferrari’s strategy operations after he was knocked out in second qualifying after a promising Friday. But after speaking to the team he did a bit of a U-turn. He accepted that, as team boss Fred Vasseur put it, “in the end, we had the same strategy as 95% of the cars on track”. Leclerc did not get his wish to come straight in for slick tyres after his out lap and pointed to the fact that slicks were the right call - with the evidence being strong in the form of Alex Albon’s upgraded Williams going fastest of all in Q2. But at the same time, he did not improve when he did go out with slicks. “You have one or two laps to put everything together,” Vasseur said, “and if you do a mistake on the lap, you are dead. Let’s say he was not at 100% of the potential.”

Leclerc’s disappointment was probably enhanced by the fact that he had told Vasseur after Friday practice that the car had felt better than it had all year - his race run was less than 0.1secs on average slower than Max Verstappen’s in the Red Bull. He and team-mate Carlos Sainz will be looking to move forward in what appears to be a strong car this weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

Seeing Charles Leclerc downcast after a qualifying session/Sunday grand prix has become a familiar sight in 2023 as the Monegasque driver and Ferrari continue to struggle this season.

"We can't afford those mistakes again," Leclerc said after his frustrating elimination.

"We are just making our life way too difficult in those situations. I had a clear opinion. We decided to do something else. I am frustrated.

"I will speak internally with the team and try to understand what we can do. It's obviously not the first time in those situations that we are on the wrong side."

Leclerc failed to improve his lap time once the switch to slicks had been made but said it was "not an ideal situation" and added it would've been "so much easier to go earlier."

The 25-year-old is seventh in the drivers' championship, 16 points behind his team-mate Carlos Sainz and has only one podium finish so far this season in Baku.

Image source, Getty Images

Sergio Perez said he needed to treat the Canadian Grand Prix as a chance to restart his season following disappointing results in Spain and Monaco.

Saturday qualifying didn't go to plan for the Red Bull driver and he was kicked out in Q2 - the third race weekend in a row he has failed to make it to the pole position shootout.

Perez struggled to get a lap in on the soft tyres and said he had no time to get the slick rubber up to temperature before the rain started again.

On his race chances today, the Mexican said: "Well, it’s going to be hard to overtake, but we will try everything – we will try everything to come through the field."

Perez was last on the podium at the Miami Grand Prix in May and has had to watch his team-mate Max Verstappen increase his title lead by 53 points.