(Motorsport) Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen showed exactly why he’s leading the championship table after leading the final practice sessions from start to finish at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, recording a 1:14.127, almost a tenth ahead of second place Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver will incur a 10 place grid penalty in Sunday’s race due to the installation of new engine parts while his teammate Carlos Sainz was more than a tenth behind in third place. As for Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, the Mexican had a disappointing practice session and was more than a second behind in 11th place and will look to improve before qualifying begins.

Seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton had a torrid time, describing his Mercedes as “undriveable”, finishing 13th on the grid while his teammate George Russell was 7th. Former World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso took advantage of Mercedes’ poor performance with Aston Martin in 4th place while the Alpine finished 5th. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was 6th and McLaren’s Lando Norris was 8th. Valtteri Bottas had a disappointing session as the Finnish racing driver had an electronic fault in his Alfa Romeo and struggled to set a lap time. 

As things stand, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has a 10 place grid penalty but the team may opt to replace more parts which would mean that the Monegasque driver might be relegated to the back of the grid. The F1-75 has suffered reliability issues lately and the Italian manufacturer may opt for wholesale changes this weekend in order to ensure better results going forward at the expense of one race. For a team that looked like potential title challengers at the beginning of the season, the results have been extremely disappointing for Ferrari lately and they would need to turn things around quickly in order to keep their hopes alive for that elusive Championship title.

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