Alpine’s Fernando Alonso shines as the rain falls in Canada

Fernando Alonso was on top come the end of the final practice session in Canada as the rain and cold air rolled in.

In a prelude to the conditions expected for qualifying, Alonso put the intermediate tyres to perfect use, topping FP3 with a 1:33.8.

For much of the session it was a back-and-forth battle with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, the veterans showing that they still have that magic touch in the wet, though Pierre Gasly ultimately ended up splitting the pair with a combined six World Championships.

After a Friday filled with dry running, rain rolled in shortly after FP2 ended and a similar scene met the drivers ahead of FP3, plenty of drops still falling as the final hour of practice got underway.

The Haas’ and Alfa Romeo’s ventured out early to assess the conditions, cold and very wet in a nutshell, but with the threat of rain continuing into qualifying it may well be conditions that the drivers must get used to.

Charles Leclerc was the first of the traditional front runners to brave it, but the Ferrari man will start from the back in Canada after taking a complete new power unit.

A very tentative 1:39.1 from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen set the early pace, the Dane then taking a trip over the grass as Carlos Sainz struggled to keep his Ferrari on the track also.

Lance Stroll found himself in “limp home mode”, but it was a swift fix and he was back up to speed. Sebastian Vettel in the other Aston Martin meanwhile was struggling to get the AMR22 slowed down for Turn 1, improving to P1 once he got to grips with the left-hander.

There was little sign of the weather improving as the session reached halfway, though Sainz, who has taken a new Internal Combustion Engine, was making the gains needed to rise to P1, clocking a 1:35.8.

Fernando Alonso, who was looking very competitive on Friday, continued that trend despite the change of conditions, reducing the deficit to Sainz to two-tenths as he comfortably went P2.

25 minutes remained as Mercedes’ George Russell delivered his first timed lap, four seconds down on Sainz, while Max Verstappen also emerged from the garage, though struggling badly for traction in the RB18, he was soon back in the pits.

Russell was though finding some grip, elevating himself to P3 with half-a-second to find on Sainz, though there was soon a new pacesetter in the form of Vettel, a 1:35.8 from the four-time World Champion.

Alonso is trying his luck with the intermediate tyres

Always pushing is Fernando 💪