Verstappen doubts Canadian GP will be ‘straightforward’ despite compromised rivals

In brief

Red Bull mastered difficult conditions to claim Canada pole – Verstappen

After claiming pole in Montreal Verstappen said he “still expects it not to be a straightforward race” today. He will start alongside Fernando Alonso with Carlos Sainz Jnr third, Perez 13th and Leclerc 19th.

Although he questioned on his radio why his team did not get him out on track later in Q3 to benefit more from the drying track, he praised the job Red Bull did managing the rain-affected session.

“Today, with the tricky conditions, we stayed calm, we didn’t make mistakes and we had the right calls in Q3. So of course I was super happy with that, to get pole position here and also to be back in Montreal, it’s good to see all the fans.”

Piastri “one of the list, for sure” for Williams’ 2023 line up

After Otmar Szafnauer said Alpine plan for Oscar Piastri to be racing in F1 in 2023, Williams boss Jost Capito confirmed that the Formula 2 champion is under consideration for their line-up next year.

“Oscar is ready to go into Formula 1,” said Capito. “And I think that’s one of the list for sure.”

The team hired former Red Bull reserve driver Alexander Albon last year, but Capito stressed that deal was done with the driver directly. “We didn’t do a deal with Red Bull on Alex,” he said, “we did a deal with Alex on Alex though.”

Shortfall at McLaren is car, not drivers – Brown

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said he and Daniel Ricciardo agree about the need to improve results at McLaren after his comments about the driver’s performance were widely reported.

“I was asked the question and I just gave an honest answer,” Brown said. “I think Daniel has said the same thing. We’re here to to try and get towards the front, we’ve had some awesome weekends like Monza and then some disappointing weekends.”

Both McLaren drivers need more competitive machinery, said Brown. “I don’t think we’re yet giving our drivers a car that’s capable of being at the front on a regular basis. So we need to do that.”

Brown said he and Ricciardo “have got a great relationship and I just gave an honest answer to the question of how things are going and things could be going better, but we’re…