Sainz’s time to step up for Ferrari as penalty puts Leclerc out of the picture · RaceFans

After the first run in Q1 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal last week, Carlos Sainz Jnr sat on top of the times.

But choosing not to take a tow on his final run, and an error early in his lap, allowed team mate Charles Leclerc to take pole position, followed by the two Red Bull drivers.

This weekend, Sainz is Ferrari’s best hope of stopping Red Bull from claiming a sixth consecutive victory. Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for exceeding one part of his power unit allocation.

Max Verstappen headed both practice sessions on Friday, looking supremely confident and comfortable at the wheel of his RB18 as he did. That ease at the wheel is vital at a track like this, where drivers have to commit to a series of rapid changes of direction at high speed, riding the kerbs as they do, and staying clear of the ever-present barriers.

Sainz lacked that natural confidence earlier in the season but has been building it up with a series of solid performances. He’s restrained himself from putting too much on the line in final practice, as he did in Miami.

After ending practice two-tenths of a second behind Verstappen – Leclerc was within a tenth – Sainz said he is hopeful Ferrari can close the gap in qualifying. “Max looks to be very quick this weekend,” Sainz admitted. “He’s on it since the beginning.

“I think we are playing a little bit of catch-up right now to him in both in one-lap pace and in long run. But I think with the steps that we normally do into Saturday and Sunday, we can get ourselves up there.”

One driver who did look at ease with his car was Sebastian Vettel, who put the Red Bull-apeing Aston Martin AMR22 fourth on the times sheets, three-tenths off Verstappen. Coming off the back of his best result of the season so far last time out, Vettel appears to have finally clicked with the team’s updated car and is showing flashes of his old verve.

“Overall we got a nice rhythm and I was able to play with the car today so it felt pretty good,” he said. “I’m pretty sure [on Saturday] we need to be realistic and see what we can get but for sure it was a good day.”

Replicating fourth place in a dry session may be a tall order, but there is a strong chance drivers will face trickier conditions in qualifying. The risk of significant rainfall is above 50%.

That may be bad news for the drivers who are already struggling with their cars in dry conditions. Despite setting the…