Canada's Last Training: Norris Records Top Speed
Montreal (dpa) - Lando Norris snatched the fastest lap in the final practice session before the qualifying round for the Canadian Grand Prix, beating out Charles Leclerc by a hair and George Russell by a decent margin. With a time of 1:11.799 minutes around the Montreal track, Norris edged out Leclerc by 0.078 seconds.
Things didn't go as smoothly for the point leaders. Oscar Piastri, currently leading the World Championship, had a rare misstep, damaging his right rear tire after brushing against the track limits. Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenberg narrowly avoided a collision with the Wall of Champions - a notorious obstacle that has previously claimed World Champions like Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Sebastian Vettel.
As qualifying approaches (this evening at 22:00 CET, Sky), Australian Piastri maintains his lead in the championship standings with a 10-point advantage over Norris. Max Verstappen is 49 points behind, in third place. The Dutch driver has a history of success in Montreal, having won there three times in the past three seasons.
Interestingly, the qualifying results for the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix saw Leclerc taking pole position, followed by Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. rounded off the top five [more details needed for certain results].
While issues faced by Piastri and Hülkenberg in the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix practice sessions aren't reported in the search results, the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix saw Piastri starting the weekend strong with his McLaren, managing to secure third place in qualifying. In contrast, Hülkenberg faced no reported significant issues in the practice sessions, but he qualified in 13th position. For precise details about the 2022 practice sessions, additional sources would be required.
In the highly anticipated qualifying round of the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix, Lando Norris was spotted swapping his racing suit for a hockey jersey, showing his support for the Montreal Canadiens. Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenberg, who had a close call with the Wall of Champions earlier in the day, donned a goalie mask, symbolizing his need to protect himself from unexpected incidents on the track.
