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Pierre Gasly was angry after being knocked of Q1 having been impeded by Carlos Sainz; Sainz was later given a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix; watch the Canadian GP live on Sky Sports F1 at 7pm on Sunday, with build-up from 5:30pm

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has accused Carlos Sainz of “unacceptable and unfair” driving after being impeded by the Ferrari during Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying.

In a dramatic end to the first part of the wet session, Sainz slowed down approaching the final corner, creating chaos as the cars following him were left at risk of not crossing the start-finish line in time to set a final flying lap.

Gasly, who was coming down the main straight – that precedes the final chicane – at full speed, was forced to run off track and lost the opportunity to set a flying lap, which resulted in him being knocked out in 17th.

Sainz finished eighth, but was given a three-place penalty by the stewards for the incident, demoting him to 11th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

“I don’t think any words can express the disappointment and frustration right now,” Gasly told Sky Sports F1.

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Alpine’s Gasly was furious after taking evasive action to avoid Sainz as he missed out on Q2

“You put so much work into free practice, building your weekend, extracting everything out of Qualy. We did everything right, that lap was good enough for top six. Even if I lost a couple of tenths with a bit of traffic it would have been good enough for top 10.

“Carlos did the worst job possible to stay completely on the racing line. For me that’s completely unacceptable and unfair. I have no words to explain what happened.”

Asked if he held Sainz or the Ferrari pit wall responsible for the incident, Gasly continued: “You rely a lot on the team but the whole team, when they come to Canada know it’s a dangerous one.

“We know that last chicane, everyone is bumping into each other and you have to pay extra attention. The bare minimum is to at least be off line. First this was impeding and second it was extremely dangerous.

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Max Verstappen secured pole once again at the Canadian Grand Prix, while Nico Hulkenberg claimed a surprise second as Haas will start on the front row for the first time

“If I smash him at 300kph it puts him in danger and also myself. It’s completely unfair.

“Today it ruined my entire day. Tomorrow we will start in P17 so it will impact my race.

“Obviously, there should be something [punishment] but, at the end of the day, it won’t give us back what we should have had and this is what I care the most. I’m just really gutted.”

Sainz: It depends how much you shout on the radio

Sainz appeared to dismiss Gasly’s criticism, suggesting the incident was only highlighted because of the Frenchman’s reaction on radio, which initially saw him call for the Spaniard to be “banned”.

“It was very tight with the flag, it was about to fall,” Sainz said.

“I got impeded seven times today and I’m not shouting on the radio at Turn 13. Other drivers choose to use the radio more than others. Today I was impeded many, many times.

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A red flag was issued during final practice after Sainz hit the wall as the rain came down in Canada

“Some incidents are under investigation, some are not. It depends how much you shout on the radio.

“I had to let other cars go and I couldn’t get out of the way. I did my best to get out of the way and tried to go.

“I had to go, if not I would have missed my qualifying lap also. I was getting impeded at the time too.”

Sainz had endured a challenging final practice earlier on Saturday, slamming into the barrier and leaving his team with a repair job that continued right up until just a few minutes before the start of Qualifying.

During that time Sainz had already been to see the stewards, having been summoned for impeding Williams’ Alex Albon on two occasions on the same part of the track.

Sainz escaped punishment as the stewards take a more lenient approach to practice incidents.

He added: “One of the trickiest (Qualifying) by far in my career, especially coming from the incident (in P3).”

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari were unable to identify the issues in his car that resulted in an early qualifying exit at the Spanish GP; Leclerc doesn’t expect a big step forward at this weekend’s Canadian GP; watch the Canadian GP live on Sky Sports F1 all weekend

Charles Leclerc admits it is “worrying” Ferrari do not know the reasons for the car troubles that led to his Q1 exit in Spanish GP Qualifying.

Leclerc qualified 19th in Barcelona after being blighted by handling problems, especially through left-hand corners.

Ferrari changed the whole rear end of his car ahead of the race – in which Leclerc finished P11 – but the Monegasque revealed ahead of this weekend’s Canadian GP that they had failed to find a cause for his issues.

“Qualifying in Barcelona was a very particular one and I think I wasn’t the only one to struggle. We need to understand these things and for now we don’t have the reasons,” Leclerc said on Thursday.

“This is a little bit more worrying and that’s where we need to push and try to understand the reasons of it because obviously the feeling was really bad.”

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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was left frustrated after failing to qualify for Q2 in Barcelona, finishing 19th at the Circuit de Catalunya

Leclerc’s team-mate Carlos Sainz had managed to put his Ferrari on the front row in Spain, but he finished the Grand Prix in fifth after Ferrari’s lack of race pace reared its head again.

Ferrari have just one podium finish in 2023 and are fourth in the constructors’ championship, already 187 points behind leaders Red Bull. Leclerc meanwhile finds himself seventh in the drivers’ championship on just 42 points.

The Scuderia were being tipped as title contenders in pre-season, and Leclerc has urged the team to bring updates to the underperforming SF23 as swiftly as possible.

“Overall I think all the team is not satisfied with the performance we are showing at the moment on track and it is very far off expectations at the beginning of the season,” Leclerc said.

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Simon Lazenby shares his most memorable moments from the Canadian Grand Prix ahead of this weekend’s race in Montreal

“Looking ahead we just need to keep pushing, try and bring upgrades as quickly as possible and regularly which is our aim now to try and close the gap to the guys in front and also close the gap especially in terms of race pace.

“Even though I struggled a lot in qualifying on the Saturday, the Sunday wasn’t great either – and if we look at Carlos he had a great Saturday and then on Sunday we struggled again with the race pace. That’s where we are trying to push at the moment.”

Leclerc reiterated he still had faith in Ferrari’s project, saying: “What gives me confidence though is that there is a clear direction of where we want to work and improve and this is what makes me believe in the project.”

Leclerc not expecting miracles this weekend

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Sky F1’s Karun Chandhok takes a look at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix

Leclerc’s troubles in Spain came on the first weekend that Ferrari ran their major upgrades to the SF23, and while he thinks the team will have an improved showing in Montreal on a track that should suit their car better, the 25-year-old is not expecting huge progress.

“On this track we don’t have anything new so I don’t think we’ll have any miracles. But we need to just try and maximise our package, understand more this package, set-up the car in order to maximise it.

“In Spain we were quite easily off the window and then we were losing a lot of performance. We have learnt a lot and pretty sure we will be in a better place for this weekend but I don’t think it will be a huge step forward.

“Last year [when Ferrari finished second and fifth) we were in a very different situation. We expect Aston Martin to be very strong this weekend, we expect Red Bull to be very strong this weekend, we struggle to understand where Mercedes will be compared to us.

“We have to focus on ourselves, try to maximise our package. It’s a very challenging track and with the weather, we don’t really know which side it’s going to go. We’ll just focus on ourselves and see what we can do.”

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A look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Canadian Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1‘s live Canadian GP schedule

Friday June 16
6pm: Canadian GP Practice One (session starts at 6.30pm)
7.45pm: The F1 Show
9.45pm: Canadian GP Practice Two (session starts at 10pm)

Saturday June 17
5.15pm: Canadian GP Practice Three (session starts at 5.30pm)
8pm: Canadian GP Qualifying build-up
9pm: Canadian GP Qualifying
11pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday June 18
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Canadian GP build-up
6:55pm: The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett (via red button)
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted’s Notebook

Toto Wolff on Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes contract: “It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks. We are trying hard [to get it done before the Canadian Grand Prix]. I will see him today and maybe we will talk about it. We have such a good relationship”

Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 future could be resolved before this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, according to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. 

Hamilton has six months to run on his £40m-a-season deal with Mercedes, but Wolff said his superstar driver is on the brink of agreeing new terms.

“It is going to happen soon, and we are talking more days than weeks,” Wolff told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street programme in New York when asked about Hamilton’s contract negotiations.

“We are trying hard [to get it done before the Canadian Grand Prix]. I will see him today and maybe we will talk about it.

“We have such a good relationship that we dread the moment that we need to talk about money.”

Hamilton, 38, met with Wolff the day after the last round in Spain, in the hope of rubber-stamping a fresh contract with the Silver Arrows.

It is anticipated that the British driver’s extension will be a multi-year deal, extending his stay in F1 beyond his 40th birthday.

“Lewis is the most important personality in the sport,” added Wolff.

“He is so multi-faceted, not only with the racing, but also off track, so we need to keep him in the sport for as long as possible.

“From a team’s perspective, Lewis and Mercedes have gone back a long time. He has never raced for any other brand than Mercedes.

“We both joined the team in 2013 together, and from a professional relationship, we now have a friendship. It has been a wonderful time.”

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Lewis Hamilton says he’s meeting with Toto Wolff on Monday to discuss a new contract at Mercedes

Hamilton, who has not won a race since his contentious championship defeat to Max Verstappen at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, is already 83 points off the title pace this year.

But Mercedes’ recent upturn in form has provided Hamilton, who finished runner-up to Red Bull’s Verstappen at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, with renewed hope that his dream of a record eighth world title is not over.

However, Wolff warned: “The result in Spain was a well-deserved reward for everyone’s efforts at Brackley and Brixworth to bring our update package to the track.

“We were pleased with how it performed, and it will provide a new baseline for us to build from.

“But we must also manage our expectations. It was a circuit that suited our car, and we should expect our direct competitors to be stronger in the next races.

“The gap to Red Bull is large and it will take lots of hard work to close that down. Nevertheless, we’re up for the challenge.”

Ferrari dropped more points to Mercedes and Aston Martin in the constructors’ championship after Carlos Sainz finished fifth and Charles Leclerc was 11th at the Spanish Grand Prix; watch the Canadian GP from June 16-18 with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has admitted their 2023 car is “very difficult to understand” after a tough Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz started on the front row but dropped to fifth behind Lewis Hamilton, George Russell and Sergio Perez.

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc failed to get out of Q1 in Qualifying but failed to finish in the points as he struggled with tyre wear and car inconstancies.

Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 he “didn’t understand” what Ferrari were doing wrong as the car handled differently throughout the race, even when using the same tyre compound.

Ferrari brought a significant upgrade package to Barcelona, including new sidepods, but didn’t appear to go forward.

“You can’t compare Miami and Barcelona in terms of layout, tarmac and energy on the tyres, but I would say that the global picture is the same,” said Vasseur.

“We are there in qualifying, and we are not there in the race. We are still inconsistent on the same car between compounds and sometimes between the same compounds.”

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Charles Leclerc can’t understand what is wrong with his Ferrari after finishing P11 at the Spanish Grand Prix

He continued: “We have 1,000 people [working] on this now and it is very difficult to understand and to fix it because it’s not always the same problem.

“It’s true that in qualifying, you are in free air and in the race you are not. I think Charles struggled a lot in the first stint as he was a lot closer to the car in front of him.

“The main issue for us is not the potential on the lap on [high-speed] corners, the main issue is the inconsistency.

“On Charles’ car for example, between the first and third stints with the same compound, one the balance was out of place, and the last one was OK, and with Carlos, he did a decent first stint, and in the middle, he lost 15 or 20 seconds.”

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Red Bull chief technology officer Adrian Newey admitted he gave serious consideration to joining Team Ferrari twice in the 1990s

Vasseur: Ferrari can fight Mercedes

Mercedes’ updates did work as their new front suspension and sidepod design saw them take a double podium at the Spanish GP, with Hamilton in second and Russell in third.

Vasseur thinks Ferrari are keeping up with Mercedes in the development race and can beat them once their consistency is solved.

“I think as soon as we will unlock the situation with consistency we can imagine to fight with them [Mercedes] all over the race,” he said.

“With Red Bull, it’s another story, especially with Verstappen. He is still much faster than us in qualy, much faster in the race.”

Charles Leclerc finished has gone through a tough run of results in Miami, Monaco and Spain

Are Ferrari going in the wrong direction?

Ferrari are fourth in the constructors’ championship at 32 points adrift of Aston Martin and 52 points behind Mercedes

Damon Hill and Rachel Brookes told the latest Sky Sports F1 Podcast that Ferrari are very difficult to predict.

“It’s a funny season in a way because we have seen quite a lot of disparity between apparent form on one circuit and the same form, or expectations, on another circuit,” said Hill. “Everyone is scratching their heads apart from Red Bull, who are delivering on every track.

Ferrari are fourth in the constructors’ championship ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix

“Then what can you say about Ferrari? When one is up, the other is down. It’s like they are running with one leg all the time. So going forward, you have got the development curve and cost-cap restrictions to think about.”

Brookes added: “My worry is Ferrari are going in the opposite direction. They changed their car and we saw a very different Ferrari in Spain, they are now trying to chase that route as well.

F1 returns in Canada from June 16-18 with all sessions live on Sky Sports F1, including race coverage from 5.30pm on Sunday June 18

Fernando Alonso’s last win in Formula 1 came 10 years ago at the Spanish Grand Prix; the Aston Martin driver was narrowly beaten to pole position by Max Verstappen last time out in Monaco and thinks Qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday will be very close

Fernando Alonso believes just “one or two tenths” will change the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix after a close second practice.

Alonso was 0.170 seconds behind Max Verstappen in the second session on Friday, with the top 17 split by less than one second around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

It was a contrast to Practice One, where championship leader Verstappen was more than three-quarters of a second ahead of the field.

“I think it’s so tight that one or two tenths will put you in a completely different spot on the classification. So don’t bring too much attention on the times,” said Alonso.

“We went through all the programmes that we had before practice, which is a good thing – learning about the tyres, the track is slower maybe than what we predicted, so there’s still more time to find more tweaks on the set-up, but it was a productive Friday.”

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Sky F1’s David Croft and Anthony Davidson review Friday’s practice sessions at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Asked if Aston Martin’s upgrades at the Spanish GP worked as intended, Alonso added: “Absolutely. There is not a new part that we put on the car that is not helping the performance. That’s something that has always been the case with the team since Bahrain.

“So, happy with the upgrades and let’s see tomorrow, when everyone goes to full power, where we are.”

Verstappen: The car was in a good window

Verstappen, who won his maiden F1 race at the 2016 Spanish GP, is looking for consecutive pole positions for the first time this season.

The Red Bull driver enjoyed driving through the fast penultimate corner after the slow-speed chicane was ditched ahead of this year’s event.

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Max Verstappen says he felt ‘very comfortable’ in his Red Bull as he topped both P1 and P2 ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

“It’s been a lot more fun to drive. F1 cars in general feel better in high speed so for me the last two corners are much better to drive,” he said.

“I tried to follow a few cars as well and it seemed quite OK through there as well. Positively surprised for the overtaking and overall we had a very good day.

“The car was in a good window and you try to fine tune a few things here and there but short run, long run everything seemed quite good.

“From my side I felt very comfortable in the car looking after the tyres. I still need to look at the lap times of others but from our side it was a good day. [The bumps] are not too bad. This track has been resurfaced a few years ago and it’s still quite decent.”

Alonso hopes to put on ‘good show’ for fans

Alonso’s popularity in Spain has seen a sea of green fans turn out around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, representing the green of Aston Martin.

The two-time world champion says 67 per cent of the fans at the Spanish GP were wearing the Aston Martin colours on Friday.

“It’s amazing. I think this is going back to the 2005/06/07 years, where everything was in one colour,” added Alonso, who last won in F1 10 years ago at his home event.

“I really feel that support, that special energy. The fan forum this morning was amazing. While driving I cannot hear them, but I feel how enthusiastic they are. So hopefully we put a good show for them.”

Fernando Alonso testing new parts on his Aston Martin during Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1’s live Spanish GP schedule

Saturday June 3
9.25am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Spanish GP Practice Three (session starts 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Spanish GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Spanish GP Qualifying
6.15pm: IndyCar – Detroit GP Qualifying

Sunday June 4
8.50am: F3 Feature Race
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Spanish GP build-up
2pm: THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag Spanish GP reaction
5.45pm: Indy NXT – Detroit GP
8pm: IndyCar – Detroit GP

Will Red Bull’s winning run in F1 2023 continue at the Spanish GP? Watch all the action live on Sky Sports F1, with Qualifying at 3pm on Saturday and the race at 2pm on Sunday. Get Sky Sports

In a TV first, three young F1 fans will present the Hungarian Grand Prix alongside Natalie Pinkham, Nico Rosberg, and Danica Patrick; You can tune in to the F1 Juniors broadcast on the 23rd of July live on Sky Sports

Young Formula 1 fans are set to present the Hungarian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports in a TV first.

Sky Sports F1 presenters will be joined by three young fans who will commentate, present and interview drivers at the event, while regular coverage will be available as usual on Sky Sports F1.

Over the course of the race week, the young recruits will try their hand at various broadcasting roles including interviews with their favourite drivers and other big names from the paddock, co-hosting with Natalie Pinkham and the Sky Sports F1 team, and commentating live during the race.

The F1 Juniors will also showcase their knowledge on all things F1, presenting their analysis and punditry after the race as with traditional F1 coverage.

Zac, a young go-kart racer, and Braydon and Scarlett who present Sky Kids show FYI, will join F1 world champion Nico Rosberg and former NASCAR and IndyCar racer Danica Patrick as they present F1 Juniors, live from Budapest’s Hungaroring.

Formula 1 will provide a dedicated international feed, including bespoke graphics, sound effects and special features such as 3D augmented graphics on specific camera angles that will enhance the broadcast for younger audiences in the UK and Germany.

Sky Sports F1‘s Jenson Button said: “We are really excited about giving the next generation of F1 fans a platform to show their passion and excitement for the sport as F1 continues to grow in popularity amongst younger audiences.

“We may just find our next Crofty or Naomi Schiff!”

Ian Holmes, Director of Media Rights and Content Creation at Formula 1 said: “We want to ensure that our fans of all ages can enjoy and fall in love with Formula 1, so working with our long-standing partners at Sky on this project to target younger audiences is really exciting.

“This is a first of its kind in motorsport and I am excited to see the broadcast come to life and to watch the next generation of presenting talent!”

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Our Premier League Juniors team bring you the best of the action from Brentford’s 3-1 win against Liverpool.

F1 Juniors follows December’s Premier League Juniors which saw young football fans join Kelly Cates as they took on similar roles during the Premier League fixture between Brentford and Liverpool.

Young F1 fans can tune in to the F1 Juniors broadcast on the 23rd of July live on Sky Sports