Pierre Gasly, the last teammate of Max Verstappen to have beaten him in qualifying in Montreal

That era seems distant, to say the least. Yet, only seven years ago, Pierre Gasly was indeed the designated teammate of Max Verstappen for the first half of the 2019 season. Less prominent than he had hoped, the Frenchman still had some successful outings, particularly in qualifying. In Montreal that year, he managed to outpace Max Verstappen, who was eliminated in Q2 by a few thousandths of a second.

Finishing fifth overall, the Dutchman had a Saturday in which Pierre Gasly was faster than him. Thanks to a personal best time of 1:11.079, the driver currently wearing number 10 at Alpine had qualified in 5th place, his second-best result in the exercise as a driver Red Bull.

Even more surprising, this instance – particularly significant for the French public – is the last time a Max Verstappen teammate managed to outqualify him on Île Notre-Dame. Between 2022 and 2025, the Dutchman was never beaten by his teammate on Canadian soil, while the 2020 and 2021 editions did not take place.

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To be even more precise, it should be noted that the four-time world champion was actually only beaten twice in qualifying by his teammate. Daniel Ricciardo in 2016 – the year of his debut in F1 – is indeed the only one besides Pierre Gasly to have managed to place ahead of Max Verstappen in qualifying while driving for Red Bull Racing.

In this context, Isack Hadjar is well aware that the task ahead is once again daunting. To repeat his Melbourne success, the Frenchman will need to be fully focused and try to become the third player on this rather short list.