Verstappen on pole after wet Canadian qualifying

Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen put his Red Bull on pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal after heavy rain shook up qualifying on Saturday.

It was an unpredictable and wild afternoon of racing at a rain swept Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as team's rolled the dice switching from rain tyres to slicks as track conditions changed.

The gamble, and a bit of luck, paid off for Germany's Nico Hulkenberg who placed his Haas alongside the Dutchman on the front row with Fernando Alonso the third fastest for Aston Martin.

Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time winner in Canada, will line up fourth with his Mercedes team mate George Russell fifth.

The pole, in a time of one minute and 25.858 seconds, was the 25th of Verstappen's career.

Verstappen started from pole last year and held off Ferrari's hard charging Carlos Sainz for what was then his 26th career win.

Fast forward one year and Verstappen with another victory on Sunday can bring his career total to 41, matching the late Brazilian great Ayrton Senna's haul.

Red Bull has dominated this season winning all seven races, Verstappen taking five to open up a 53 point gap at the top of the driver standings ahead of team mate Sergio Perez, who has won the other two.

But it was far from a perfect day for Red Bull as Perez's problems continued to mount, failing for the third consecutive race to make it out of Q2 and will start well down the grid in 12th.