Kravitz with bold theory: ‘Verstappen missed out on pole because of Tsunoda’

Max Verstappen will start from the first row of the grid, having finished in P2 in Qualifying, while Tsunoda finished in P11.

Together with a 10-place grid penalty he received in FP3, he will start from last place at today's Canadian GP. "You might as well be starting from downtown Montreal," Ted Kravitz joked in his show, Ted's Notebook after qualifying.

During the final free practice session, after the debris left behind by Oscar Piastri caused a red flag, later on, Tsunoda passed the Australian. As a result for red flag infringement, he received the 10-place grid penalty and two penalty points on his license.

Kravitz also sees why the Red Bull driver might feel like the decision was unfair.

He continues: "Which is why I think he felt he could overtake him, because the other McLaren obviously had a problem."

With such a hefty penalty, the best grid position Tsunoda could have achieved was P11 to begin with, therefore, some rather have not sent their car out in Q1 to begin with.

"He knew the penalty was coming, but he continued anyway," says Kravitz, who says that could be the case because the Austrians had some plens. "Some thought Red Bull wanted him in Q3 so that he could provide a tow for Max Verstappen. But he wasn't able to get into Q3 by a few tenths."

In the end, Verstappen just missed out on pole position, finishing 0.160 seconds behind pole sitter George Russell. With such a small margin, a tow might just have made the difference at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.