George Russell achieved his second Formula 1 pole position in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, setting an identical time to triple champion Max Verstappen.
The Mercedes driver set his best lap of Q3 in the opening runs, posting an one minute, 12.000 seconds to lay down a benchmark for the final runs at the end of the session. He was joined in the top two by his teammate Lewis Hamilton after those opening laps, but fresh tyres at the end of the segment looked set to change the form.
Verstappen used them to set a rapid opening sector, but could not match Russell’s second sector and crossed the finishing line to set exactly the same time as the Mercedes driver – another one minute, 12.000 seconds – but was second thanks to the order their laps were set in.
“It feels so good, so much hard work gone on back at the factory. We said in Monaco we hoped this was the start of the season,” Russell said. “It’s awesome when we come to Montreal. First bit done, but now we’ve got to fight for that win.”
“Let’s go for it. Since we brought some upgrades to Monaco we’ve really been in that fight so we’re going for it tomorrow.”
Lando Norris beat McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to third place, having been just 0.021 seconds off Russell and Verstappen’s laps, while Daniel Ricciardo responded to criticism over his performances in 2024 by placing his RB in fifth position, ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton could not improve in his final lap and thus had to be content with seventh, and will start alongside RB’s Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll and Alex Albon completed the top ten, as both impressed in qualifying form.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were both surprise eliminations from Q2 as neither Ferrari driver could tap into the demands of the Montreal circuit – Sainz stating that he had no grip and Leclerc aborting his final lap after unable to improve.
Both drivers attempted to stay in the top ten with the same used soft tyres pressed into service at the end of Q1, but these were long past their best and this was Ferrari’s way to an early exit.
Logan Sargeant qualified P13, having initially held his own among the top ten throughout the session, but felt that he was impeded. Nonetheless, he was a scant 0.008 seconds shy of Sainz’s lap to earn praise from Williams team principal James Vowles over the radio. Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly were the other drivers who were knocked out in Q2.
Sergio Perez was dropped out in Q1 for the second consecutive race, losing his precarious grasp on progressing to Q2 when Albon rocketed out of the drop zone in the final moments of the session.
The Red Bull driver had spent much of the session in the bottom half of the field and sat in the drop zone with five minutes left; although he improved, he fell back into the bottom five once again, days after securing his new two-year contract.
Valtteri Bottas also fell into the drop zone having been unable to improve sufficiently in his final run, just under a tenth from safety, while Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, and Zhou Guanyu also dropped out at the first segment.
So an exciting qualifying session at Montreal. It’s refreshing to see Mercedes have genuine pace and to see George Russell taking pole is a welcome sight. Let’s see if he can hold off the championship leader in the race.
Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.000
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12.000
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.021
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:12.103
5 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:12.178
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:12.228
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.280
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:12.414
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.701
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:12.796
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.691
12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.728
13 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:12.736
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:12.916
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:12.940
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.326
17 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:13.366
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:13.435
19 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.978
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:14.292
George Russell has taken pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix in an impressive session for the Mercedes driver, with the Briton beating Max Verstappen despite the Dutchman incredibly setting the exact same lap time.
Russell had provisionally secured P1 following the initial runs in Q3 with a lap of 1m 12.000s and, while Verstappen improved on his own effort in the decisive final laps, the Red Bull man could only equal Russell’s time, putting him in P2.
Lando Norris was just 0.021s adrift in third place for McLaren, with team mate Oscar Piastri sharing the second row in fourth ahead of an impressive Daniel Ricciardo in fifth for RB, 10 years on from his debut F1 victory at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
Fernando Alonso took P6 in the Aston Martin, while Lewis Hamilton ended the session in P7 despite earlier displaying strong pace in the Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda – whose seat at RB in 2025 was confirmed just ahead of qualifying – claimed P8, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Williams of Alex Albon rounded out the top-10.
It was a tough day for Ferrari, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failing to make it past Q2. The Scuderia pair will line up in P11 and P12 respectively, just two weeks after sharing the podium in Monaco.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/russell-clinches-pole-position-in-canada-with-identical-time-to-verstappen.2Pv0IDXhWAfq2wJwCyqPqf
Sergio Perez’s current Formula 1 qualifying woes are “psychological”, according to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, following the Mexican’s Q1 exit at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The recently re-signed Perez, whose new two-year deal with Red Bull was announced on Tuesday, followed up his exit in the opening stage of qualifying two weeks ago in Monaco with a similar vein of misfortune at Montreal.
He qualified only 16th in Canada, having been dumped into the drop zone by Alex Albon.
Marko reckoned that Perez’s woes were purely self-inflicted and that he was uncomfortable in races where track conditions were more critical.
“It’s not the car, you can see that with Max. I think it’s more psychological,” the Austrian said on ServusTV.
“It was close, and when the conditions change, he finds it much more difficult. But the fact that it’s already the third time (not in Q3) is painful.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perezs-current-f1-issues-psychological-not-car-issue-marko/10621216/
Charles Leclerc says Ferrari is at a loss to explain its lack of pace after a disastrous Formula 1 qualifying ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Leclerc won the Monaco GP two weeks ago and his Ferrari team arrived in Canada as favourites for victory in Montreal given the nature of the circuit, which favours the characteristics of its car.
But both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz were eliminated in Q2 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with the Monegasque finishing 11th, one place ahead of the Spaniard.
Leclerc admitted Ferrari was “nowhere” with its pace, saying he felt something was wrong with his car during final practice.
“Well, we are just not fast enough and unfortunately, that’s it,” said Leclerc. “I mean, in FP3 we were nowhere on the dry, in qualifying we were nowhere on the dry as well.
“I don’t have any explanations for now. In FP3 already we felt that something was wrong, we couldn’t see what was wrong and that was exactly the same in qualifying where it definitely felt like something was wrong but nothing we could see was wrong.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-drivers-baffled-lack-pace-q2-exit-canada/10621221/
George Russell says learning from Lewis Hamilton’s practice data helped him a “huge amount” in capturing pole position for Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had looked well on top of things in final practice in Montreal, as he ended Saturday morning’s session nearly fourth tenths clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Russell.
And it was that pace advantage that prompted Russell to dig a bit deeper into what Hamilton was doing.
“This morning Lewis was absolutely flying and he was well ahead of me,” explained Russell after taking pole position. “I had to look a lot into his data to try to understand what he was doing differently. And, to be honest, that helped me a huge amount.
“So ahead of this qualifying, I’m just so glad that we could pull it off, because I feel like we really deserve all of this hard work we’ve been putting in, and the car has been feeling awesome this weekend.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-data-russell-snatch-montreal-pole/10621247/