George Russell gained the upper hand in sprint qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, by being quicker than his teammate and current championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
In a heavily upgraded Mercedes W17, Russell turned on the championship leading teammate Antonelli to take P1 in the top ten shootout, which was marked by contenders going for two flying laps on the same set of soft tyres.
Russell led after the first round of laps and then found another gear to set a lap time of one minute, 12.965 seconds on Pirelli’s soft tyres. As the last driver on the track Antonelli set the fastest third sector but that was not enough to keep Russell off pole, Kimi conceding just 0.068 seconds.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were third and fourth as McLaren, which also brought another round of car upgrades, although around three tenths on Mercedes on the first competitive session of the weekend.
The Ferraris were up next with Lewis Hamilton getting the better of teammate Charles Leclerc, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen down in seventh as he and eighth-placed teammate Isack Hadjar appeared to struggle for grip on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve’s bumpy track surface.
Impressive Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad was ninth ahead of Williams driver Carlos Sainz.
The medium-tyred SQ2 segment was led by Russell, who set a lap time of one minute, 13.026 seconds lap to put 0.439 seconds on Hamilton, with their respective teammates Antonelli and Leclerc behind them.
Verstappen survived a poor lap to advance in ninth, while Sainz found time on his final flying lap to drop Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg into the elimination zone, the Hulk heading teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.
Franco Colapinto dropped out in P13, followed by Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman, the latter going off the track on his final flying lap.
Despite having qualified, Fernando Alonso was unable to take part in the next stage due to a crash in SQ1. Alonso went on straight at Turn 3 after locking the tyres, apologising to his Aston Martin team after damaging the front wing into the barriers.
That incident halted the battle in the final moments of SQ3 because it brought out a red flag with just one minute and 46 seconds on the clock, which prompted a frantic rush to get another attempt in by cars who were in danger of elimination.
As Hamilton topped the session, points contender Pierre Gasly was unable to get across the finish line in time to start a final lap. It meant Sergio Perez was first out in P17, followed by the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Gasly. Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas was P20 and last of the drivers to set a lap time.
Williams driver Alex Albon was unable to take part in sprint qualifying after an unfortunate encounter with a marmot/groundhog in free practice sent him into the wall. Due to the damage, which prompted a gearbox and power unit change, Williams ran out of time to rebuild Albon’s car.
Lawson, who also caught a red flag in free practice after being struck by a hydraulic leak, also could not take part in the session as a result of his mechanical issues.
So well done George Russell with the sprint pole. This is a positive step in his fightback on his Mercedes teammate for the championship. Roll on the sprint race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Canadian Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.965
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:13.033
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.280
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:13.299
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:13.326
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:13.410
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:13.504
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:13.605
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:13.737
10 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:14.536
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:14.595
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:14.627
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:14.702
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:14.928
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:15.305
16 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda No time
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:16.002
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:16.354
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:16.642
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:16.866
21 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes No time
22 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford No time
George Russell has sealed pole position in Sprint Qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver leading a 1-2 from team mate Kimi Antonelli while McLaren’s Lando Norris was their closest challenger in third.
After setting the pace in SQ2, Russell carried that form into the final segment by going fastest on his opening lap before improving further during the final runs, pumping in a time of 1m 12.965s. This ultimately proved unbeatable for the competition, with Antonelli 0.068s behind in second.
Norris was three tenths adrift in P3, ahead of the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri in fourth. Next up were the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the former having looked quick at various points in Sprint Qualifying.
Max Verstappen could manage no higher than seventh in the Red Bull, followed by team mate Isack Hadjar in eighth, while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and the Williams of Carlos Sainz completed the order in SQ3.
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto just missed out on the top 10 in 11th and 12th respectively, putting them ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and the Haas pair of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.
Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, made it to SQ2 but could not participate after hitting the barriers in SQ1, the Aston Martin driver bringing out the red flags during the opening segment. He will line up in P16 for Saturday’s Sprint.
With that stoppage in SQ1 seeing a frantic race to reach the line when the session resumed with under two minutes on the clock, the majority did not make it in time – and this left Cadillac’s Sergio Perez in 17th ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly in the Alpine and the other Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas.
Alex Albon did not take part in Sprint Qualifying due to the damage sustained to his Williams after hitting a groundhog during Free Practice 1, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson also missed the session following a hydraulic leak on his VCARB 03 in Friday’s practice session.
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George Russell insisted that he has “never doubted” himself this season as he returned to top spot in Sprint Qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix, having dropping behind his Mercedes team mate in recent rounds.
After dominating the season opener in Australia, the Briton found himself being outperformed by Kimi Antonelli, who became the only driver in history to convert his first three pole positions to consecutive victories.
The Miami Grand Prix was especially challenging for Russell, but he bounced back to claim pole for the Sprint by 0.068s over Antonelli at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is also where he secured his first win of last season.
Speaking immediately after Sprint Qualifying, Russell said: “It obviously feels great after a tough Miami but I never doubted myself – I knew what I could do.
“Miami was obviously a bit unique. This is an amazing circuit here – high-grip, feels like you’re driving a proper Formula 1 car around here which is how it should be. I’m glad today came together.”
He was also buoyed by the Silver Arrows’ upgrades package which was originally set to be introduced later in the season, but was rescheduled partly as a response to McLaren and Ferrari’s Miami updates.
From a modified front wing to changes in the floor, Mercedes are targeting improved airflow over the car as well as ways to deal with the massive braking zones in Canada.
With the team locking out the front row for the Sprint – and maintaining an advantage of around three-tenths back to third-placed Lando Norris – the early performance of these upgrades have encouraged Russell even further.
“It’s definitely feeling great,” he said when asked about the adjustments. “The team have done such a great job to bring this forward.
“We obviously saw in Miami McLaren were really close and Ferrari not too far behind. On a track like this, it’s really excelling, so pleased to have it on the car. Pleased to be back in P1 – it’s been a little while but obviously still big focus for tomorrow.”
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Lewis Hamilton reaped the rewards of changing his approach for the Canadian Grand Prix as he enjoyed his strongest session of the season in Sprint Qualifying, eventually taking P5 on the grid.
Ahead of the weekend, the Ferrari driver revealed that he had chosen not to use the simulator back at the team’s base in his preparations, instead focusing on analysing data from previous races to find the best set-up.
The adjustment seemed to work as Hamilton consistently delivered fast laps throughout Sprint Qualifying, leaving him more than satisfied with his performance despite falling behind Mercedes and McLaren in the final moments of the session.
“It’s probably the best Qualifying session we’ve had for some time,” he said. “Great work with the engineers on the set-up changes – the car felt really fantastic from FP1. We made subtle changes going into Quali.
“SQ1 and SQ2 were looking good and then I don’t know why the others are able to turn up a little bit more, I don’t know. I’m just happy to be there in the fight.
“I was having so much fun out there. Also, the fact that I didn’t do the sim and this is the best I’ve felt all year so I think that’s the way forward for me.”
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Following the significant progress made in Miami, the opening day of the race weekend in Canada proved more challenging for Red Bull. Max Verstappen had to settle for seventh place in sprint qualifying, just ahead of team-mate Isack Hadjar.
During the second segment of sprint qualifying, Verstappen had already complained over the team radio and returned to the pitlane early, despite sitting in the danger zone in ninth place at the time.
A seventh-place starting position for the third sprint race of the season is not what Verstappen was looking for, although based on his feeling behind the wheel he had not expected anything different.
“I’m not surprised. I mean, my feeling in the car was not very good. I was struggling a lot with just the ride of the car,” Verstappen said after sprint qualifying.
“So, all over the bumps, I couldn’t put my foot down. Actually, my feet were even flying off the pedals. It just made it very difficult to be consistent and that’s something that we need to investigate.”
Attacking the kerbs is traditionally a key factor at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and according to Verstappen that is precisely where he is currently losing a significant amount of lap time.
“That was not great. So, of course, we are stuck with that for the sprint, but yeah, some other things to understand and hopefully that will be done a bit better for qualifying.”
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