George Russell achieved pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, snatching the top spot from teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Lando Norris initially led the way in Q3 until the final series of laps, with both Mercedes cars struggling to get a decent lap until that point, Russell even having to abandon his first attempt.
But in the final seconds of qualifying Antonelli jumped Norris, only for an ecstatic Russell to find another tenth to take pole with a time of one minute, 12.579 seconds lap. That means Russell and Antonelli will line up in the same position they started sprint race from, when the pair clashing at Montreal’s Turn 1.
It is a Papaya second row with Norris and Piastri, just like in the sprint, followed by Lewis Hamilton in fifth.
Russell was not the only contender to make life tricky for himself, with many drivers struggling to get the front tyres into the right operating window, even doing double warm-up laps.
Max Verstappen said his car was like “driving one ice” but managed to sneak in a sixth-fastest lap, ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar and Charles Leclerc, who was unable to be competitve and was very vocal about his Ferrari’s shortcomings on the team radio.
After taking a point in the sprint, Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad backed up his impressive Montreal form with ninth in qualifying, with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in tenth.
In the battle to survive Q2 and advance to the final shootout, Lindblad and Colapinto both starred by out-qualifying their more experienced teammates. As Hadjar led the way in Q2, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg missed the cutoff by just 0.029 seconds in P11, followed out by Lawson and teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.
Pierre Gasly continued to suffer a difficult weekend with issues in his Alpine, breaking out of parc ferme to turn the sprint race into a test session. Gasly qualified P14, with Carlos Sainz a disappointing P15 in the Williams and Bearman P16 for Haas.
Antonelli led Q1 with a time of one minute, 13.380 seconds lap, which was over a tenth quicker than Norris and Piastri. There were no huge difficulties for any of the frontrunners, although Leclerc left it late to set a laptime after going off on his first attempt.
In the background Gasly survived elimination despite abandoning on his first lap. Bortoleto also managed to go through at the expense of Haas driver Esteban Ocon, who was first out in P17.
Alex Albon was also dropped out after not making the start of sprint qualifying, continuing a troubled weekend on his side of the Williams garage. The four cars from Aston Martin and Cadillac were also eliminated, with Fernando Alonso only P19. Valtteri Bottas qualified last after going off at Turn 1 on his final flyer.
So Mr Saturday aka George Russell achieved a fantastic day result with the sprint win earlier followed by pole position for the main race. This performance is a positive step if he wants to challenge his Mercedes teammate for the world championship.
Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.578
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:12.646
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.729
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:12.781
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:12.868
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:12.907
7 sack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:12.935
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.976
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:13.280
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:13.697
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:13.886
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:13.897
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:14.071
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:14.187
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:14.273
16 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:14.416
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:14.845
18 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:14.851
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:15.196
20 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:15.429
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:16.195
22 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:16.272
George Russell beat Mercedes team mate Kimi Antonelli and McLaren’s Lando Norris to pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with a last-gasp effort.
Russell, who had won the Sprint in Montreal earlier on Saturday, posted a 1m 12.578s with his final effort to finish just 0.068s clear of Antonelli as Mercedes locked out the front row for Sunday’s 70-lap race.
The Briton had been on the back foot in the final segment of Qualifying having aborted his first flying lap and he was down the order with his first completed run.
But Russell pulled out the fastest lap at the very end as the Mercedes duo beat Norris and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton suffering a mistake on his second run that left him P5.
Max Verstappen headed Red Bull team mate Isack Hadjar in P6 after complaining about the straightline speed of his car, with the top 10 completed by the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine).
Nico Hulkenberg once again just missed out on a spot in the final part of Qualifying and will start P11. The Audi driver finished ahead of Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), the second Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, Carlos Sainz (Williams) and the Haas of Ollie Bearman.
The second Haas of Esteban Ocon finished P16 after just missing out on Q2 by 0.070s, where he was joined by the Williams of Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.
Sergio Perez finished P20 but the Cadillac driver is under investigation for several incidents, one of which included blocking Alonso on his final flying lap.
The order was completed by home hero Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, the pair set to start at the back of the grid for Sunday’s 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix.
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George Russell was delighted with an “epic” effort in Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix that saw him clinch pole position on his last attempt, with the Briton conceding that his lap “came from nowhere” following some struggles during the session.
After aborting his first effort during Q3, Russell found himself out of sync and lingering towards the rear of the top 10 ahead of the final runs. However, a stunning last tour saw the Mercedes driver surge to the top on a 1m 12.578s, putting him just 0.068s clear of team mate Kimi Antonelli.
Russell – who had won a thrilling Sprint just hours earlier – explained the difficulties he had faced in Qualifying as he reflected back on the session after jumping out of the car, explaining: “It’s always challenging coming back from the Sprint race – the car feels very different, you’re obviously into the Qualifying format.
“We made some changes as a team, we need to review after if that was the right direction. Then obviously that last lap came from nowhere, and it was just a great feeling when it was such a challenging session.
“To put it all together on that last lap to throw yourself up the leaderboard was epic.”
Pushed on the exact nature of the challenges he faced, Russell admitted that the alterations made prior to Qualifying had been influenced by the weather forecast for Sunday’s race, for which there is a possibility of rain.
“We made some changes based on the forecast for tomorrow – it may have hurt us a little bit for now,” the 28-year-old detailed. “It just took the car out of sync a little bit.
“Kimi was definitely more competitive than I in that session, but we weren’t as clear ahead of everybody else like we were yesterday so it was definitely a challenge. But as I said, just managed to redial my driving for that last lap and put it together.”
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Lando Norris believes that it’s “impossible to know” whether he could have delivered more in Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix after he came within 0.151s of securing pole position.
Building on the momentum from his double podium finish in Miami, the McLaren driver improved from P3 to P2 in the Canada Sprint by passing Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli during his tense battle with eventual winner George Russell.
Norris continued his strong form in Qualifying and was a contender for the top spot throughout, making the most of McLaren’s latest upgrade package, but lost out in the final moments as Russell and Antonelli both improved their lap times.
Asked whether there was anything left on the table during the session, he responded: “It’s always impossible to know. I feel like we did a good job out there today honestly. I’m sure everyone can say around here, it’s a difficult lap, it’s a difficult track to kind of put everything together perfectly, but I think we did another good job.
“It’s clear that these guys are just that little bit quicker. It’s nice to be closer than we were yesterday. I had fun this morning, of course the weather’s going to be different tomorrow so we’ll wait and see. But we’re in a good place and we’re in a place we need to be.”
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