George Russell has beaten his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antoneli by just under seven hundredths to take pole for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Englishman found a slight improvement to snatch pole away from the Italian as he improved by slightly more than his teammate to secure his third consecutive Grand Prix pole in Montreal.
Russell came into the weekend under pressure to fight back against the Italian, who has set the pace for the team in recent Grands Prix, but in every meaningful session so far this weekend, he has beaten his teammate, the drama in the sprint appearing to be settled as they went at it for pole. His advantage was exactly the same as he had managed twenty-four hours earlier to secure pole for the sprint.
Antonelli had looked set to beat his team-mate when he eclipsed the time set by McLaren’s Lando Norris on the Briton’s first run, with Russell’s first lap on his final run good enough only for third. But Russell had planned for two laps, and he did the business on his second one.
That pressure appeared to show throughout the session, where he appeared to be slightly out of sorts, before he produced a stunning final attempt to put himself ahead of Antonelli to take pole position. Mercedes appeared to have a comfortable advantage over the two McLarens, with Norris just under a tenth behind Antonelli.
But Russell has insisted throughout the weekend that he is not feeling any extra pressure as a result of his unexpected championship deficit to Antonelli; his animated celebrations over the radio told a different story.
The silver arrows remain the favourites as they appear to have maintained that advantage, though their upgrades this weekend appear like they haven’t built a dominating advantage over their rivals. Norris was four hundredths faster than teammate Oscar Piastri, McLaren appearing closer than expected when Mercedes brought their first big upgrade of the season.
Russell said, “That last lap came from nowhere. It was such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session and you pull it all together on that last lap – to throw yourself up the leaderboard is epic.” Russell goes into Sunday’s race seeking to end the run of three successive victories that had given Antonelli a surprise early-season lead, with the forecast of wet weather only adding to the potential drama at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Lewis Hamilton also looked to be in the mix for pole. The six-time pole sitter in Montreal was second on his first attempt, but a moment at Turn Six saw him unable to improve and nearly nine hundredths behind Piastri. The Ferrari driver was four hundredths ahead of the Red Bulls as Max Verstappen went nearly four hundredths faster than teammate Isack Hadjar.
But Hamilton is under investigation for an impeding incident during Q1 with the Alpine od Pierre Gasly. Verstappen once again appeared unhappy with his Red Bull, complaining it was like “driving on ice”, also vocal about his struggles was Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari drivers’ struggle for pace left him eighth, ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto who completed the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg put his Audi eleventh; the German missed out on Q3 having gone two hundredths slower than the Alpine in Q2. Colapinto did improve in the final part of qualifying on his time but remained tenth, Liam Lawson split the Audi’s as he was nearly two tenths ahead of Gabriel Bortoletto.
Pierre Gasly put his Alpine fourteenth as he went nearly a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz, while Ollie Bearman was slowest in Q2 as he went four hundredths behind the Williams. Bearman’s teammate Esteban Ocon missed out on Q2 by seven hundredths but he put himself six thousandths faster than Alex Albon.
Fernando Alonso was a quarter of a second slower than Albon, as the Aston Martins were split by the Cadillac of Sergio Perez. The Mexican, three hundredths behind Alonso and nearly seven hundredths ahead of his former teammate Lance Stroll. Valtteri Bottas aborted his final run after going wide at the first corner.
Related
- Canadian GP – Sprint Result
- CANADIAN GP – George Russell takes a second victory, finishing ahead of Lando Norris in the sprint, as tension brews at Mercedes
- Canadian GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- CANADIAN GP – George Russell beats Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by seven hundredths to sprint pole
- CANADIAN GP – Kimi Antonelli leads teammate George Russell by under a tenth in an interrupted practice session
- Welcome to the Canadian Grand Prix – 20/05/2026
- PRIXVIEW – Canadian Grand Prix
