CANADIAN GP – George Russell takes pole setting an identical lap time as Max Verstappen
George Russell will start the Canadian Grand Prix from pole position after setting his lap time first as he set an identical lap time as Max Verstappen. The Englishman set a 12.000 before the Red Bull driver, which means he took the pole with his first timed lap during Q3.
Despite setting the time on his second run, Verstappen couldn’t push the Mercedes off pole while Russell found time in the middle sector securing his first pole position of the season. Meanwhile, Russell failed to improve on his final attempt.
Mercedes looked to be a threat all weekend following recent upgrades to take the team’s first pole since Budapest last year. There have been suggestions that recent updates have brought the team into the fight with McLaren and Ferrari to fight for best of the rest behind Red Bull.
Verstappen did have to fight through Q2, rain made it difficult to generate tyre temperature. However, the rain wasn’t enough to wet the track and Verstappen hooked up the car to secure a front-row spot.
Lando Norris put his McLaren third in what was another close qualifying, he was two hundredths off pole, and nine hundredths faster than his teammate Oscar Piastri. McLaren also could have been a threat for pole, while Piastri was just over a tenth off pole.
Russell, who last started in pole position in 2022: “It feels so good, so much hard work back at the factory has gone into this. We said it in Monaco but we hope this is the start of something for our season and I think it is. I’ve missed this feeling. It’s awesome here every time we come to Montreal.”
Verstappen said, “I mean overall I think we had a good qualifying. The whole weekend has been tricky for us, but to be P2 going into qualifying, I would have definitely taken that, it was that close at the end, which makes it really exciting for tomorrow.”
Norris said, “I’m super happy, first of all, congrats to Mr Russell, he’s been quick all weekend so congrats to him and Mercedes. I’m happy with third, when it’s so close you always think could I have jumped in the car for that little bit more but third is a good job by us and I’m excited for tomorrow.”
Daniel Ricciardo was fifth he put his RB half a tenth ahead of Fernando Alonso, a step up following a difficult start to the season. A decade to the day after he took his maiden win in Montreal.
Lewis Hamilton couldn’t find the same pace as Russell on his runs in Q3, that left the seven-time champion half a tenth behind the Aston Martin. Hamilton went into the weekend saying he didn’t expect to be ahead of Russell again this season.
Yuki Tsunoda, who was given a contract extension earlier on Saturday, was nearly two-tenths behind the Mercedes. Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin ninth three-tenths behind the RB and ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon.
One of the biggest surprises of qualifying was both Ferrari’s knocked out in Q2, Charles Leclerc missing out by nearly six hundredths as he was knocked out by Alonso. His teammate Carlos Sainz was three hundredths behind his teammate.
Ferrari had expected to be in the hunt for pole as the characteristics of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were expected to suit the car, but the mixed conditions saw both knocked out as others improved.
As the rain came, both drivers complained about a lack of grip, perhaps due to the light rain which fell during the second part of qualifying. However, Ferrari chose to put their drivers on used tyres for their final Q2 runs which may have been a strategic mistake which proved costly.
Leclerc told Sky Sports, “We put the new tyres at the beginning of Q2 I think, and the last set was for the Q3. We will review everything. Obviously, not happy to be out in Q2 and we’ll look into it.”
“I think the biggest issue was that we were so slow. Every time it was dry conditions we were nowhere this weekend and we’ve got to look into it. We don’t understand it yet, so we’ve got to look into it because since FP3 we’ve been nowhere.”
Logan Sargeant put his Williams thirteenth eight hundredths behind Sainz and ahead of Kevin Magnussen by nearly two tenths. While Pierre Gasly completed the Q2 drop zone the Frenchman a quarter of a second behind Magnussen.
Sergio Pere was knocked out in Q1 for a second race in a row, the Mexican was knocked out by Albon. He looked to struggle to break away from the danger zone by enough, every time he did he was again pushed back into the drop zone then couldn’t respond to the Williams driver.
Valtteri Bottas was another driver who failed to improve to get out of the drop zone missing out by just under a tenth. Esteban Ocon was eighteenth half a second faster than Nico Hulkenberg and Guanyu Zhou.