MONTREAL – George Russell of Mercedes took the pole for Sunday’s Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix under an unbelievable circumstance.
The British driver put down a lap of 1:120.000, matching Red Bull’s Max Verstappen exactly. But because Russell had the time first, he earned the top spot on the grid for the second time in his career.
“Amazing. It feels so good, it feels so good,” said Russell. “So much hard work back at the factory has gone into this. We said it in Monaco, 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 it’s such good energy from all the fans. I’m excited for tomorrow. Obviously the first step’s done, but now we’ve got our eyes on that win.”
Verstappen is looking to bounce back after a rare sixth-place finish at the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago. He battled mechanical issues earlier this weekend in FP2.
“I’m happy to be on the front row for tomorrow’s race and it was certainly more than I thought was possible after FP3,” Verstappen said. “We always knew this track was going to be a bit more tricky than others and it seems that a lot of the teams are catching up. Today it was about managing the tires with the graining, but if you look at the pace we did well and improved nicely every run.
“We tried to do the best we can and just need to make sure we have a cleaner weekend.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris rounded out the podium in third with teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth and Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo in fifth.
Aston Martin Aramco’s Fernando Alonso came home sixth, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in seventh, Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda in eighth, Aston Martin Aramco’s Lance Stroll in ninth and Williams’ Alexander Albon in 10th.
Shockingly, both Ferrari drivers of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failed to make it out of Q2. They’ll start 11th and 12th, respectively.
The lights go out at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET for the second Grand Prix of the season in North America.
