George Russell secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, narrowly beating Max Verstappen with a shared lap time of one minute and 12.000 seconds.
Despite both drivers tying for the fastest time, Russell claimed the top spot as he set his lap time earlier in the session.
In an intense qualifying session, Russell couldn’t better his Q2 time while Verstappen managed to shave off over a second from his lap time.
This improvement allowed Verstappen to join Russell on the front row of the grid, marking Russell’s second career pole position and giving Mercedes a much-needed boost after recent upgrades.
Delighted with his performance, Russell expressed his excitement over team radio, emphasizing the hard work put in by the Mercedes team.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, aiming for a third consecutive pole position in Montreal, remained philosophical about his second-place starting position.
Lando Norris secured the third spot, just milliseconds behind the leading pair, followed by other notable drivers like Oscar Piastri, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton.
Despite high expectations, both Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, failed to make it to the top ten shootout, marking a disappointing result for the team.
In a nail-biting Q2 finale, Russell and Hamilton dominated the session, setting blistering lap times and securing the first and second positions respectively.
Ultimately, Russell clinched pole position with a time of 1:12.000, followed closely by Piastri and Norris in second and third place.
