George Russell bounced back on Friday to claim pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix, pipping his Mercedes teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
The 28-year-old Briton had been outpaced by the young Italian earlier in the day, but showed he has both the speed and the nerve to handle the pressure building around him. Russell set his best lap in 1 minute 12.965 seconds, beating Antonelli by just 0.068 seconds in a closely fought session that was disrupted by a lengthy red flag after Fernando Alonso crashed his Aston Martin.
“It feels great after a tough time in Miami, but I never doubted myself,” said Russell. “The upgrades are definitely feeling good — the team have done a brilliant job.”
Antonelli admitted his session had not gone to plan. “My lap was quite poor and I made a mistake — I pushed too early when my tyres weren’t properly warmed up,” he said. “We’ll do better tomorrow.”
Reigning world champion Lando Norris was third, ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc filled the next two spots for Ferrari, with Max Verstappen seventh and Isack Hadjar eighth for Red Bull. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad was ninth and Carlos Sainz tenth for Williams.
Only 20 cars took part, with Alex Albon sitting out after his practice crash and Liam Lawson absent due to gearbox trouble.
The session was held up for around 20 minutes after Alonso locked up at Turn Three and hit the barriers. “Once I locked up the fronts, I was just a passenger,” he said.
When action resumed, Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly were all eliminated in the first phase. Nico Hülkenberg, Gabriel Bortoleto, Franco Colapinto, both Haas drivers and Alonso went out in the second phase.
In the final shootout, Russell found another gear to secure pole, with the two Mercedes cars locking out the front row ahead of the two McLarens, both Ferraris and the Red Bulls.
