George Russell Takes Stunning Pole Position for Mercedes

George Russell secured Mercedes’ first pole position of the season, edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix. Both drivers clocked identical lap times of one minute 12 seconds but Russell’s earlier lap earned him the top spot. Lewis Hamilton, in the second Mercedes, qualified seventh, while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri claimed the second row. Ferrari struggled, failing to get either car into the top 10. Charles Leclerc, who won in Monaco, qualified 11th, and Carlos Sainz took 12th. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was knocked out in the first session for the second race in a row; his last top-10 start was in Miami three races ago.

Russell’s pole position was a surprise after a tough start to the 2024 season, but it resulted from a series of upgrades over the past four races, culminating in a new front wing introduced in Monaco. George Russell, whose last pole was at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix, expressed his delight, stating, “Amazing. It feels so good. So much hard work back at the factory has gone into this. We said in Monaco that we hoped this was the start of something for our season, and I think it is. The car has been feeling amazing since we brought some upgrades to Monaco. We have really been in that fight. Let’s go for it tomorrow.”

Verstappen, content with his qualifying performance, said, “It’s how it is. We had a good qualifying. The whole weekend has been still a bit tricky for us, but to be P2, I take it. Going into qualifying, I would have definitely taken that. It makes it more exciting for the race as well.” Mercedes experienced a dip in the final session with faster lap times in the second part of qualifying. Russell was 0.258 seconds quicker in Q2, while Hamilton was 0.2 seconds slower yet still faster than the pole time. Verstappen noted, “Q3 was the worst session for Mercedes. When you look at their pure pace, I am happy with second. In Q2, I looked at their lap times and thought there was no way I could do that.”

Norris narrowly missed pole by 0.021 seconds, with Piastri just 0.082 seconds behind him in a tightly packed session. At Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified Yuki Tsunoda for only the second time this season, on the day Tsunoda’s contract extension for 2025 was announced. Fernando Alonso qualified sixth for Aston Martin, breaking a difficult run of previous sessions, and was 0.473 seconds faster than teammate Lance Stroll in eighth. The Aston Martins flanked Hamilton, who was second fastest after the initial runs in Q3. Neither Mercedes driver improved on their second laps, resulting in six drivers slotting between Russell and Hamilton by the session’s end. Alex Albon in the Williams secured the final spot in the top 10.