Formula 1 ®
George Russell puts his Mercedes on pole for the Canadian Grand Prix! Max with the identical time sets up for an exciting front row start on Sunday.
George Russell took Mercedes’ first pole position of the season ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix. Russell and Verstappen set identical lap times of one minute 12 seconds dead but because the Briton banked his first he will start the race from first place.
LCH could manage only seventh in the second Mercedes as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the second row for McLaren. Ferrari failed to get either car into the top 10, Charles Leclerc 11th after winning last time out in Monaco, with team-mate Carlos Sainz 12th.
Sergio Perez was knocked out in the first session for the second consecutive race – the last time he was in the top 10 on the grid was three races ago in Miami.
Russell’s pole seemed to come out of the blue, after a difficult start to the 2024 season, but in fact is the cumulation of a series of upgrades that have been put on the car over the past four races.
The cream on the top was a new front wing introduced in Monaco, where only Russell had it before both cars used it in Montreal.
Russell, whose last pole was at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix, said: “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 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.”
George Russell
It’s been a great day! It was such a tight fight for pole position. The previous few races I’ve been a matter of hundredths of a second behind the car ahead, so it’s nice to be on the upside of that today! In the end, Q3 was difficult. I did my best lap of the session in Q2, and I didn’t improve on my last lap in Q3. I wasn’t sure therefore whether I had taken pole position as I crossed the line. The new tyre is usually worth three to four tenths of a second but thankfully, my first run on the used tyre was good enough for P1.
The car has been so good this weekend. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth has been working so hard to bring updates and performance. This hard work is now translating into results which is fantastic to see. It’s only been two races and on unique circuits, but the steps we’ve taken to get closer to the front are encouraging. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow now. We will be aiming for victory but there are plenty of unknowns with this new surface and the weather. I’m feeling confident in the car and in myself though so bring it on!
Max Verstappen
We tried to do the best we can and just need to make sure we have a cleaner weekend as we have been slightly on the back foot.
“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. 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 tyres 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 as we have been slightly on the back foot. Looking to tomorrow, I think it will come down to the weather and tyre behaviour. The rain will make it more interesting, especially with the tarmac making it more slippery, the chicanes and the close walls. It has been a difficult weekend, but considering everything we definitely maximised the result in qualifying and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
Fernando Alonso
QUALIFYING P6
“It was a very unpredictable Qualifying session with the constant threat of rain lingering, but I think we have to be happy with both cars in Q3 in these conditions. After the last two events I was out in Q1, so starting in sixth position gives us a good chance of scoring points tomorrow. I don’t think I did a perfect lap in Q3 and when you see at the end that I was only two tenths from pole position it hurts a little bit.
In general the car has felt a little better this weekend and tomorrow we will see how we manage the tyres and pace as we haven’t had a lot of long runs in the dry. If it rains tomorrow, it could be decided by fine margins and who switches the tyres at the right time, so we have to be prepared for everything.”