Russell seals pole in Canada with identical time to Verstappen

It was a qualifying session to remember in Canada, with shock exits, exciting breakthroughs and unchartered conditions ending with George Russell securing pole position with an idenitcal time to second-place starter, Max Verstappen.

More than most circuits on the calendar, the advantage of starting from pole has rewarded the quickest driver on Saturday with victory 21 out of 42 times, making this session all the more important.

The difficulty of that challenge was only amplified by the 80% chance of rain forecast during qualifying. 

Qualifying 1:

With dark clouds rolling in, a cautious majority of cars immediately filed out of the pitlane, ready to kickstart their qualifying campaigns.

It was a tough few opening laps for the grid, with each driver struggling for grip and tyre temperature in the cold and windy conditions.

With 10 minutes remaining in Q1, Lando Norris looked strong.

The McLaren driver found himself sitting at the head of the order with Lance Stroll and George Russell for company.

As for the all-important elimination zone, the bottom five was occupied by Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez, the Alpine drivers and Zhou Guanyu.

Oscar Piastri was down in a very at-risk P15 with his latest lap plagued by significant traffic interferences.

The moment involving Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda was noted by the stewards.

As Hamilton promoted himself into P3, the Australian dropped into the elimination zone, setting off once again to correct that.

After a quick reset in the pits, Pierre Gasly lit up the timing sheets, setting a purple Sector 1 as he jumped to the top of the order. 

He was soon demoted by two flying Aston Martins, before an onslaught of times hit the sheets.

Max Verstappen safely ended Q1 with the fastest time, a 1:12.360s, while the same could not be said for his teammate.

Sergio Perez was knocked out in the first stage of qualifying making it two Q1 exits in a row for the newly re-signed Red Bull driver.

Joining the Mexican in a Q1 exit were Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu and Esteban Ocon who carries a five-place grid penalty from Monaco.

Qualifying 2:

As the second stage of qualifying started, Norris was informed of light rain falling across the circuit, however, it wasn’t enough to dim the McLaren driver’s banker lap that put him into P4.

His teammate shot to the top of the order, setting an early benchmark time of a 1:12.462s.

Making his way down the back straight with two purple sectors, Russell made it three for three as he crossed the line with a new fastest time. 

Hamilton came sliding through the final corner, narrowly catching his Mercedes before it could make contact with the Wall of Champions.

With under 8 minutes to go, both Ricciardo and Tsunoda found themselves within the top ten, pushing Carlos Sainz closer and closer to the elimination zone.

At that point in time, the five places in the elimination zone were occupied by Verstappen, Stroll, Logan Sargeant, Alex Albon and Gasly.

Albon temporarily wasn’t out on track, however, with Williams suffering from pitstop issues that saw his rear tyre causing problems for the pit crew. 

Once back on track, the #23 punched in a personal best lap to go P9.

Sainz, Ricciardo, Verstappen and Tsunoda had all fallen back into the elimination zone.

At the chequered flag, Sainz wasn’t Ferrari’s only worry.

The #16 and #55 both found themselves knocked out of the top ten, the first time Ferrari has had a double Q2 elimination since Belgium 2021. 

Ferrari sent their drivers out of used soft tyres, with Sainz and Leclerc suffering for grip across the entire lap including a slide at the final corner for the Spaniard.

Joining them in a Q2 exit were Sargeant, Magnussen and Gasly. 

Qualifying 3:

Leaving the pitlane with weather conditions unknown, Piastri was the first driver to kickstart the fight for pole position. 

His time couldn’t compare to Verstappen’s 1:12.358s, the provisional pole benchmark on used tyres.

Mercedes started the session out of sync, setting their first laps with less than 7 minutes remaining.

It proved advantageous, with the Mercedes drivers securing a provisional front-row lockout.

The Aston Martins found themselves in the middle of the pack, occupying P5 and P6 after their first runs.

Trailing the home racer were Albon, Tsunoda, Norris and Ricciardo.

Following a momentary lull, Piastri took advantage of the clear air on track, promoting himself into P2.

Norris followed suit, moving up into Piastri’s place. 

The last-ditch attempts began rolling in as the chequered flag was waved.

Albon could do much more than P10, setting the slowest time of Q3, a 1:12.796s.

Stroll didn’t pose a threat for pole and neither did his teammate with the green cars slotting into P9 and P6.

In between the Astons, Tsunoda only managed to secure the eighth fastest time, sharing his row with Hamilton who starts the Canadian Grand Prix from outside of the top five for the very first time.

Ahead of Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo charged to a P5 start for the Canadian Grand Prix, narrowly missing out on a place on the second row.

Said second row will be occupied by the McLarens, with Norris leading over Piastri by 82 milliseconds.

That wasn’t the slimmest of margins across the board, with the top three separated by just 21 milliseconds, and the top two setting equal times.

George Russell’s first Q3 attempt was ultimately the lap that secured the Mercedes driver pole position in Montreal.

Despite Max Verstappen setting the exact same lap time, the fact that he set it after Russell meant that he was forced to settle for second place. 

With drivers starting from pole position winning 50% of the time around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Russell will be hoping to seal the deal tomorrow, with lights out kicking off at 4:00 AM (AEST).

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