Russell takes sprint pole ahead of Antonelli in Canada

MONTREAL: George Russell responded strongly on Friday by securing pole position in qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing ahead of championship leader and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli.

The 28-year-old Briton had earlier been quicker than the Italian teenager, who is chasing a fourth straight Grand Prix victory on Sunday, but Russell delivered when it mattered in a closely fought session. He posted a best lap of 1min 12.965sec to edge Antonelli by 0.068sec in qualifying, which was disrupted by a lengthy red-flag stoppage after Fernando Alonso crashed his Aston Martin.

Russell said the result was an encouraging response after a difficult outing in Miami and also pointed to the impact of Mercedes’ recent upgrades.

It feels great after a tough Miami, but I never doubted myself.

Russell said.

I knew what I could do. Miami was a bit unique, but it’s high grip here and it feels like you're driving a proper F1 car around here, which is how it should be.

The upgrades are definitely feeling great, the team have done such a great job to bring this forward. We saw in Miami that McLaren are close and Ferrari are not too far behind, and on a track like this it's really excelling.

Antonelli acknowledged that his own lap had not gone to plan and said he expected an improvement in the next session.

My lap was quite bad and the session wasn’t clean for me – I made a mistake and I pushed for lap one when I’d not done enough prep for the tyres and they were cold... We will do better tomorrow.

World champion Lando Norris qualified third, followed by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri. Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took fifth and sixth respectively. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were seventh and eighth for Red Bull, while Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad was ninth and Carlos Sainz 10th for Williams.

Red flag interrupts opening phase

The first segment began in air temperatures of 20 degrees and track temperatures of 42 degrees, with Hamilton initially setting the pace on 1:15.459. His benchmark was then surpassed by Leclerc, Norris and Russell, before Verstappen also moved to the top.

Antonelli then produced a lap of 1:14.010, nearly half a second faster than Verstappen at that stage. Hamilton, watched by his mother Carmen in the Ferrari garage, answered with 1:13.922 to move 0.088sec clear of the young Mercedes driver, and then improved again to 1:13.889.

The session was then halted when two-time world champion Alonso crashed at Turn Three after locking up in his Aston Martin. Alonso described the incident after the stoppage.

I locked up the fronts and after that you’re a passenger.

he said.

No room to avoid anything here… Too much on the limit.

Only 20 cars took part in the session. Williams driver Alex Albon was absent after crashing in practice earlier, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson did not participate because of gearbox problems.

After a 20-minute interruption, the session resumed with only 1min 46sec left for drivers to complete an out lap and then begin a flying lap. Only Sainz and home favourite Lance Stroll managed to do so, but neither improved. That left Sergio Perez eliminated along with Cadillac team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Aston Martin’s Stroll and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Russell leads the way in final stages

In SQ2, Russell and Antonelli were first out, but Norris initially set the pace before Hamilton moved ahead. Russell then clocked 1:13.466, with Antonelli 0.085sec behind his team-mate. Verstappen went out late and could manage only ninth before returning to the pits. Hamilton briefly went fastest, only for Russell to improve again with a 1:13.026 lap, putting him four-tenths clear.

Eliminated in that phase were Audi pair Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, both Haas drivers and Alonso.

Hamilton was first on track in SQ3, but abandoned his first lap on soft tyres before recording 1:13.605. Russell, however, found more speed and first set 1:13.194 before lowering it to 1:12.965 on his second run. In the closing flurry, the two Mercedes drivers locked out the front row, ahead of both McLarens, both Ferraris and the two Red Bulls.