Mercedes’ George Russell snatched pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on Saturday.
Russell beat Verstappen by 0.160 seconds to grab the fastest time just seconds after the Dutchman had taken it away from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
“One of the most exhilarating laps of my life.
“I swear, every corner I was looking at my lap-time delta on my steering wheel and I was going 0.1secs quicker, 0.1secs quicker.
“I got to the last corner and I was 0.6secs up and I thought: ‘This lap’s mighty.’ I am so pleased with pole,” Russell said.
The Australian’s team-mate and title rival Lando Norris could manage only seventh place, behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and a superb performance from Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
The grid sets up a battle into the first corner between Briton Russell and Verstappen just a race after their controversial conflict at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen was penalised 10 seconds and given three licence penalty points for deliberately colliding with Russel in the closing stages of the race and is one licence point away from a race ban.
“We’re mates, so it’s all good. I have a few more points on my licence to play with so let’s see,” Russell referenced in his post-qualifying interview.
Russell had felt on arriving at the track on Saturday morning that he had a good chance of setting pole, and his confidence was well placed.
McLaren had had a difficult weekend, and Piastri said he had been “pretty happy with third”.
The grid gives the Australian a good chance to extend his championship lead over Norris, who had a tricky session.
He missed the final chicane on his first lap of the top 10 shootout and had to be reminded not to push too much in the braking zones.
His second attempt was slower than Alonso’s first, and Norris failed to improve on his final run, and was bumped further down by Russell, Antonelli and Hamilton.
