Russell pips Mercedes team-mate Antonelli by 0.024 seconds for Canadian Grand Prix sprint pole

George Russell took pole position for the sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame in Montreal. Mercedes locked out the front row, with Russell's 1:11.428 holding off team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.024 seconds. Lando Norris will start third.

The opening segment, SQ1, opened with one of the more unusual session-ending incidents of the year. Alex Albon collided with a groundhog (the species native to Canada that often appears trackside in Montreal) during the final practice session and his car could not be repaired in time for sprint qualifying. Williams reported gearbox and suspension damage, and Albon will start from pit lane. In SQ2, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly were eliminated.

SQ3, the final qualifying segment, saw Mercedes' best laps of the weekend so far. Russell's first hot lap of 1:11.461 had already moved him to provisional pole; he then improved to 1:11.428 on his second run, taking another 33 milliseconds off the clock. Antonelli found a tenth in the final sector on his second attempt but could not close the gap.

Speaking afterwards on FOM cameras, Russell said: 'The pace has been there all season, but I've finally been able to turn it into pole. Beating Kimi feels particularly good — he's the rookie, but we're learning from competing against him as much as he's learning from us.'

The 19-year-old Italian Antonelli has drawn outsized attention since stepping into the Mercedes seat in place of Lewis Hamilton at the start of the season. He came within milliseconds of pole in Bahrain. After qualifying, he said: 'I have huge respect for George. But looking at where the season is heading, my first pole at the team is getting closer.'

For McLaren, Lando Norris acknowledged that the team's pace today was a step short of Mercedes. 'Mercedes were clearly ahead today. We'll go through the lap times with Oscar [Piastri] and we may need to play more aggressively in Sunday's grand prix,' he said.

Max Verstappen had to settle for fourth. The Red Bull driver had said earlier in FP3 that 'something feels off this weekend, almost against the laws of physics'. Issues with front-wing balance kept him outside the pole fight in qualifying. On a day on which Antonelli closed in on his first pole, Verstappen said: 'I am very curious to see how Antonelli uses that pace.'

Qualifying was disappointing for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc finished fifth, Lewis Hamilton eighth. Hamilton, in his first season since leaving Mercedes for Ferrari, recorded one of his worst qualifying results of the year. After the session he said: 'I have to admit I qualified poorly because I couldn't find the pace in the practices.'

There were also some unexpected names. Sauber's young driver Gabriel Bortoleto delivered the team's first SQ3 appearance and will start ninth. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso is tenth, while Lance Stroll was eliminated in SQ1 and starts 17th.

The sprint race begins this afternoon at 4:30pm local time in Montreal (Turkey 19:30), with the main race on Sunday at 2:00pm local. Forecasts show a dry track for the sprint and a 40 percent chance of light rain on Sunday. Whether Mercedes can extend this pace into Saturday's full qualifying will be a key indicator of the team's ability to translate qualifying pace into race-stint rhythm in the 2026 season.