F1 – Russell claims pole for Canadian Grand Prix as Verstappen sets identical lap time

Mercedes’ George Russell took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, taking the second top spot of his career by virtue of posting the time of 1:12.000 ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who set an identical lap time at the end of a tight session at Montréal’s Circuit Gilles Villenueve. Lando Norris took third for McLaren, just 0.021s off pole. 

At the start of the hour, with rain expected, a queue of cars formed at the end of the pit lane with drivers eager to post a banker lap. 

It was Norris who set the early pace as he dipped into the 1m14s bracket. Verstappen then posted a lap of 

1:13.368 to sit a little under two tenths clear of the McLaren driver, but Russell then jumped to the top of the order, 0.126s ahead of the Dutchman, with Lewis Hamilton in P3 in the second Mercedes. 

Norris wasn’t done, however, and he returned to top spot on 1:12.959 ahead of Russell, before Hamilton took P1 a tenth ahead of the McLaren driver. Verstappen was back on track, though, and despite complaining about poor downshifts, his final flyer of 1:12.360 took him back to the top of the timesheet, almost four tenths of a second ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda who took an impressive P2 ahead of Hamilton. 

The big shock of Q1 was the exit of Sergio Pérez. Ahead of the final runs, the Mexican found himself rooted to the bottom of the order but when he crossed the line at the end of his final run it was only good enough for P12 and he soon slid back to the edge of the danger zone. And when Williams’ Alex Albon put in good final lap to jump out of the drop zone, Pérez was edged out of the session in P16 ahead of Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg and the second Sauber of Zhou Guanyu. 

Russell again set the pace early in Q2 as he took P1 with a lap of 1:12.323 that put him 0.139s ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Verstappen’s first run of 1:13.084, on used tyres was only good for the lower part of the top 10 and as the session unfolded dropped to tenth place on 1:12.940.

In the final runs, Norris jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:12.201 ahead of Tsunoda, who was a tenth further back. 

Verstappen, though, was falling further back and with a minute remaining he was in 14^th place. However, with new Softs on board he crossed the line and moved to a solid P6, which became P7 when Albon’s final flyer pushed him ahead of the Dutchman. At the top of the timesheet, Russell took P1 with a lap of 1:11.742, ahead of Hamilton and Norris, with Tsunoda in fourth ahead of Piastri.

Albon’s late rise up the order also meant that Charles Leclerc was dumped out of qualifying in 11^th place, one ahead of Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz. Also ruled out at the end of Q2 were Williams’ Logan Sargeant in P13 ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

 In the first runs of Q3, with all 10 drivers on used Soft tyres, it was Russell who again the early pace, at 1m12s dead. Hamilton took second 0.280 behind his team-mate Verstappen slotted into third place on 1:12.358. 

In the final runs, the McLarens were first on track and they split the Mercedes, with Norris in P2 just 0.021 behind Russell who held on to provisional pole, as Piastri took third. 

Verstappen dug deep to post an identical time to Russell but even though the Mercedes driver failed to lower the benchmark any further, he sealed pole by virtue of having set the time first. Behind the top two, Norris took third ahead of team-mate Piastri, while Daniel Ricciardo took an excellent fifth place for RB ahead of Alonso and Hamilton. Tsunoda was eighth in the second RB ahead of Aston’s Lance Stroll and the final top 10 spot went to Albon. 

2024 FIA Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying 
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.000 – –
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:12.000 – –
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.021 0.021 
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.103 0.103 
5 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:12.178 0.178 
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.228 0.228 
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.280 0.280 
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:12.414 0.414 
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.701 0.701 
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:12.796 0.796 
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:12.691 0.691 
12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.728 0.728 
13 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:12.736 0.736 
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:12.916 0.916 
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:12.940 0.940 
16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:13.326 1.326 
17 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:13.366 1.366 
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:13.435 1.435 
19 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:13.978 1.978 
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:14.292 2.292