Russell secures GP pole with the final lap and the exact same margin as Sprint Qualifying
Some moments in sport can’t be scripted. George Russell completed a perfect Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix, adding grand prix pole to his sprint race victory and doing it by the exact same margin as sprint qualifying, down to the thousandth of a second: 0.068s over Kimi Antonelli. If that’s not circuit ownership, nothing is.
Russell was the fastest man in qualifying at Montreal for the third consecutive year. He won here last season, took sprint pole, converted it to sprint victory, and has now added GP pole with a 1:12.578 four from four on the weekend if sprint qualifying is included.
The lap that decided everything came last. Russell emerged on top of a five-way fight for pole with his final effort, dethroning Antonelli who had gone to provisional pole moments earlier. Before that, Russell had abandoned his first Q3 attempt after clipping the wall at Turn 4 and sliding wide at Turn 6, leaving him with just one chance to salvage the perfect weekend. He didn’t waste it.
Antonelli had been chasing his fourth consecutive F1 pole and fell just 0.068s short. McLaren locked out the second row with Lando Norris third at +0.151 and Oscar Piastri fourth at +0.203.
The session had its subplots. Isack Hadjar topped Q2 with a stellar lap, making the pecking order heading into Q3 hard to read. Lewis Hamilton was also up there, troubling the thus far dominant Mercedes. In Q3, Hamilton ended up fifth for Ferrari ahead of Hadjar, who went five tenths faster than Red Bull teammate Verstappen. Between the two Red Bulls came Leclerc in P8, hampered by marmot damage, and Lindblad in P9. Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10 for Alpine, again out-qualifying Gasly, who picked up floor damage from a marmot strike during Q1.
At the back, both Cadillacs and both Aston Martins were eliminated in Q1. Alonso and Stroll will start 19th and 21st, with Pérez and Bottas 20th and 22nd respectively.
Rain is forecast for Sunday. Antonelli admitted tyre preparation had been tricky in qualifying, though he still secured another front-row start. If the weather arrives, everything we saw today could be irrelevant by the end of the first lap.
F1 QUALIFYING CANADIAN GRAND PRIX 2026
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:13.953 | 1:13.079 | 1:12.578 | 24 |
| 2 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:13.380 | 1:13.076 | 1:12.646 | 24 |
| 3 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:13.503 | 1:13.049 | 1:12.729 | 28 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:13.559 | 1:13.285 | 1:12.781 | 29 |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 1:13.767 | 1:13.041 | 1:12.868 | 27 |
| 6 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 1:14.067 | 1:13.479 | 1:12.907 | 23 |
| 7 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | 1:13.654 | 1:12.975 | 1:12.935 | 22 |
| 8 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:13.825 | 1:13.496 | 1:12.976 | 29 |
| 9 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 1:13.895 | 1:13.548 | 1:13.280 | 28 |
| 10 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 1:14.466 | 1:13.857 | 1:13.697 | 27 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | 1:14.562 | 1:13.886 | — | 21 |
| 12 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 1:14.346 | 1:13.897 | — | 22 |
| 13 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 1:14.775 | 1:14.071 | — | 22 |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:14.698 | 1:14.187 | — | 20 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1:14.276 | 1:14.273 | — | 21 |
| 16 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 1:14.449 | 1:14.416 | — | 22 |
| 17 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 1:14.845 | — | — | 12 |
| 18 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:14.851 | — | — | 13 |
| 19 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:15.196 | — | — | 11 |
| 20 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Cadillac | 1:15.429 | — | — | 11 |
| 21 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:16.195 | — | — | 10 |
| 22 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 1:16.272 | — | — | 10 |
Do you think Russell can convert this pole into a race win and close the championship gap on Antonelli further? Or does the rain change everything in Montreal on Sunday? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: SI.com, RacingNews365, GPFans, PlanetF1, The Race, Motorsport Week, Total Motorsport, F1-Fansite
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