MONTREAL — For the first time since the 2022 season, George Russell secures pole position, this time for the Canadian Grand Prix.
“Oh, amazing. It feels so good, feels so good! So much hard work back at the factory has gone into this,” the Mercedes driver said during his on-track interview. “We said it in Monaco that we hope this is the start of something for our season, and I think it is. I’ve missed this feeling.”
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Max Verstappen will line up alongside the Briton after setting an identical lap time.
Because Russell set the fastest lap first, he takes pole position and is set to line up P1 for Sunday’s grand prix. It’s only the second time in Formula One history that identical lap times have been set for pole position, the last time being in 1997 when there was a three-way tie between Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will make up the second row, and both Ferrari drivers were knocked out in Q2. Charles Leclerc qualified P11 and Carlos Sainz, P12. Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo qualified a surprise P5 while teammate Yuki Tsunoda will line up P8.
The full result from an absolutely CRAZY qualifying hour 🤯
Roll on Grand Prix Sunday! #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/gqPIzSEBYe
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2024
The bigger context
It’s been a while since a Mercedes driver has been at the top of the starting grid in recent months, the last time being Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. The Silver Arrows have struggled with their car this season, often qualifying near the back half of the top 10.
Russell even said in Miami, “I think we have to accept that we are the fourth fastest team at the moment. And the lap times don’t lie, the championship doesn’t lie. This is where we are. And as I said, I think we’re fighting for the P5 to P8 region, week in, week out.”
But in Montreal this weekend, the W15 came alive.
Heading into this weekend, Hamilton said the car has been improving while simultaneously acknowledging that competitors have also taken a step forward as the grid continues to develop their respective cars. Mercedes entered the weekend with upgrades on both cars, but it’s been more difficult to tell how competitive it could be given the mixed conditions. There’s been little dry running, even during qualifying.
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But Russell could tell throughout the weekend that they could fight.
“I think every lap we’ve done this weekend, the car’s been feeling good. We’ve always been at the upper end of the timesheets. And we were talking yesterday why do we think we were so competitive on FP1, FP2, and, you know, obviously on FP3, really fast as well, so… We need to see in the next races if that continues.
“But obviously last week in Monaco, we were a tenth (of a second) from the front row, here on pole. And this is the first two races we’ve had with the upgrades. So, yeah, time would tell. We’d only get carried away with ourselves. But, yeah, it’s looking good so far.”
Required reading
(Photo: Qian Jun / MB Media / Getty Images)