Russell secures Montreal sprint pole, pips teammate Antonelli
George Russell secured pole position for the Sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, lapping the Montreal circuit in 1:12.965 to beat Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by 0.068 seconds and lock out the front row. The 28-year-old said he "never doubted" himself after a difficult recent run, with team principal Toto Wolff echoing that he had "never doubted" his driver. Antonelli, 19, acknowledged a mistake on his final SQ3 run, saying a cold soft-tyre lap had left him second despite leading the drivers' championship on 100 points — 20 clear of Russell in the standings. Mercedes' heavily upgraded W17 package brought to Canada was credited with the improved single-lap pace.
Behind the Mercedes pair, Russell will start ahead of Lando Norris in third, Oscar Piastri fourth, and Lewis Hamilton fifth. Max Verstappen qualified seventh after having a lap deleted for exceeding track limits, ending up 0.539 seconds off pole. Fernando Alonso crashed at Turn 3 after locking up, triggering a red flag that kept him out of later runs and left him eliminated with no time set. Alex Albon missed Sprint qualifying entirely after his car was damaged striking a groundhog in free practice, with the repairs proving extensive, while Liam Lawson sat the session out due to hydraulic problems from practice.
The 23-lap Sprint on May 23 will cover roughly 60 miles — about 100 km — and award up to eight championship points to top finishers. Sprint qualifying used a top-10 shootout format with mediums mandated for SQ1 and SQ2 and softs for SQ3.
