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 in Montreal.

Russell’s pole lap time was 1:12.965.

Russell beat Mercedes team‑mate Kimi Antonelli by 0.068 seconds for Sprint pole.

Mercedes achieved a front‑row lockout with Russell first and Antonelli second.

Kimi Antonelli qualified second and led the drivers’ championship with 100 points.

Antonelli sat 20 points clear of Russell in the season standings.

George Russell is 28 years old.

Kimi Antonelli is 19 years old.

Russell will start ahead of Lando Norris (third), Oscar Piastri (fourth) and Lewis Hamilton (fifth) on the Sprint grid.

The Sprint will be 23 laps on May 23 and the Sprint covers roughly 60 miles (about 100 km) and awards up to eight championship points to top finishers.

Mercedes brought a major upgrade package (the heavily upgraded W17) to Canada that contributed to improved single‑lap pace.

George Russell said he “never doubted” himself after the difficult recent run of races.

Toto Wolff said he had “never doubted” Russell.

Kimi Antonelli acknowledged he made a mistake on his final SQ3 run and said a cold soft‑tire lap left him in P2.

Fernando Alonso crashed at Turn 3 after locking up, triggering a red flag; the incident kept him out of later runs and he recorded no time/eliminated from Sprint qualifying.

Alex Albon missed Sprint qualifying after his car was damaged when he struck a groundhog in free practice, requiring extensive repairs.

Liam Lawson did not take part in qualifying because of hydraulic problems in practice.

Max Verstappen qualified seventh after having a lap deleted for exceeding track limits and was 0.539 seconds down on pole.

The Sprint qualifying used a top‑10 shootout format with medium tyres mandated for SQ1 and SQ2 and soft tyres for SQ3.