Mercedes dominate Canadian GP sprint qualifying as Russell grabs pole

Montreal- George Russell bounced back in style by securing pole position for the sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday, leading an impressive Mercedes front-row lockout alongside teammate and Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Russell delivered the quickest lap during sprint qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, finishing just 0.068 seconds ahead of Antonelli. The result marked a timely response from the British driver after a difficult outing in Miami and underlined Mercedes’ growing strength in sprint weekends this season.

“After Miami, this feels really satisfying, but I never lost confidence in myself. I know what I’m capable of,” Russell said. “This circuit is amazing to drive on because the car really comes alive here. Everything just clicked today.”

Antonelli, who has won the previous three Grands Prix and became Formula One’s youngest-ever championship leader at 19, admitted his session was far from perfect despite sealing second place.

“To be honest, the lap wasn’t great,” the Italian driver said. “The session felt messy overall. I made an error in SQ2 and that affected my rhythm a bit.”

He added that Mercedes’ recent upgrades appeared to be paying off.

“We’ve introduced some upgrades, and although we’re still learning how to get the best out of the package because the balance has changed, it definitely seems to have given us an advantage again,” Antonelli explained.

McLaren’s Lando Norris qualified third, narrowly ahead of teammate and reigning world champion Oscar Piastri in fourth. Norris said the team had managed to recover well after struggling earlier in the weekend.

“After practice, we were concerned because we lacked confidence in the car and seemed quite far off,” Norris said. “We made a few adjustments, and things improved a lot. My lap still wasn’t perfect, but even with a better one, the gap to Mercedes would have been difficult to close.”

Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished fifth and sixth respectively, while Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen could only manage seventh.

The Canadian Grand Prix is featuring the sprint format for the first time this year. The 100km sprint race will award points to the top eight finishers, with the winner receiving eight points.

Qualifying also witnessed several dramatic moments. Liam Lawson missed the session because of a hydraulic issue during practice, while Alex Albon damaged his Williams after colliding with a groundhog. Fernando Alonso also crashed in the opening qualifying phase, briefly halting the session as track barriers needed repairs.

With inputs from IANS