George Russell pips Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli to take pole for Montreal sprint
George Russell delivered a timely reminder of his pace by clinching pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix sprint race on Friday, leading a dominant Mercedes performance with teammate and Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli completing the front row.
After a difficult outing in Miami, Russell bounced back in style at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, edging Antonelli by just 0.068 seconds in a tightly contested sprint qualifying session.
The British driver, who began the season by winning the Australian Grand Prix, has since found himself overshadowed by the sensational rise of 19-year-old Antonelli, who has won the last three races and emerged as the youngest championship leader in Formula One history.
“This feels great after a tough Miami, but I never doubted myself. I know what I can do,” Russell said after securing pole.
“It feels like you are driving a proper F1 car around here, which is how it should be. It all came together today.”
The Canadian Grand Prix is hosting the sprint format for the first time, marking the third sprint weekend of the 2026 season following events in China and Miami. Russell won the sprint in China, while McLaren’s Lando Norris converted pole into victory in Miami.
Antonelli admitted his lap was far from perfect despite securing second place.
“The lap was quite bad, to be fair,” the Italian said. “The session was not clean at all. I made a mistake in SQ2 and that threw me off a little bit.”
Mercedes’ recent upgrade package appeared to make an immediate impact, with Antonelli suggesting the team had regained a competitive edge.
“We brought the upgrade. Of course, we still need to understand the package a little bit more because the balance has changed, but overall it seems to have given us an edge again,” he said.
McLaren stay in touch, Verstappen struggles
McLaren’s Norris qualified third, 0.315 seconds behind Russell, with teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth. Norris admitted the result exceeded expectations after the team struggled earlier in the day.
“After this morning we were a little worried about how far off we were because of the lack of confidence in the car,” Norris said. “We made some tweaks and it seemed to help.”
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took fifth and sixth respectively, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could manage only seventh, ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar.
The session also featured multiple incidents. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson missed qualifying due to a hydraulics issue, while Williams’ Alex Albon was sidelined after crashing in practice following contact with a groundhog.
Fernando Alonso also brought out a stoppage after crashing in the opening phase.
“I locked up the fronts and after that you are just a passenger,” Alonso said.
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