George Russell stole pole position at the final moment in Formula 1 qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix as Lando Norris ended up in seventh place.
Russell delivered a 1m10.899s on mediums at the end of Q3 to usurp Max Verstappen at the top of the timesheets and give Mercedes its first grand prix pole of 2025.
Both beat a soft tyre-shod Oscar Piastri, who recovered decently from what’s been a tough weekend that included battering the Wall Of Champions in final practice.
“I’m pretty happy with third, which is a bit different this year but I’ll definitely take it here,” Piastri said.
The championship leader was third but half a second quicker than McLaren team-mate Norris, who, unlike Piastri, opted to run the new front suspension and ended up seventh via a brush with the wall.
Kimi Antonelli was fourth in the second Mercedes, just shy of a half a second slower than Russell.
Ferrari pole challenge falters
Ferrari was within a tenth of the pace in FP3, but its pole position bid never materialised in qualifying.
Charles Leclerc picked up a snap of oversteer at the Turn 6/7 chicane and blamed the dirty air from Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls, which was ahead of him.
He had set the fastest sector one time at that point but had to abandon that lap, which left him down in eighth place.
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a better session but was still fifth, over six tenths adrift of polesitter Russell.
Aston Martin best of rest
Fernando Alonso was a superb sixth for Aston Martin, ahead of both Norris and Leclerc.
Hadjar was ninth - but faces a post-session investigation for impeding Carlos Sainz in Q1 that’s highly likely to result in a penalty - with Alex Albon 10th for Williams despite causing a red flag in Q1 when his car lost its engine cover.
Tsunoda to start last
Yuki Tsunoda is set to start the Canadian GP from last place as he was knocked out in Q2 in 11th place after picking up a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking Piastri’s stricken McLaren under a red flag in FP3.
Tsunoda was beaten to a place in Q3 by Hadjar by just over a tenth, dooming Tsunoda to his third last-place start in four races.
Franco Colapinto enjoyed his best qualifying for Alpine so far in 12th place, earning his first intra-team victory against Pierre Gasly. He’ll start 11th due to Tsunoda’s penalty and that could be 10th if Hadjar is penalised.
Nico Hulkenberg was 13th for Sauber ahead of the Haas duo of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon, whose VF-25 has been struggling over the kerbs all weekend.
Sainz out in Q1
Williams took centre stage in Q1 with Albon’s escaping engine cover causing a red flag in the middle of the session.
He recovered to make it through but his team-mate wasn’t so lucky.
Having previously not been eliminated from Q1 since the end of 2023, Sainz suffered his second consecutive Q1 exit.
He ended up 17th fastest in Montreal after encountering Hadjar’s Racing Bulls on the racing line at the Turn 6/7 chicane.
“Massive impeding, massive!” Sainz told his race engineer while Hadjar was confused over why Sainz was pushing as he believed Sainz had aborted his lap.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto was also knocked out in 16th ahead of Sainz and Lance Stroll, fresh from his post-Spanish GP surgery, but over four tenths slower than Alonso in Q1.
Liam Lawson had his worst qualifying since returning to Racing Bulls in 19th place. “What the hell just happened. I have no idea,” he told his engineer at the end of Q1.
Gasly was 20th and slowest for Alpine, having lost the chance to complete a lap that would have got him through because of the red flag, and having made a mistake on his final flying lap after that.
Provisional Canadian GP starting grid
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull )
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
4 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
5 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
7 Lando Norris (McLaren)
8 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
9 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
10 Alexander Albon (Williams)
11 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
13 Oliver Bearman (Haas)
14 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
15 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
16 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
17 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
18 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
19 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
20 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing)*
*Yuki Tsunoda received a 10-place grid penalty for overtaking under red flags in FP3.
