A DEAD HEAT! GEORGE RUSSELL CLAIMS POLE IN AN ACTION PACKED QUALI!
And breathe… Wow! A highly anticipated qualifying session certainly lived up to the expectations, but for completely different reasons. Montreal had it all, ending with surprise of the weekend, George Russell, earning just his second pole position in Formula One. Excitingly, Max Verstappen set the exact same time as Russell, so how did Russell claim pole over Max?
Q1: Out - Ocon (20th), Zhou (19th), Hulkenberg (18th), Bottas (17th), Perez (16th)
Another Q1, yet another shock Sergio Perez elimination. This is the second race in a row the Mexican has failed to make Q2, not the way he wanted to celebrate his new 2 year contract extension. Sauber clearly have the current slowest car on the grid, with Zhou having a very underwhelming weekend so far, actually qualifying last prior to Ocon’s 5 place grid penalty, and Bottas not performing much better. Ocon missed a crucial hour of practice in FP1, due to Jack Doohan standing in, meaning an early qualification exit was likely. Another shock exit was the new “Mr Saturday” Nico Hulkenberg, whom was out-qualified by teammate Magnussen, a rare occurence in recent times.
Q2: Out - Gasly (15th), Magnussen (14th), Sargeant (13th), Sainz (12th), Leclerc (11th)
Impressive laps in Q1 from Gasly and Magnussen got them into Q2 ahead of their teammates, with the pair not expected to climb further up the grid further than 15th and 14th. A driver who has impressed this weekend so far is under pressure Logan Sargeant, who managed to place his “half-upgraded” Williams into 13th, hoping to sneak a point in tomorrow’s race. Clearly, the weight reduction is bringing performance to the FW46.
The big surprise of Q2, the Ferrari’s. Across all races so far this year, Ferrari have looked strong. Therefore, seeing the prancing horse knocked out in Q2, WITH BOTH CARS, was a shocking surprise. Monaco race winner Charles Leclerc looked visibly angered, suddenly climbing out of his cockpit to instantly give his say on the matter. He believes there was a slight impede from a McLaren, haulting him from getting into Q3. However, his sector times weren’t improving throughout the whole lap and there is no sign of a penalty. Other Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz stated “no grip” as he found out he was knocked out. Can the pair climb up the positions on Sunday, it certainly makes it exciting when one of the favourites performs badly!
Q3 - Russell claims first pole of the season, via a dead heat!
What is a dead heat? Well, it is when at least two drivers set the exact same lap time as their fastest lap. Russell will start ahead of Verstappen for the race due to the Brit setting the lap time first. Other Brit and ever-present Lando Norris will start third on Sunday, with the McLaren only being two hundreths off pole himself. In this context, quite a big gap! The other McLaren in Oscar Piastri will start 4th, making the qualifying head-to-head 6-3 to Norris in the intense battle at McLaren. With Russell impressively starting pole, it was quite a surprise to see Lewis Hamilton set the seventh fastest time, with the 7-time champion claiming his grip disappeared.
An impressive, and undertalked, qualifying performance was shown by Daniel Ricciardo this weekend. After some controversial comments on television over the weekend, he placed his RB p5 for Sunday’s race, out-qualifying teammate Yuki Tsunoda for just the second time this season. Tsunoda himself presented another top display, making it to Q3 yet again, shortly after his contract extension for 2025 was announced. The RB is showing great pace again this weekend, with the drivers out-qualifying Red Bull driver Sergio Perez again!
The top 10 was also filled with both Aston Martin’s, who looked back on form finally, with Fernando Alonso out-qualifying Lance Stroll for the first time in three races. I wonder if Lawrence Stroll’s words had anything to do with this turn in performance. Alex Albon rounded up the top 10, getting his fully upgraded Williams into Q3 surprisingly. Hopefully the number 23 can execute this qualifying performance into points, despite the Ferrari’s behind.
7 of the top 10 cars in Q3 were Mercedes powered. A surprising stat, especially with thier engine performance apparently not being significant. With Russell attempting to hold off Verstappen and Norris behind, and the Ferrari’s and Perez wanting to charge through the field, Sunday’s race is set up to be an absolute belter!