Russell Claims 2026 Canadian Sprint Pole

George Russell claimed pole position for the 2025 Canadian Sprint in a Mercedes front-row lock-out ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli topped Practice ahead of Russell in a session which was disrupted by three red flags, but Russell responded in the last two segments of Sprint Qualifying to claim pole position for the sprint race ahead of his teammate and title rival.

McLaren recovered from a tough practice session to lock out the second row on a day packed with plenty of incidents across both sessions.

 

Practice

Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was first on track and set 1m 29.239 as the initial benchmark which was swiftly usurped by several drivers as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar set the pace in competition with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen and Hadjar found themselves top when red flags were waved in the 12th minute after Liam Lawson stopped on the exit of Turn 4 due to suspected gearbox issues, which turned out to be a hydraulic leak upon post-race inspection by Racing Bulls.

The session resumed five minutes later and Russell and Antonelli soon exchanged fastest laps, before Piastri posted 1m 14.963 in the 23rd minute, but the red flags were back out a minute later after Williams’ Alex Albon crashed at Turn 7 after hitting a groundhog.

After a 16-minute delay, the session resumed with a 15-minute extension which saw Russell and Antonelli exchange fastest laps until Antonelli set 1m 14.392 to head his teammate by 0.052 seconds.

Once several drivers switched to the soft tyre qualifying simulations, Antonelli again edged out Russell on 1m 13.402 as his rival sat 0.142s adrift in second.

Haas’ Esteban Ocon caused a third red flag with five minutes left after he spun on the exit of Turn 4

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 13.402
2	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.142
3	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.774
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.953
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.964
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 1.397
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 1.561
8	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 2.050
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 2.296
10	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 2.461
11	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 2.812
12	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 2.851
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 3.095
14	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 3.240
15	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 3.258
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 3.407
17	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 3.576
18	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+ 4.029
19	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 4.368
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 4.466
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 4.524
22	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	No Time

 

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

Albon and Lawson were both ruled out of the session after their issues in Practice as Hamilton was the first to hit the track in the opening segment, and set 1m 14.459 as the initial benchmark time.

Once everyone set a lap time, Antonelli sat quickest on 1m 14.010 but Hamilton went 0.088s quicker on his next flier to displace his Mercedes successor with 1m 13.922.

Hamilton subsequently lowered his benchmark by a further 0.033s to 1m 13.889 just moments before the red flags came out with 1m 46s on the clock, after Alonso’s front brakes locked up and sent him ploughing into the barriers at Turn 3.

Perez, Stroll, Gasly and Bottas found themselves sat in the four remaining elimination spots following Albon and Lawson’s absences.

The segment resumed 19 minutes later with Sainz first back out on the track but as the checkered flag fell, only Sainz, Stroll and Hamilton crossed the line in time for a final flying lap.

Stroll however failed to improved as the six eliminees remained the same with Perez set to line up 17th ahead of; Stroll, Gasly, Bottas, Albon and Lawson.

 

SQ2

Russell was first on track but Norris was the first driver to set a benchmark time of 1m 13.957 but Russell responded with 1m 13.466 to go quickest from Antonelli and Hamilton.

Ocon, Bearman, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Verstappen and Alonso sat in elimination zone once everyone set a lap time, with Alonso unable to take part after his SQ1 crash whilst Verstappen’s first lap time was deleted due to a breach of track limits.

Verstappen however improved to ninth and dropped Sainz into the danger zone but the Spaniard left it to the checkered flag to snatch 10th, which knocked Hulkenberg out by 0.048s.

Bortoleto will line up 12th ahead of Colapinto, Ocon, Bearman and Alonso, whilst Russell topped the segment with 1m 13.026 on his final flier.

 

SQ3

Hamilton was first out on track as the top ten switched from medium to soft tyres and set a benchmark time of 1m 31.204 after he backed out of his flier, as did Hadjar, Sainz and Leclerc.

Hamilton subsequently set 1m 13.411 as the representative benchmark time on his next flier until Russell found 1m 13.194 to go 0.217s quicker than his former teammate.

Antonelli put his Mercedes provisionally third on the grid ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar, Piastri, Leclerc, Lindblad, Norris and Sainz with two minutes left on the clock.

Russell however couldn’t be denied as he set 1m 12.965 at the checkered flag to head Antonelli by 0.068s, with McLaren’s Norris and Piastri on the second row ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc.

Verstappen qualified seventh in front of Hadjar, Lindblad and Sainz.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1m 12.965
2	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.068
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.315
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.334
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.361
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.445
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.539
8	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+ 0.640
9	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 0.772
10	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 1.571
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1m 14.595
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 0.032
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 0.107
14	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 0.333
15	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 0.710
16	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	No Time
17	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1m 16.002
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 0.352
19	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+ 0.640
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 0.864
DNQ	Alex Albon	Williams	No Time
DNQ	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	No Time