George Russell beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli to pole in a Mercedes front-row lockout for the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell left it until the checkered flag in Q3 to snatch pole from the in-form Italian by 0.068 seconds as the Mercedes pair again locked out the front row like they did for the sprint, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind them on the second row.
Q1
Williams’ Alex Albon was first to venture out and set 1m 30.289 as the initial benchmark as many drivers opted for two warm-up laps, of which Norris set the pace with 1m 14.213 on the first fliers.
Esteban Ocon, Albon, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Stroll found themselves in the elimination zone.
Antonelli responded with 1m 13.380 on his second flier to go quickest and top Q1 whilst the bottom six evolved to contain; Gabriel Bortoleto, Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg, Bottas, Stroll and Gasly.
As the checkered flag fell amidst high track evolution, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg and Gasly survived at the expense of Ocon, Albon and Perez who qualified 17th, 18th and 20th respectively, as Alonso improved to 19th whilst Stroll outqualified Bottas on the last row of the grid.
Q2
Franco Colapinto was first on track ahead of his Alpine teammate, Gasly, and the Argentinean proceeded to set 1m 25.981 as the benchmark time, as many drivers opted for two warm-up laps.
Once everyone set at least one representative lap time, Antonelli set the pace on 1m 13.076 whilst the elimination zone comprised of; Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Gasly and Liam Lawson, but Leclerc soon lifted himself into ninth at Colapinto’s expense.
Lawson meanwhile opted for an early first flier of his final Q2 run and set 1m 14.403 to go 13th ahead of Bortoleto whilst Gasly too went early and leapfrogged Bearman into 15th.
At the checkered flag, Hulkenberg qualified 11th and outqualified Lawson by 0.011s whilst Bortoleto will start 13th ahead of Gasly, Sainz and Bearman.
Hadjar topped the segment with 1m 12.975 ahead of Hamilton.
Q3
Max Verstappen was first on track at the start of the final segment and initially set 1m 25.870 on his first warm-up flier, before he set 1m 13.473 as the representative benchmark time.
Norris however saved his best for his first Q3 flier as he laid 1m 12.729 as the benchmark time to beat ahead of Hamilton by 0.139s.
Oscar Piastri, Antonelli, Leclerc, Verstappen, Arvid Lindblad, Colapinto, Hadjar and Russell completed the top ten after the first runs, with Russell having aborted his flier due to a rear slide through Turns 6 and 7 but he started his final run early and improved to third.
As the checkered flag fell, Antonelli displaced Norris with 1m 12.646 but Russell left it until the end to snatch a third consecutive Canadian GP pole with 1m 12.578 to beat his teammate by 0.068s.
Norris and Piastri will line up third and fourth behind the Mercedes duo like they did for the sprint race, whilst Hamilton qualified fifth ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Lindblad and Colapinto.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 12.578 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.068 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.151 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.203 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.290 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.329 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.357 |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.398 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.702 |
| 10 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.119 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 1m 13.886 |
| 12 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 0.011 |
| 13 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 0.185 |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.301 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.387 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 0.530 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 1m 14.845 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.006 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.351 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 0.584 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.350 |
| 22 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 1.427 |
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