Mercedes' Russell takes shock pole over Verstappen at Canadian GP

MONTREAL -- George Russell and Max Verstappen set identical times in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, with Russell taking pole position by virtue of setting his time earlier in the session.

The Mercedes driver clocked a 1:12.000 on his first run in Q3, which was then matched down to a thousandth of a second by Verstappen in the final moments of qualifying.

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Formula One rules state that if identical times are set by multiple drivers, the one who set the time first will start ahead.

Lando Norris will start third on the grid for McLaren ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth after Norris was just 0.021 seconds off the times of Russell and Verstappen.

Russell's pole position marks Mercedes' first of the season after the team struggled with the performance of its car from the first race in Bahrain.

A new front wing for the Monaco Grand Prix helped address one of the main weaknesses of the car, and Russell attributed the pole position to the work done by Mercedes back at its factory.

Asked whether he could hold off championship leader Verstappen for victory on Sunday, he said: "Why not? Of course. Let's go for it. The car's been feeling so good since we brought an upgrade at Monaco."

Ferrari will not feature in the top 10 on the grid after both drivers failed to hook up a competitive time in the closing stages of Q2. Charles Leclerc missed out on a place in Q3 by 0.032s to qualify his Ferrari 11th, with teammate Carlos Sainz 0.037s further adrift in 12th.

Leclerc, who won the last race, in Monaco, and is second in the championship, immediately radioed his team after Q2 and said, "I guess we are out? OK, I won't comment here." Sainz added that he had "no grip" after returning to the pits and learning about his grid position.

Daniel Ricciardo will start fifth for RB on Sunday's grid, a welcome result for him after teammate Yuki Tsunoda was confirmed at the team for 2025 with Ricciardo's future still uncertain.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso will start sixth ahead of the second Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton and Russell had both set times in the 1:11s in Q2, which were the fastest of the qualifying hour, but Hamilton could manage only a 1:12.280 when it mattered in Q3.

Tsunoda will start eighth in the second RB ahead of the only Canadian on the grid, Lance Stroll, and Williams'  Alex Albon in 10th.

Just 0.008s behind Sainz's Ferrari in 12th, Albon teammate Logan Sargeant secured his best qualifying position of the season in 13th, ahead of Kevin Magnussen's Haas in 14th and Pierre Gasly's Alpine in 15th.

For the second weekend in a row Sergio Pérez was knocked out of qualifying in Q1 and will start 16th on the grid. The Mexican driver, whose new two-year contract at Red Bull was confirmed earlier this week, was nearly a second off the lap time of teammate Verstappen in the opening session of qualifying.

A sprinkling of rain reduced grip levels at the start of Q1, but conditions improved rapidly as the track dried, meaning the pressure was on all drivers to improve in the closing stages. Valtteri Bottas qualified 17th for Sauber ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon, who will start last once his five-place penalty for clashing with teammate Gasly in Monaco is applied.

Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg qualified 19th and will move up to 18th as a result of Ocon's penalty, and Sauber's Zhou Guanyu will start 19th after qualifying 20th.