George Russell is the pole sitter for the Canadian Grand Prix for the second consecutive year, and just as in 2024, alongside him on the front row is Max Verstappen. Last year, these two set identical times of 1’12”000 with the Mercedes driver claiming the top spot by virtue of being first across the line, but today 160 thousandths separated the Englishman (1’10”899) from the Dutchman (1’11”059).
This was Russell’s sixth career pole, his first this year, while for Mercedes it is pole number 142, the sixth in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The second row features championship leader Oscar Piastri for McLaren, third in 1’11”120 ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, fourth in the second Mercedes in 1’11”391.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was presented to Russell by Summer McIntosh. The Canadian swimmer has won three gold medals (200 butterfly, 200 and 400 individual medleys) and a silver in the 400 freestyle at the Paris Olympics in 2024. A few days ago, between 8 and 12 June, Summer set three world records during the Canadian trials held in Victoria, in the 400 freestyle and the 200 and 400 individual medleys.
In the third free practice session, once again the Soft did almost all the work, with the majority of drivers (Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly, Lawson, Hadjar, Albon, Sainz, Hulkenberg and Bortoleto) only using the C6, while the Mercedes, Aston Martin and Racing Bulls pairings scrubbed-in one or more sets of Hards.
In qualifying, the Medium compound was used more extensively than usual, with eight drivers (Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Stroll, Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly and Albon) running one or more sets of C5 at the expense of the more usual use of the softest compound available.
George Russell – Pole
“That is the only time I’ve ever had goosebumps after a qualifying lap! I went around the first corner and was one tenth up and after that, the car just felt like it was on rails. I felt so confident pushing the limits and we ultimately went six tenths quicker than our first lap in Q3. It was pretty special and something that I will remember for a long time. Crossing the line, I felt that surely it was pole position and I’m very happy that it was!
“It’s a short run to turn one so hopefully we can put ourselves in a good position and go from there. We will focus on ourselves and hopefully show similar pace as to what we had on the long run in FP2. It is rarely as simple as that though, so we will have to be at our best if we want to fight for victory tomorrow.”
Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport
“An extremely exciting qualifying session, which is very much the norm at the moment in Formula 1: with 27 seconds remaining in Q3, there were four changes of pole-sitter! It is very rare to see a driver set the pole time on the Medium in a dry session – the last time dates back to the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix courtesy of Lewis Hamilton – but today we had four drivers set their best times in Q3 on the C5, and indeed, this scenario became every more likely as the weekend progressed. It explains why, this morning, many drivers worked exclusively with the Soft, either to understand how to extract the most from it or indeed to save new Mediums for the grid deciding session.
“Since it first appeared in Imola, we have seen that the difference in performance between the C6 and the C5 is quite small, let’s say of the order of a tenth to a tenth and a half, and that the C6 delivers peak performance in a narrower operating window. Here in Montreal, several drivers preferred to rely on the C5 that they know well, rather than venture into chasing that extra bit of performance the C6 might offer, feeling more comfortable with a compound that gave them more confidence when it comes to tackling a tricky track like this one with its kerbs and walls. The result was a Q3 order with four yellow circles in the tyre column alongside each driver’s best lap.
“The expansion of the 2025 compound range is also having the indirect effect of delivering a greater variety of approaches from the teams and drivers in terms of tyre usage over the weekend and that will be reflected in tomorrow’s race. As for strategy, we think a two-stop is still the most plausible option, favouring the use of the Medium and Hard. The one-stop is theoretically possible, but unlikely to pay off, especially as overtaking is possible here. The C6 could be a useful choice for the start, for example for those with two new sets of Hards available, who are planning a relatively short first stint or for anyone banking on an early appearance from the Safety Car.”
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