Britain’s George Russell took the lead ahead of Saturday’s Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ Russell clocked a best time of 1 minute 12.000 seconds. Moments later, three-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen clocked exactly the same time in his Red Bull, but Russell took advantage of the tiebreaker as he clocked the clock first.
McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the top three with a time of 1:12.021.
Quebec driver Lance Stroll of Aston Martin qualified in ninth position, while his teammate Fernando Alonso took sixth.
Norris said earlier this week that Ferrari was probably the favorite team this weekend, after Charles Leclerc’s triumph in Monaco. Leclerc, for his part, retorted that he did not like inheriting this title, and bad luck struck his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. and him during qualifying.
Leclerc and Sainz were eliminated during the second segment of qualifying (Q2) and ranked 11th respectivelye and 12e.
It is rather the Mercedes who have inserted themselves into the leading group. In addition to Russell’s top position, veteran seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton placed seventh.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri placed fourth, ahead of fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo (RedBull). Yuki Tsunoda (RedBull) moved into eighth place.
Alex Albon (Williams) completed the top-10.
On the Red Bull side, Sergio Perez will have to move up the peloton if he wants to collect some points for his team. He was eliminated in Q1 during a second Grand Prix in a row and qualified in 16e position.
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon finished qualifying in 18e position, but he will start at the back of the pack due to a five-position penalty on the starting grid. He was punished for his role in an accident in Monaco two weeks ago.
Despite a possibility of rain at the end of qualifying, the drivers were able to run on a dry track during the hour of action.
The race will start at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamilton was fastest in the third and final practice session, as the drivers were finally able to run on a dry track for the full hour.
On Friday, the drivers had to deal with a wet track during both sessions. They had driven for only five minutes on the soft tires during the first session and 30 minutes during the second.
Verstappen followed in second behind Hamilton, while Russell completed the top three.
The third practice session was interrupted for five minutes after Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou lost control of his car and hit the wall on the exit of turn two.
Albon and Verstappen had also lightly kissed the ‘Wall of Champions’, but did not appear to suffer significant damage.