George Russell will start in the lead on Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Rare fact: Russell (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) managed the same time, 1 min 12 s. very exactly. In such a situation, the first to pass the time, Russell in this case, has priority. The Briton thus obtains his second career leading position, after that of 2022 in Hungary.
This is only the second time, since timing has been to three decimal places, that there has been a tie. The last time something like this happened was in 1997; Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished tied.
McLaren’s Lando Norris will start in third place, followed by teammate Oscar Piastri. Surprise in 5e place: Daniel Ricciardo, from RB, who had an excellent qualifying.
PHOTO MATHIEU BELANGER, REUTERS
George Russell
The Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll respectively finished in 6e and at 9e rank. Stroll avoided disaster in Q1, when one of his wheels hit the champion wall. The car remained intact.
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) will line up 7e on the starting line, followed by Yuki Tsunoda (RB). Williams’ Alex Albon qualified in 10e place.
The big surprise of the day took place during the second qualifying session, when the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fils could not do better than the 11e and 12e time respectively.
If Sainz fils said in his microphone that he completely lacked grip, Leclerc played it cautiously; “I won’t comment here,” he said with frustration before getting out of his car.
Logan Sargeant (Williams, 13e), Kevin Magnussen (Haas, 14e) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine, 15e), also saw their day end in Q2.
Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, at Sauber, both saw their journeys end in the first qualifying session, as did Esteban Ocon (Alpine, 18e) and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas). Ocon, even if he took the 18e rank, will start 20e due to the penalty awarded to him after the Monaco Grand Prix.
More details to come.