Russell pips Antonelli in Canada qualifying thriller

George Russell will lead the second Mercedes front-row lockout of the weekend after pinching the top spot from teammate Kimi Antonelli after the flag.

Russell’s pole bid looked lost when he abandoned his first attempt at a lap with a snap of oversteer at Turn 6, complaining of a devastating lack of grip. The Englishman returned to pit lane for a tire change and rejoined the track shortly afterwards, putting him out of sequence with the rest of the field but with enough fuel to be the last driver over the line.

His first attempt was uncompetitive, while teammate Antonelli rocketed to the top spot with a sizzling lap comprised of purple first and third sectors, putting him ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the competitive McLaren entries.

Improvements from others dumped Russell down to seventh as he prepared for his final lap. His first sector had him 0.053s slower than Antonelli, but a purple middle split — the section of the circuit that had undone him earlier — put him just over 0.1s ahead overall.

Though he shipped time to his teammate gain over the line, that superb second sector was enough to haul the jubilant Englishman ahead by just 0.068s.

“That last lap came from nowhere, and it was just such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session and you need to put it all together on the last lap to throw yourself up the leaderboard — it was epic," said Russell.

“We weren’t as clearly ahead of everyone else as we were yesterday, so it was definitely a challenge. As I said, I managed to redial my driving for that last lap and put it together.”

Explaining his struggles, Russell revealed that Mercedes had made some set-up decisions in anticipation of rain on Sunday at the expense of single-lap pace.

“We made some changes based on the forecast for tomorrow,” he said. “It may have hurt us a little bit for now. It took the car out of sync a little bit.”

Antonelli was disappointed to be pipped at the death but was focused on a good performance in the wet on Sunday.

“Of course there was still a little bit left on the table, but George did a great lap,” he said. “Now eyes on tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather’s going to be like. Of course we’ll try to be ready for anything.”

Lando Norris repeated his sprint qualifying feat with third on the grid. At 0.151s off the pace, the reigning champion was happy to be a genuine pole challenger.

“It’s a difficult track to put everything together perfectly, but I think we did another good job,” he said. “It’s clear that these guys are just a little bit quicker. It’s nice to be closer than we were yesterday. I had fun this morning.

“Of course the weather’s going to be different tomorrow, so we’ll wait and see. But we’re in a good place, and we’re in the place we need to be.”

Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton followed, as they did in sprint qualifying, with Piastri 0.052s behind his teammate and 0.139s ahead of the trailing Ferrari.

Max Verstappen was deeply unhappy with a lack of grip from his Red Bull Racing machine on his way to sixth and a respectable 0.329s off the pace, though it took him until his final lap to usurp teammate Isack Hadjar, who qualified one place and only 0.028s further back.

Charles Leclerc’s weekend-long struggles continued, landing him eighth on the grid and 0.398s off the pace. The Monegasque insisted on exiting pit lane in clear air to try to maximize his pace, even if it cost him a slipstream.

Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad made the third Q3 appearance of his career in ninth, while Franco Colapinto outqualified Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly for the second consecutive grand prix — and the second time this weekend — to take 10th on the grid.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 11th for the fourth time in five grands prix this season, missing out on Q3 by 0.029s. Lawson was 12th in the second Racing Bulls car, 0.011s further back.

Gabriel Bortoleto was outqualified by teammate Hulkenberg for the third consecutive race on his way to 13th ahead of Pierre Gasly, who failed to make the top 10 for the first time since the season-opening Australian Grand Prix due to floor damage picked up in Q1.

Carlos Sainz will line up 15th ahead of Oliver Bearman in 16th.

Esteban Ocon missed out on a spot in the top 16 by 0.07s for his first Q1 knockout this season, while Alex Albon paid for his disrupted build-up to the weekend with an underwhelming 18th on the grid, more than half a second slower than teammate Sainz.

Fernando Alonso led the battle of the backmarkers, putting his Aston Martin 19th and 1.8s off the pace, though the Spaniard will be investigated after the session for an unsafe release from pit lane at the start of qualifying. Sergio Perez followed in 20th, but the Mexican will also see the stewards for failing to adhere to the race director’s instructions when taking to the run-off at Turn 13.

Lance Stroll qualified 21st after skating off the road at Turn 3, but the Canadian will join the stewards queue for being released in an unsafe condition.

Valtteri Bottas qualified last after botching his final attempt at a lap with a lock-up at the first turn.

Results to follow.