George Russell and Max Verstappen set the exact same lap time around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Formula 1 qualifying at exactly one minute and 12 seconds flat.
But Russell won the pole because he set his lap time earlier in the session, just the second of his career and first in two years.
Verstappen had to settle for second, while Lando Norris was .021 seconds behind both in third.
“It feels so good,” Russell said in the podium interview. “So much hard work back in the factory has gone into this. We said it in Monaco, we hope this is the start of something for our season. And I think it is … I missed this feeling.”
There were no major incidents in all of qualifying.
Q3
Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Leader |
1. | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:12:000m |
2. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | Tied |
3. | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | +0.000s |
4. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | +0.000s |
5. | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB Honda RBPT | +0.178s |
6. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +0.228s |
7. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +0.280s |
8. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB Honda RBPT | +0.414s |
9. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +0.701s |
10. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | +0.796s |
Q2
A big surprise came in Q2, as both Ferrari drivers failed to make it into the second round.
One interesting note is that this isn’t just a watershed weekend for the Mercedes factory team — Logan Sargeant was the lone Mercedes-powered driver on the grid not to make it to Q3.
Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
11. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.032s |
12. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +0.069s |
13. | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams Mercedes | +0.077s |
14. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | +0.257s |
15. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | +0.281s |
Q1
There was rain that had washed away all the rubber from the track prior to this session. Although it was a dry session, air temperature was only 69 degrees, meaning that the cars became dramatically faster as the session went on and that rubber was laid back down and the track warmed up.
The big surprise of the session was that Sergio Perez failed to make it out of Q1, something Red Bull did not need as the constructor’s championship is nowhere near secure this year.
Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
16. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | +0.037s |
17. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK Sauber Ferrari | +0.077s |
18. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | +0.146s |
19. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas Ferrari | +0.689s |
20. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK Sauber Ferrari | +1.003s |
Lights out for the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix will come at 2 p.m. ET. Coverage in the United States will be on ESPNNEWS and ESPN+. F1 TV will also have the race for subscribers to that service.
Michael has watched NASCAR for 20 years and regularly covered the sport from 2013-2021, and also formerly covered the SRX series from 2021-2023. He now covers the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and road course events in the NASCAR Cup Series.