By Angelica Medina
MONTREAL, Canada, May 23 (Reuters) – George Russell snatched pole position from Formula One championship-leading Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli with a last-gasp lap at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Russell, winner of the day’s earlier sprint race from pole, crossed the line 0.068 of a second faster than the Italian right at the end of the session after the 19-year-old had gone quicker than everyone else.
“That is the most exhilarating feeling in the world when it comes last minute out of nowhere,” the Briton said on the team radio after a whoop of joy. “We made that a bit tricky…”
McLaren’s Lando Norris, the reigning champion, will start in third place on Sunday with Australian teammate Oscar Piastri alongside for what could be a wet race with race director Rui Marques declaring a ‘Rain Hazard’.
VERSTAPPEN FRUSTRATED BY LACK OF SPEED
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth, but facing an enquiry for alleged impeding, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sixth and frustrated at a lack of straight-line speed.
“I have no idea what is going on. I don’t really have a lot of words,” said the Dutch four-times world champion.
“Everything is so confusing. I also didn’t like the set-up change we made. I think (Sunday) will be chaos regardless of the weather.”
The pole was a third in a row in Canada for Russell, who converted the position into victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last year and whose team have brought a major car upgrade to Montreal.
It had not looked at all certain minutes earlier when the Briton aborted his first attempt to return to the pits and was still to set a time with six minutes to go. He then went out and did two flying laps, sealing pole with the second.
Russell had not figured in the top three in the two previous qualifying phases, with Antonelli — winner of the last three grands prix and 18 points clear of Russell in the standings — top in Q1 and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar fastest in Q2.
RUSSELL’S “GREAT FEELING”
“That last lap came from nowhere,” said the Mercedes driver. “It was such a great feeling when it was such a challenging session and you pull it all together on that last lap to throw yourselves up the leaderboard is epic.
“Kimi was more competitive than I and we weren’t as clear ahead of everyone else as yesterday, so it was a challenge but I redialled my driving and put it together.”
Hadjar will start seventh alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad qualified ninth with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, finally finding some form after a breakthrough weekend in Miami, will start 10th.
Antonelli, who was fuming after the sprint race and suggested Russell should be penalised, sounded calmer after the session.
“I am pretty happy. There was still a little bit left on the table but George did a great lap and all eyes on tomorrow,” he said.
“We will see what the weather is like but we will try and be ready for anything.”
Norris, second in the sprint when he split the Mercedes pair, said it had been hard to put everything together but the team had done a good job.
“It’s clear these guys (Mercedes) are a little bit quicker. It’s nice to be closer than we were yesterday,” he said. “The weather will be different tomorrow. We are in a good place and the place we need to be.”
(Reporting by Angelica Medina; Writing by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)
