Canadian Grand Prix 2026: George Russell beats Kimi Antonelli to pole position
George Russell achieved pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix by beating his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli in the final round of qualifying.
Russell, who won the sprint race earlier on Saturday, fell behind after aborting his first lap.
But two fast laps in the final run allowed him to edge Antonelli by 0.068 seconds, and Russell cheered on the radio after realizing he had secured pole position.
“It’s the most exciting feeling in the world when it comes out of nowhere at the last minute,” he said on the radio.
Antonelli looked set to beat his teammate when he beat the time set by McLaren’s Lando Norris in the Briton’s first run; Russell’s first lap on his last run was only good enough for third place.
But Russell had planned two rounds and did his job in the second round.
He said: “There are times when you expect pole position and every lap is the fastest, but the times when it all comes together in the end are the sweetest.”
“The vehicle was not synchronized, it was unstable [for much of the session]. I knew I needed a big tour and on my preparation tour I saw Kimi being painted purple on the television screen. [fastest] “And so I thought I should bring something big here.”
Antonelli said: “It was very difficult to get the tires into the right gap. It was a shame to miss by such a small margin, but George had a great lap.”
Norris was also challenging for pole position and set the fastest middle sector as he tried to snatch top spot from Antonelli ahead of Russell’s final run.
But the world champion fell 0.083 seconds behind the Italians before Russell raised the bar again.
“It was a very tough session but to do it on the last lap was epic,” said Russell, explaining that the team had made some changes to the car for qualifying considering the wet weather forecast for Sunday.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest, ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who was separated from teammate Charles Leclerc by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Hamilton is facing an investigation for impeding Alpine driver Pierre Gasly in the first part of qualifying.
Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10.
