George Russell took pole position in Canada, eclipsing Verstappen to the starting place by setting their shared lap time of 1:12.000 first. Behind them is Lando Norris in P3 with a lap time of 1:12.021.
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Mercedes went into Qualifying with all to play for. The German team led FP3 where Lewis Hamilton crossed the finish line with a 1:12.549. Teammate George Russell was in P3 with Max Verstappen in-between them.
On Thursday, Lando Norris topped FP1 while Fernando Alonso dominated FP2. The weekend so far has not had a clear leader, making it difficult to predict just who will take pole position.
As with the rest of the weekend, there was an 80% chance of rain for this session, which was set to test the drivers and their teams.
Q1
The green flag was on at the end of the pit lane and thus the queue gathering to begin was released. However, it was not plain sailing. Light drops of rain were reported, but it soon became clear that this was nothing to be concerned about yet.
Max Verstappen slotted into P1 with a 1:15.194 as those behind him sought to improve their tyre temperature. Verstappen did not hold P1 for long as Lando Norris usurped him with a 1:14.500.
Carlos Sainz took a trip across the gravel at the first corner while hometown hero Lance Stroll took P1. He was soon beat by teammate Fernando Alonso and then George Russell. Mercedes looked to retain their FP3 success.
The track was under low grip conditions, but this did not stop Norris, who reclaimed P1 from his British rival.
As the last laps began, Pierre Gasly jumped to the front of the grid. While further laps saw him drop to P10 quickly, it was an impressive lap time from the Frenchman.
Elsewhere, what a weekend this has been for Sergio Pérez. While he recently resigned for Red Bull, this luck did not extend to his Qualifying position. The driver was knocked out of Q1 with +0.966 seconds to P15. Behind him were Valterri Bottas (+1.006), Esteban Ocon (+1.075), Nico Hülkenberg (+1.168), and Zhou Guanyu (+1.932).
Q2
The dreaded rain began to fall as Q2 began and the cars left the pit lane.
Verstappen’s first effort of the session slotted him into P2 behind Oscar Pisatri, who was soon overtaken by Russell with a 1:12.323.
While the rain was yet to intensify and cause problems, Verstappen’s used tyres began to slot the Dutchman further down the grid. His next lap left him in P9 until an improvement from Sainz dropped him from P10. This is not shaping up to be Red Bull’s weekend.
Leader Russell had a lucky escape from an incident through Turn 4. The Mercedes driver went sideways and narrowly avoided contact with the wall.
Verstappen was in danger of a Q2 elimination, however, saved himself with a flying lap that jumped him up to fifth. He was no match for either Mercedes, who were flying in P1 and P2.
The shock of the session was the elimination of both Ferrari drivers. Charles Leclerc missed P10 by +0.949 while Sainz sat in P12 (+0.986). Logan Sargeant will start tomorrow’s race in P13 (+0.994) with Kevin Magnussen in P14 (+1.174) and Pierre Gasly in P15 (+1.198).
Q3
There was all to play for as Q3 began and the top 10 for the Canadian Grand Prix set out to gain pole position.
Verstappen, still on used tyres, placed in P1 with his first flying lap, just ahead of Piastri. However, this success did not last long as the dominate Mercedes of Russell flew to the top by over three-tenths of a second. To his teammate’s 1:12.000, Hamilton slotted in second with a 1:12.280.
The drivers went to maximise their speed with their last laps. Piastri’s effort saw him knock Hamilton off of the P2 slot until Norris improved to take P2 off of his teammate.
Up until the very last second of Qualifying, we were delivered entertainment. Russell and Verstappen crossed the finish line at the exact same time as 1:12.000.
As the Mercedes driver set the time first, George Russell takes pole position for the first time since the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen joins him on the front row in P2 while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri sit behind in P3 and P4, respectively.
Image Credit: Mercedes/LAT Images.
The full result from an absolutely CRAZY qualifying hour 🤯
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 8, 2024
Roll on Grand Prix Sunday! #F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/gqPIzSEBYe
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