Finlay McSporran
Published: 17:36, 15th June 2025

The Mercedes driver will start on pole for the first time this season, with Max Verstappen alongside.

Russel was happy to be back on pole, however there are some drivers that will be very disappointed with their results, in what was a very interesting qualifying session yesterday.

Q1

McLaren were the early pacesetters in Q1, as they have been pretty much all season, with Norris leading Piastri at the top of the times.

At the bottom was Pierre Gasly, the Alpine driver having been knocked out by teammate Colapinto for the first time this season. Joining him in the drop zone was Liam Lawson and Home Hero Lance Stroll.

Carlos Sainz could only manage 17th after being impeded by a slow-moving Isack Hadjar, which would be investigated after the session. His teammate on the other hand, Alex Albon, progressed through to the next part of qualifying despite losing a ton of bodywork, as the engine cover made a bid for freedom down the backstraight, bringing out the red flags.

The final driver to be eliminated in Q1 was Sauber’s Gabrielle Bortoleto who could only manage 16th.

RED FLAG 🚩

The engine cover flies off Albon's car! pic.twitter.com/P76rTBJS9U

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 14, 2025

Q2

Norris looked quick once again in Q2, but it was Russel who ended the session fastest on the medium tyre, something which has became a bit of a talking point this weekend, with teams and drivers unsure over which tyre is the fastest over a single lap.

The Haas pair of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Beaman were first to be knocked out, with Nico Hulkenberg also failing to progress.

Colapinto could only manage 12th in the end, a much better result for the Argentinian who needs to find his Williams form from last year if he wants to keep his seat.

The Final driver to be eliminated was Yuki Tsunoda, who was handed a 10-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in FP3 and so will start the Grand Prix from the back.

Q3

Verstappen was on provisional pole after the early runs in Q3, with Lando Norris down in 10th place after running wide at the final corner and abandoning the lap.

Leclerc was the first driver to start his final run, however the Monegasque made an error in sector two which ruined his lap, leaving him down in eighth.

Norris could only manage P7 as he failed to improve on his final lap. His teammate on the other hand was flying, and took pole potion… for about thirty seconds, as Max Verstappen went to the top of the times on the medium tyre.

It wasn’t done yet though, as Russel was next to cross the line, putting in a 1m 10.899s, which was good enough for pole.

The big talking point after qualifying was unsurprisingly the front row – Russel and Verstappen. They have been quite the story in recent months with their war of words at the end of last season and their coming together two weeks ago in Spain.

The Dutchman really can’t afford to take any risks this time however, as he currently sits on 11 penalty points, just one away from the threshold which would see him banned for the next race should he go over it.

Russel even joked about this after the session where he said: “I’ve got a few more (penalty) points on my licence to play with”.

Other highlights from qualifying include the two McLaren drivers. Third place might not be what Piastri had in mind coming into qualifying, but he can rest easy knowing that his championship rival Norris will be starting four places lower in seventh.

Fernando Alonso continues his good run of form on from Spain, qualifying sixth place in the Aston Martin. Another driver in good form right now is Isack Hadjar who qualified ninth, but was handed a three place grid penalty for impeding Sainz in Q1.

Full Qualifying Results:

Pos	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1:12.075	1:11.570	1:10.899
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:12.054	1:11.638	1:11.059
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	1:11.939	1:11.715	1:11.120
4	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:12.279	1:11.974	1:11.391
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:11.952	1:11.885	1:11.526
6	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:12.073	1:11.805	1:11.586
7	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:11.826	1:11.599	1:11.625
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:12.038	1:11.626	1:11.682
9	*Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	1:12.211	1:12.003	1:11.867
10	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:12.090	1:11.892	1:11.907
11	*Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:12.334	1:12.102
12	Franco Colapinto	Alpine Renault	1:12.234	1:12.142
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:12.323	1:12.183
14	Oliver Bearman	Haas Ferrari	1:12.306	1:12.340
15	Esteban Ocon	Haas Ferrari	1:12.378	1:12.634
16	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:12.385
17	Carlos Sainz	Williams Mercedes	1:12.398
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:12.517
19	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	1:12.525
20	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	1:12.667

*Penalties

Tags:

Formula 1

Canadian GP