#F1 #CanadianGP #SprintQualifying: @GeorgeRussell63 blasts to #CanadianGP #Sprint pole.

Russell Canadian Sprint Pole – George Russell clinched pole position for tomorrow’s Canadian GP Sprint race showing the Silver Arrow’s major upgrade were showing promise ahead of team-mate and championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli to make it a Mercedes one-two as reigning world champion Lando Norris ended up third for McLaren.

This was Russell’s second Sprint pole as the Briton aims swing the momentum back in his favour after team-mate Antonelli’s stunning form.

In SQ3, the initial flyers saw Hamilton the first to venture out with the seven-time world champion abandoning his lap after over-correcting the error into turn one.

Hamilton posted a 1:31.204 out-lap as Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar went to the top with a 1:26.725 as Williams’ Carlos Sainz slotted into second with a 1:29.917 despite an error out of turn one.

Ferrari’s Hamilton jumped to provisional pole on a 1:13.411 as Verstappen slotted into P2 setting a 1:13.507.

Russell was next blasting to provisional pole with a 1:13.194 to go 0.217 seconds ahead of Hamilton as championship leader Antonelli ended up third with a 1:13.500.

Hamilton improved to a 1:13.326 to go 0.132 off Russell’s benchmark as Norris put his McLaren second and 0.086 seconds off Russell.

Russell improved his time at the top with a 1:12.965 to take the Sprint pole by a slim 0.068 seconds over team-mate Antonelli who also improved to a 1:13.033 to make it a Silver Arrows front-row lock-out showing the upgrades have given the F1 W17’s some extra grunt.

Norris was demoted to third as a result of Antonelli’s late improvement as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri ended up fourth with his 1:13.299 effort.

Hamilton was the lead Ferrari ahead of Charles Leclerc on the third row of the grid in fifth and sixth respectively.

Fourt-time world champion Max Verstappen ended up seventh and in-front of Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar as RB’s Arvid Lindblad and Williams’ Sainz completed the top ten.

In SQ2, which was topped by Russell, a late improvement from Sainz sent Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg out of the middle segment with the German to start tomorrow’s Sprint in 11^th place and ahead of team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto who ended up 12^th.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto took 13^th and in-front of Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman who were 14^th and 15^th respectively.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was unable to take part in SQ2 due to his shunt in SQ1 and ended up 16^th.

In SQ1, which was topped by Hamilton, a red flag was brought out with a minute and 46 seconds remaining after Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso suffered a shunt after locking his brakes into turn three and went straight into the barriers, hitting the wall front on.

After a lengthy delay with Alonso’s AMR26 being cleared and the tyre barrier fixed, only Sainz, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and session-topper Hamilton made it to the line before the chequered flag was shown.

Both Hamilton and Sainz made an error running through the final chicane run-off area whilst Stroll abandoned his flyer and returned to the pits remaining in 18^th for his home Sprint race tomorrow.

Cadillac’s Sergio Perez was the quickest of the SQ1 eliminatees in 17^th and in-front of the aforementioned Stroll and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who was a low-19^th.

The other Cadillac MAC01 entry of Valtteri Bottas took 20^th as both Williams’ Alexander Albon (who suffered a shunt into the wall in FP1 after hitting a groundhog) and RB’s Liam Lawson (suffered a hydraulics issue in the sole practice session) were unable to take part in Sprint Qualifying and brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Canadian Grand Prix 2026 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 LENOVO GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2026 – SPRINT QUALIFYING

2026 Canadian GP Sprint Qualifying Pole Position: George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – 1:12.965:

“”Baby steps, I’m not standing here saying we are going to fly off the line… Oh, he has made some good starts (speaking on Norris).”

#F1 #CanadianGP FP1: #Antonelli leads dominant @MercedesAMGF1 one-two.

#F1 Lenovo #CanadianGP 2026 Preview. #Formula1 #CanadianGrandPrix

2026 F1 World Championship Standings