F1 News
Dramatic qualifying session ends in dead heat: Russell on pole
George Russell has qualified on pole position for the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix, as Mercedes surprised the F1 world with its strong performance on the low-grip circuit. The qualifying session finished in a dead heat, with both Russell and Max Verstappen setting a 1:12.000, but the pole goes to the Brit because he set his time first. Lando Norris will start Sunday's race from third.
It was another disastrous qualifying session for Sergio Perez. The Mexican was knocked out of Q1 for the second consecutive Grand Prix weekend. He recently signed a new contract at Red Bull, but that will be a painful moment for all involved. Adding to Perez's pain, both Visa Cash App RB drivers reached Q3. Ferrari had a painful moment of their own. Both of their cars failed to reach Q3.
Mercedes offset themselves to the rest of the field on their first run of Q3. The decision paid off as Russell led a one-two with five minutes remaining. McLaren decided to build early, and both of their drivers managed to split the Mercedes cars. Russell's P1 time survived by less than one-tenth to Norris before Mercedes put on the new set of softs. Verstappen put in a fantastic lap and matched Russell's time.
Oscar Piastri will start the race from fourth, and Daniel Ricciardo will start from fifth. Hamilton was looking to challenge for pole, but he dropped back to P7 when it mattered most.
Q1
The session started with an 80% chance of rain as clouds started to roll in. The track was relatively green, with most drivers reporting a lack of grip. This meant that lap times started to tumble for all as more and more laps were completed. A number of mistakes were made, including Sainz missing the apex at turn one, Russell running across the grass, and Stroll hitting the wall of champions.
Tsunoda, with a fresh contract in his pocket, seemingly impeded Piastri, and Hamilton was also involved in the incident noted by the stewards. They decided not to investigate further. With five minutes remaining in the session, some big names were in the drop zone. Piastri and Perez, along with Zhou and both Alpine cars.
The leaderboard moved like a fruit machine in the final minutes because of the track improvements. Perez was bang under pressure in Q1, and he wasn't fast enough to escape the session. For the second Grand Prix running, Perez will start towards the back of the grid. Meanwhile, his teammate Verstappen finished fastest by four-tenths.
Out - 16th Perez, 17th Bottas, 18th Ocon, 19th Hulkenberg, 20th Zhou
Q2
Rain was in the air for the start of Q2, but slicks were still the tyre of choice. Hamilton had a scary moment at the final chicane and nearly headed into the wall of champions, but the Brit saved it. His teammate Russell then had a huge moment in turn four. Verstappen used an old set of tyres and was only 10th fastest with six minutes remaining.
Ferrari expected more drops of rain as the chequered flag dropped so they were rushing to get their laps in early. Verstappen had dropped down to P14 by the time he was ready to set a lap, but his time was good enough to take him out of the session. In Q2, the stewards said they wanted to investigate the Dutchman for failure to follow the race director's notes.
Out - 11th Leclerc, 12th Sainz, 13th Sargeant, 14th Magnussen, 15th Gasly