Mercedes shows more strength in Canada with Russell’s pole for the Sprint

The English driver George Russell (Mercedes) has achieved pole position this Friday for the Sprint race of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, the fifth round of the World Championship, while the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will start from the grid, respectively, tenth and sixteenth.

At the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the action began with Free Practice 1 and the anecdote was seeing the Thai Alexander Albon (Williams) collide with a groundhog, causing so many problems in his car that he did not participate in the qualifying rounds. In addition, New Zealander Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) had an apparent hydraulic failure and did not go to SQ1 either.

In that initial round, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was the first ‘cock’ to push the pace, although he was surpassed by the Italian Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and later the Englishman Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), with a lap of 1:13.922 and then another of 1:13.889. With 1:46 left in SQ1, Alonso blocked a wheel while trying to make a right turn.

His accident caused a red flag on the track. Despite resuming with pending scores for the laggards, no one won anything and Sainz advanced from the eleventh phase, being screened – in this order – the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Cadillac), the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and the Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac).

Already in SQ2, Hamilton briefly led the time table with a 1:13.637, until Russell did 1:13.466 and then Antonelli was 0.085 behind his teammate. Later, Hamilton counterattacked in 1:13.465, although the excitement was behind because, with the lap already started and the clock at zero, Sainz’s time overtook his rivals.

Suddenly he improved the times of the German Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and the Argentine Franco Colapinto (Alpine), the Madrid native passing to SQ3 in a tenth place that he later repeated while the media focus was focused on the two Mercedes cars. Thus, Russell took pole in 1:12.965 and Antonelli, 0.068 away, finished second; Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren) was third.

For his part, the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) finished fourth and Hamilton finished fifth, just ahead of his Ferrari teammate, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc. Without giving the usual fear, Verstappen finished seventh and with his teammate at Red Bull, the Frenchman Isack Hadjar, being eighth; and ninth was the Englishman Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls).