George Russell secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with the very last lap of the qualifying session Saturday, edging Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by just 0.068 seconds, according to BBC Sport.
Russell had aborted his first qualifying lap and was sitting in third place when he began his final run. He planned for two flying laps on that run, and it was the second one that made the difference. Antonelli had looked set to claim pole after beating McLaren's Lando Norris on his first run, and Russell's initial lap was only good enough for third.
"It is the most exhilarating feeling in the world when it comes at the last minute out of nowhere," Russell said over the radio after realising he had secured pole.
He explained the difficult session leading up to that final lap. "The car was out of sync, out of balance [for much of the session]. I knew I needed a big lap and on my preparation lap I saw Kimi on the TV screen going purple [fastest] and I was like, right, I need to bring something big here."
Antonelli, who had held three successive pole positions heading into Canada, acknowledged the narrow defeat. "It was very difficult to get the tyres in the right window. It was a pity to miss out by such a small amount but George did a great lap."
Norris finished third in qualifying, 0.083 seconds behind Antonelli's time before Russell's final run raised the bar further. Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar of Red Bull split the Ferrari drivers, with Charles Leclerc eighth. Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad and Alpine's Franco Colapinto rounded out the top 10.
Hamilton faced an investigation for allegedly impeding Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the first part of qualifying. No action was taken after Gasly said he did not consider Hamilton's driving to have impeded him.
Russell also won the sprint race earlier on Saturday. The team made setup changes to the car for qualifying with a view to predicted wet weather on Sunday, when Russell will start from the front of the grid.
