Russell excels with superb final lap to take pole in Montreal, bests P2 Verstappen & P3 Piastri; Norris off the pace in P7

Saturday qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix delivered thrills aplenty, as the gap between the top three teams and the top four drivers appeared to narrow sharply here at the short and fast Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looking the favorite to take pole ahead of the two McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris late in Q3, it was Mercedes’ George Russell who seemed to come from nowhere and lay down a blistering lap to knock off Verstappen and Piastri and grab pole for himself. It was the second year in a row Russell earned pole in Canada and he clearly has an affinity for the temporary Notre Dame Island street circuit smack dab in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Not only did Russell’s excellent effort burnish his own sterling credentials this season — the Briton has four podiums out of nine races so far — but it also might be evidence that Mercedes is finally closing the gap to McLaren and Verstappen’s Red Bull, as Silver Arrows teammate Kimi Antonelli also qualified a very solid P4. Verstappen’s best flying lap still kept him ahead of points leader Piastri and on the front row, P2 vs P3, but the second McLaren of Lando Norris fumbled his way to a poor P7 time and will have his work cut out for him fighting his way to the front from there. .

Alex Albon’s engine cover goes flying 😵

Catch up with all the highlights from an eventful qualifying 🎥#F1 #CanadianGP

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 14, 2025

Lewis Hamilton was the highest placed Ferrari on a favored circuit where he has won a record-equalling seven times, besting his teammate Charles Leclerc P5 to P8. Fernando Alonso made the most of his vast experience and the Aston Martin’s latest upgrades to claim a surprise P6, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar earned P9 but was subsequently penalized three grid spots for impeding earlier in qualifying. Alexander Albon rounded out the top ten starters, putting in an excellent effort just to make it to Q3 let along set the tenth fastest time after his Williams’ engine cover literally blew apart midway through Q1. Albon’s mechanics deserve extra plaudits for getting the car ready to progress to Q2 during the not overly long Red Flag period caused by the cleanup of all that Williams debris on track

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 2PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out between the extremely competitive top three starters and really a top eight that could conceivably take the victory in Canada!