George Russell holds the pole position for the GP Canada. For the third year in a row, the Briton gets to start the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve from the first starting position, once again with teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli right behind him. Although the pole position for Russell came as a surprise, he does not expect a continuation of the fierce battle with his young Italian teammate during the main event: ‘I had a good conversation with Kimi, and we have a lot of respect for each other’.
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The battle between George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli also continued during qualifying in Canada. The younger Mercedes driver seemed to be heading for pole position, but the Briton managed to beat his teammate’s time at the last moment. The Mercedes cars are thus together on the front row, ready for the next fight during the main event.
“It’s always a challenge to have to qualify again after the sprint race,” says an elated Russell after the session. “The car feels very different during qualifying. As a team, we also made some changes, and we still have to see if these were the right ones. But that last fast lap really came out of nowhere. It’s such a great feeling that when it’s such a tough session, you can drive such an epic lap.”
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Russell’s last fast lap came after the Briton had to abort his first attempt. “We made some changes with the weather forecast in mind. That has been hurting us a bit all Saturday. Because of that, Kimi was definitely more competitive than I was (during the sprint, ed.), but neither of us was that far ahead of the rest of the field.”
Respect for Antonelli
And can fans expect a continuation of the fierce battle between the teammates during the sprint for the Grand Prix on Sunday? “I had a good conversation with Kimi since the sprint,” reveals Russell. “We are both drivers, and we know what we have to do. We have a lot of respect for each other. The hope is that the race tomorrow will be between the two of us, but we already saw today how competitive the rest are. It looks like rain is coming tomorrow, so we have to make sure we end up on the top step of the podium.”
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