George Russell edged Max Verstappen to pole position at Formula 1‘s Canadian Grand Prix with a last-gasp lap as Lando Norris’ qualifying troubles reared their head.
Norris went into qualifying having led the third practice session, but McLaren team-mate Piastri struggled and incurred a puncture when he hit the Wall of Champions.
Russell, the pacesetter in FP2, had looked quick throughout practice in the Mercedes and headed to the top with a 1:12.574s, seven tenths quicker than Yuki Tsunoda.
Charles Leclerc, who had missed vital mileage with a seismic shunt in FP1, slotted in behind Tsunoda and that placed him in the drop zone once more times came in.
However, Leclerc improved to go second on his next timed run, 0.161 seconds behind Piastri, who, alongside the two Aston Martins, had beaten Russell’s benchmark.
Max Verstappen was the next to accomplish that with a time 0.059s faster than Piastri, but Fernando Alonso on the Medium compound soon eclipsed the Dutchman.
But proceedings were brought to a halt with five minutes remaining when the rear wing on Alex Albon’s car disintegrated and scattered debris along the back straight.
Albon was among the quintet in the drop zone, alongside Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz vexed as impeding costs him Q2 place
Norris had been residing as low as 12th place when the session restarted, but the Briton clocked a time a tenth quicker than team-mate Piastri to take over at the top.
That time would remain unbeaten through to the end, while Albon was back out on track and did what he needed to progress with a time good enough for sixth place.
But Sainz was unable to put his Williams in Q2 as he experienced a dawdling Isack Hadjar at Turn 6 and the time lost would prove detrimental as he was knocked out.
Sainz was resigned to a premature elimination along with Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin on home soil, Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls and Gasly.
Tsunoda misses out on Q3, will start last
McLaren had fronted the timesheets in Q1, but both Norris and Piastri were unable to topple Verstappen’s initial table-topping 1:11.638s lap in Q2 on the Medium tyre.
Leclerc and Hamilton in the two Ferraris would also prop up short, a little less than three tenths behind Verstappen, while Alonso propelled his Aston Martin into sixth.
Russell demoted Alonso once he finished his opening Q2 run, with the Spaniard sandwiching the Mercedes drivers as Andrea Kimi Antonelli wound up in eighth place.
The Ferrari pairing continued to motor on, and Leclerc’s third timed lap witnessed him go 0.012s quicker than Verstappen, with Hamilton remaining back in fifth place.
Franco Colapinto’s improvement in the sole remaining Alpine demoted Tsunoda into the drop zone, as Russell pipped Leclerc’s benchmark on the Medium compound.
Tsunoda managed to better his previous time, but the Red Bull driver had a nervous wait as he sat ninth. That wasn’t enough as Antonelli and Hadjar dumped him out.
Along with Tsunoda, Colapinto’s Alpine, Hulkenberg’s Sauber and the Haas duo – Oliver Bearman leading Esteban Ocon – were the five who missed out on a spot in Q3.
Piastri capitalises on Norris mistake
Leclerc posted the opening time in Q3, a 1:11.729s. That was worse than the best lap in Q2, but Norris was unable to beat it as he made a mistake at the last chicane.
However, Piastri had a clean run in the sister McLaren and was almost five tenths quicker than Leclerc, though Verstappen then went 0.025s to seize provisional pole.
Russell and Antonelli in the two Mercedes’ were next to get on the board and slotted in behind Verstappen and Piastri, while Norris went fifth on his second timed lap.
Alonso was seventh when he switched to the Medium compound and he utilised the more durable rubber to secure fourth until Hamilton soon took over that position.
Leclerc was quickest through the opening sector on his next timed lap, but a mistake as he began the second sector guaranteed that he had to abandon that attempt.
Piastri had no such problems as he aced the last sector to displace Verstappen, but Norris could not improve behind him and was condemned to seventh on the grid.
Verstappen, though, edged out Piastri again to return to top spot until Russell pumped in a 1:10.899s to go 0.160s quicker to claim a second successive Canada pole.
Antonelli put both Mercedes cars on the first two rows as he achieved fourth place on his inaugural visit to Montreal, his predecessor Hamilton ending fifth for Ferrari.
Alonso impressed again in sixth place to capitalise on Norris and Leclerc’s blunders. Hadjar achieved another top-10 appearance in ninth, while Albon settled for 10th.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Canadian Grand Prix – Qualifying Results
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