Who will take pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix?
The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix delivered one of the many shocking results of the Formula 1 season, as George Russell took pole position after posting the exact time as Max Verstappen in Q3.
Can Russell and Mercedes deliver another surprise Saturday in Montreal?
Both Russell and teammate Kimi Antonelli were strong in the two practice sessions Friday at the Canadian Grand Prix, with Russell finishing fourth in FP1 and atop the timing sheets in FP2. Antonelli was a little more off the pace in FP1, where he finished in P13, but was up in the top three with his teammate in FP2 with the third-best time.
While Russell thought the results in FP2 may have “flattered” the team, he also believes that the cooler temperatures and smoother surface in Montreal will play to the team’s strengths.
However, the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are always lurking. The Constructors’ Championship leaders brought a series of upgrades to Montreal, and the pair seemed to take what they learned from FP1 and put those lessons to work in FP2, where Norris finished second and Piastri finished sixth.
However, Norris was still unsatisfied after the two practice sessions, calling it the “worst” Friday of the season for the Woking-based team.
Max Verstappen, who has to avoid adding one more penalty point over the next two races to evade a one-race penalty ban, was fastest in FP1.
Qualifying starts at 4:00 p.m. Eastern and we will cover it live, so come back early and often for all the action! All updates are in Eastern time.
Here are the provisional qualifying results for the Canadian Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the session:
Q2
4:41: Verstappen remains up in P1 here with just over six minutes remaining in Q2.
The five drivers in the drop zone are Colapinto, Isack Hadjar, Ocon, Hülkenberg, and Albon.
4:37: Early times are in for Q2, and it is Verstappen up in P1 on a set of medium tires. Norris sits second and Piastri in third, both on a set of soft tires.
4:33: Q2 is underway in Montreal, and the McLaren’s are two of the first drivers out on the track. Verstappen and Leclerc are also among the cars on the track.
Q1
4:32: Franco Colapinto seems rather comfortable as he heads to Q2, as F1TV catches him with his eyes closed, almost as if he’s taking a nap, while we wait for Q2 to begin.
4:29: At the sharp end of the grid, Norris and Piastri were up front in P1 and P2, followed by the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Hamilton. Verstappen rounded out the top five from Q1.
4:26: The checkered flag. falls at the end of Q1 and Gabriel Bortoleto, Sainz, Gasly, Stroll, and Liam Lawson are the five drivers eliminated.
4:24: Albon rockets out of the pits with just over two minutes left in the session. He should have enough time to get back to the start/finish lap before time expires, giving him one push lap to advance to Q2.
4:23: Q1 has resumed, with three minutes left. Carlos Sainz Jr., Gasly, Albon, Bearman, and Hülkenberg remain in the drop zone, and Albon remains in the pits as Williams works frantically to fix the damage on his FW47.
4:17: Q1 will resume at 4:20 local time.
4:13: The red flag is out as Albon’s FW47 has some body-work damage on his engine cover, which threw debris all over the track.
4:12: Six minutes left in Q1 and the five drivers in the drop zone are: Gasly, Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon, and Oliver Bearman.
4:11: Alonso up into P1, still on a set of mediums. Aston Martin might be cooking here ...
4:09: Some strength from Aston Martin as Lance Stroll is up in P3 and Fernando Alonso — on a set of mediums — is in P4.
4:06: Mercedes has been strong this week and the early times continue that trend. Russell is up in P1 at the moment with rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli in second just 0.060 seconds off his pace.
Perhaps a warning to the rest of the grid, however, is that Antonelli set his time on a set of medium tires, putting ahead of a host of drivers who posted early laps on the softs.
4:01: Two drivers — Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly at Alpine — head out on a set of the C5 medium tires. Pirelli has brought the three softest compounds in their range to Montreal this week, with the C4 as the hard, the C5 as the medium, and the new C6 as the soft.
4:00: The light is green at the end of pit lane and Q1 is underway.
3:59: Q1 is just moments away. A reminder that we have three segments of qualifying, at the end of each we will lose the five slowest drivers, leading to a ten-driver shootout for pole position in Q3.
Pre-qualifying notes
3:50: That segment is followed by a clip of Charles Leclerc from Friday, talking about his incident on the third lap of FP1 that saw him slide into the wall, costing him not just the rest of FP1 but also all of FP2.
Still, Leclerc dismissed any notion that the incident would impact his “confidence” in qualifying.
It has been a somewhat heated week for Ferrari, with questions emerging in Italian media about the future of Team Principal Frederic Vasseur. Speaking this weekend Vasseur brushed aside the speculation as “disrespectful.”
3:49: Zhou Guanyu sighting on F1TV, as the former Sauber driver/current Ferrari reserve talks about the Scuderia’s chances this weekend. Zhou believes pole is on offer for Ferrari.
Notes from FP3
Saturday’s third hour of practice was a rather event-filled affair. At the top of the timing sheets Lando Norris led the way, followed by Charles Leclerc — who was back in the SF-25 after an incident of his own in FP1 sidelined him for FP2 — and George Russell.
However, incidents from both Oscar Piastri and Nico Hülkenberg at the final chicane brought out red flags, with the Drivers’ Championship leader clipping the “Wall of Champions” to puncture his right rear tire. Hülkenberg’s spin at that section brought out another red flag.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth-fastest in the session — perhaps due in part to Ferrari installing new power units on both Hamilton’s car and Leclerc’s — followed by Max Verstappen in P5.
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