George Russell took pole position in sprint qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver leading teammate Kimi Antonelli 1-2, with McLaren’s Lando Norris a close challenger in third.
Russell set the pace in SQ2, setting the fastest time on the opening lap, carrying that form into the final segment, and improving even more in the final run, setting a time of 1 minute 12.965 seconds.これは最終的にこの競技において無敵であることが証明され、アントネッリは0.068秒差の2位となった。
Norris was third, three tenths behind, with Oscar Piastri, another McLaren driver, in fourth. Next was the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with the former showing off his speed at various points in sprint qualifying.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could only finish seventh, with teammate Isaac Hajjar following in eighth, but Racing Bull’s Williams of Arvid Lindblad and Carlos Sainz took the position in SQ3.
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortleto missed out on the top 10 in 11th and 12th respectively, ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Haas’ pair of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso advanced to SQ2 but missed out after hitting the barrier in SQ1, with the Aston Martin driver receiving a red flag in the opening segment.土曜のスプリントでは16番手に並ぶことになる。
When the session resumed with less than two minutes remaining following an interruption in SQ1, there was a frenzied race to get to the line, with the vast majority missing out. This left Sergio Perez in the Cadillac in 17th place, with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, and Valtteri Bottas’ other Cadillac ahead.
Alex Albon did not take part in sprint qualifying due to damage to his Williams caused by a collision with a groundhog during free practice 1, while Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson also missed Friday’s practice session after experiencing a hydraulic leak in his VCARB 03.
Hours earlier, after Antonelli led Mercedes 1-2 in an interrupted solo practice session, attention in the paddock turned to sprint qualifying ahead of the third sprint of the 2026 season.
However, one of the players who will not be taking part is Albon, and Williams admitted before SQ1 that the Thai driver’s car suffered too much damage from a collision with a groundhog in FP1 to be repaired in time for the session.
Racing Bulls then announced that the car developed a hydraulic leak during first practice as the team worked to prepare the car for Saturday’s sprint, and Lawson would also miss sprint qualifying.
The 12-minute SQ1 session began at 16:30 local time, with all cars running on the compulsory medium tires during the opening segment, with Hamilton taking to the track first. Things quickly picked up and everyone put their laps on the board, with Antonelli at the top of the timesheets, the Mercedes man setting the fastest time with a time of 1:14.010.
Immediately afterwards, Hamilton pulled away from the championship leader with a time of 1 minute 13.889 seconds, breaking into the 1 minute 13 seconds range for the first time, pushing Antonelli into second place ahead of Norris, Verstappen and Lindblad.
Meanwhile, Sainz, Perez, Bottas and Colapinto are at risk, with Albon and Lawson already out. Meanwhile, Russell aborted his next attack after going over the chicane, and Gasly was cited by the stewards for interfering at Turn 14.
アロンソがターン3でバリアに接触したため、残り2分を切った時点で赤旗が提示された。 Replays showed the Spaniard locking up in his Aston Martin and driving off straight ahead, with the driver apologizing over the radio.
Alonso was 14th on the timesheets before the incident, but did beleaguered players such as Perez, Stroll, Gasly and Bottas have time to try and get out of the drop zone? The good news for Gasly, as the group waited for the moment to restart, was that the stewards decided that the crippling incident required no further investigation.
Most of the top 10, with the exception of Hamilton, opted to remain in the garage until the session resumed at 16:59 local time, but a line of cars formed in the pit lane as pressure mounted for the imperiled classics to reach the line in time for one lap.
With the exception of Hamilton, Sainz, and Stroll, the majority of the teams failed to make it to the checkered flag, and their positions remained the same, with Perez, Stroll, Gasly, and Bottas being eliminated from SQ1 along with Albon and Lawson.
With 10 minutes remaining in SQ2, Russell was the first to go out and was forced to use medium tires again for the second segment of sprint qualifying. Norris initially set the fastest time, but Hamilton took the lead again, beating the McLaren driver by three-tenths.
The Mercedes duo then went even further, with Russell becoming the new pacesetter with a time of 1 minute 13.466 seconds, just 0.085 seconds behind Antonelli. Verstappen, on the other hand, entered the session later than the other drivers and remained the only driver not timed on the board in the final minutes.
Knockouts: Hulkenberg, Bortolet, Colapinto, Ocon, Bearman, Alonso
It all boiled down to an eight-minute shootout between the top 10 in SQ3, where soft tires were chosen. Hamilton headed out first, followed shortly by the rest of the field.
The Ferrari pair were joined by the Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull duo, as well as Williams’ Racing Bulls of Sainz and Lindblad.最初の周回が始まると、最終的にラッセルが1分13秒194でハミルトンを約20分の2リードしてトップに立った。
Antonelli, on the other hand, finished third, but will anyone move up in the second race?彼らの努力をさらに良くしたのはノリスであり、この英国人選手はラッセルに次ぐ2位に躍り出た。 The latter increased his speed further to strengthen his grip on the pole, recording a lap of 1 minute 12.965 seconds.
As Antonelli’s final run began, he pushed Norris down and moved into second place with a time of 0.068 seconds behind Russell. This left Norris ahead of Piastri in third place, with the McLaren team and Ferrari duo of Hamilton and Leclerc in fifth and sixth respectively.
Red Bull’s Verstappen and Hajjar shared the fourth row in seventh and eighth, with Lindblad in ninth and Sainz rounding out the top 10.
Once the grid has been decided, drivers will line up for the sprint at 12pm local time on Saturday.に向かう To find a way to capture the action.