Sharp-eyed observers did not miss George Russell’s reaction immediately after hearing over team radio that he had secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix. “That’s championship-winning stuff,” one experienced rival reportedly joked with an ironic smile. Some may have viewed the celebration as slightly excessive for a pole position, but behind George Russell’s visible excitement was the satisfaction of having completely turned around a qualifying session that, after the first Q3 run, had looked anything but straightforward.
An interesting behind-the-scenes detail emerged later in Montreal. During his first attempt in Q3, using his first set of brand-new soft tyres, George Russell made a mistake that prevented him from completing his flying lap properly. Mercedes immediately called him back into the pits, abandoning the strategy that had originally been planned before qualifying and bringing forward the final run with the last available set of tyres. The concern was clear: if a yellow flag had appeared later in the session, George Russell could have been left starting the Canadian Grand Prix from as low as tenth on the grid.
On his first timed lap, George Russell stopped the clock at 1:12.993, a time only good enough for eighth place at that stage. However, he still had enough fuel onboard for an immediate second consecutive push lap, and that is precisely where the pole-winning lap came from. On the same set of tyres, George Russell improved dramatically to a 1:12.578, securing a brilliant pole position for Mercedes.
A very similar scenario also played out in the Red Bull garage. Max Verstappen, after posting a 1:13.502 on his first attempt, managed a significant improvement on a second consecutive flying lap using the same tyre set, lowering his time to a 1:12.907.
A comparable pattern had already appeared earlier in Q2 with Gabriel Bortoleto. In his final effort to break into Q3, the Brazilian improved from a 1:14.550 on his first flying lap to a 1:14.071 on the second attempt using the same tyres. In each of these cases, the gain was around four tenths of a second, a margin too large to be explained simply by the lighter fuel load in the car by the final lap.
Several drivers complained about difficulties warming up the soft tyres, likely due to the relatively low track temperatures in Montreal. Completing two preparation laps before beginning a push lap helped to improve the situation to some extent, but many drivers still failed to unlock the level of grip they had expected from the softest compound in the Pirelli range.
By contrast, those who found themselves in a position to complete two consecutive flying laps on the same tyre set discovered that the car felt significantly more effective on the second attempt. That makes it entirely plausible that, in George Russell’s case, the mistake made during the opening Q3 run unintentionally became the decisive factor that delivered pole position at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
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