2024 Canadian GP Qualifying: Russell Takes Pole With Identical Time to Verstappen

George Russell claimed pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, in a remarkable qualifying session where he outpaced Max Verstappen, even though both drivers recorded identical lap times.

Russell initially took the lead in Q3 with a lap time of 1m 12.000s. Despite Verstappen’s improvements in his final runs, he only managed to match Russell’s time, which placed him second. This was only the second time in F1 history, since the introduction of three-decimal place timing, that two drivers recorded identical times for pole position.

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Lando Norris was a close third, only 0.021s behind, driving for McLaren, with his teammate Oscar Piastri right behind him in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo claimed the fifth spot for RB, marking a significant milestone ten years after his first F1 victory at the same circuit.

Fernando Alonso secured sixth for Aston Martin, followed by Lewis Hamilton in seventh, who had shown strong form earlier in the Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda, recently confirmed to continue with RB in 2025, took eighth place, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alex Albon of Williams completing the top ten.

It was a challenging session for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz unable to advance past Q2, positioning themselves in eleventh and twelfth, just two weeks after both stood on the podium in Monaco.

Logan Sargeant delivered his best qualifying result of the season, securing thirteenth place for Williams. He was followed by Kevin Magnussen of Haas in fourteenth and Pierre Gasly of Alpine in fifteenth.

The session also brought surprises, notably with Sergio Perez being eliminated early in sixteenth place, marking his second consecutive early exit in qualifying.

Others who did not advance included Valtteri Bottas of Kick Sauber in seventeenth and Esteban Ocon of Alpine in eighteenth, who faces a five-grid penalty from a previous incident. The lineup was rounded out by Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu of Haas and Kick Sauber in nineteenth and twentieth places, respectively.

Canadian GP Qualifying Results

2024 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying, 8 June 2024

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:13.013	1:11.742	1:12.000	26
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:12.360	1:12.549	1:12.000	27
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:12.959	1:12.201	1:12.021	25
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	1:12.907	1:12.462	1:12.103	29
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB Honda RBPT	1:13.240	1:12.572	1:12.178	25
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:13.117	1:12.635	1:12.228	23
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:12.851	1:11.979	1:12.280	26
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	1:12.748	1:12.303	1:12.414	24
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:13.088	1:12.659	1:12.701	25
10	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:12.896	1:12.485	1:12.796	26
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:13.107	1:12.691		21
12	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:13.038	1:12.728		22
13	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams Mercedes	1:13.063	1:12.736		22
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:13.217	1:12.916		16
15	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	1:13.289	1:12.940		18
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:13.326			11
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:13.366			10
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	1:13.435			11
19	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	1:13.978			10
20	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:14.292			11

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Ben is a staff writer specialising in F1 from the 1990s to the modern era. Ben has been following Formula 1 since 1986 and is an avid researcher who loves understanding the technology that makes it one of the most exciting motorsport on the planet. He listens to podcasts about F1 on a daily basis, and enjoys reading books from the inspirational Adrian Newey to former F1 drivers.