Mercedes continued their impressive form on Friday in locking out the front row in Sprint Qualifying at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. George Russell will start from pole, rounding the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1:12.965. Teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli will start second, lapping just 0.068 behind Russell.
The British veteran, currently 20 points back in the championship, was hoping for this level of performance after consecutive fourth-place finishes at Suzuka and Miami.
“It feels good, you know. It’s obviously just the Sprint Race, but off the back of a tough Miami, I wasn’t too surprised with the performance in Miami and I knew this would suit me better as it was last year. So it was kind of nice to get that validation.”
Russell: “I’m fighting for victories and a championship”
It’s a validation that Russell attests isn’t necessary. But with the long gap between races, and in a championship fight, the effects of a singular bad race are magnified.
“I’ve been in the sport for seven years, and the trends have been there for seven years. It’s just you guys now see it because I’m fighting for victories and for a championship. So as I said, I didn’t need that validation. And maybe if we have Bahrain and Saudi in between Miami, and they were good races like we had in Melbourne and China, you know the conversation wouldn’t even be there. So as I said, good to take the box today. Still a long way to go. Tomorrow’s another day, and Sunday looks like it could be wet. So still focused on just getting the points.”
Mercedes’ Antonelli rues P2 start at Canadian GP Sprint
He trails teammate Antonelli, but leads him at the start of the Sprint on Saturday. Less than a tenth of a second behind, the young Italian was frustrated to not take his first Sprint pole of the season.
“The lap was quite bad to be fair, this session was not clean at all. I made a mistake in SQ2, and that threw me off a little bit. Then I decided to go for lap one on soft without doing prep, and the tyres were a bit cold. It was just a messy session, but still P2 and very close, so the potential is definitely there and we’ll do better tomorrow.”
Highs outweighing lows for Mercedes heading into 2026 F1 Canadian GP
Antonelli did deliver a positive assessment of Mercedes’ latest round of upgrades brought to the 2026 F1 Canadian GP.
“I mean, we brought the upgrade, and that’s what it was giving to us in terms of performance. So, of course, we still need to understand a little bit more the package, because the balance has changed a little bit. But overall, it seems to have given us a little bit of an edge again. But yeah, we’ll focus on that tomorrow.”
As for tomorrow, Russell conceded that their weak point is still at the very beginning of the race.
“Just getting off the line. I mean, at the moment for us is a bit kind of flicking a coin and hoping for the best. We are making baby steps in that regard, but we’re far from where we need to be. So, you know, McLaren are behind us they’ve been making fast starts. Lewis, I think is P4, maybe—P5. So as I said, I’m just enjoying the moment and just trying and carry over that confidence to tomorrow.”
