2024 Canadian Grand Prix - Saturday

First pole position of the season secured in dead heat

• George Russell qualified on pole position with Lewis Hamilton P7 for tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix.
• After Friday’s weather impacted running, it looked like Saturday may end up with similarly challenging conditions.
• However, bar a few light showers, Qualifying remained dry throughout.
• After advancing through Q1 and Q2, ending the latter segment P1 and P2 with the fastest laps of the entire Qualifying session, both drivers headed into Q3 with one set of new Soft tyres.
• Running their used sets first, George set a 1:12.000, good enough for provisional pole. Lewis was a couple of tenths behind in P2.
• Others improved on their final runs using a new set of Soft tyres but the closest challenge to George came from Max Verstappen. He matched George’s used tyre lap but, by default of having set it second, took P2.
• Neither George or Lewis was able to improve on their final laps in the tricky conditions; George therefore still held on to pole but Lewis, less than three tenths off the fastest time, took P7.
• George netted the second pole position of his career, having last claimed pole at the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix.
  

George Russell

It’s been a great day! It was such a tight fight for pole position. The previous few races I’ve been a matter of hundredths of a second behind the car ahead, so it’s nice to be on the upside of that today! In the end, Q3 was difficult. I did my best lap of the session in Q2, and I didn’t improve on my last lap in Q3. I wasn’t sure therefore whether I had taken pole position as I crossed the line. The new tyre is usually worth three to four tenths of a second but thankfully, my first run on the used tyre was good enough for P1.

The car has been so good this weekend. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth has been working so hard to bring updates and performance. This hard work is now translating into results which is fantastic to see. It’s only been two races and on unique circuits, but the steps we’ve taken to get closer to the front are encouraging. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow now. We will be aiming for victory but there are plenty of unknowns with this new surface and the weather. I’m feeling confident in the car and in myself though so bring it on!

Lewis Hamilton

Firstly, congratulations to George. It is amazing for the team to take pole position. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth has done such a great job pushing the car and its development forward. They have worked tirelessly to bring the recent updates. It’s been feeling great all weekend so, despite starting P7, I hope we can have a decent race. It is tough to overtake here and the cars ahead are quite close so it will be challenging, but I’ll be doing my best.

It was a tough session on my side. We were quick in FP3, but I struggled a little more in Qualifying. I found it difficult to get the tyres working throughout and that was the same on my final lap in Q3. Let’s see what tomorrow brings and if we can make progress. 

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

Getting pole position is a great feeling. We’ve been saying it for a while, but we are going in the right direction. We have taken several small steps in recent races, and it is all adding up to bring us greater performance. That has helped us get closer to the front and we are now progressing to a car that can challenge there more regularly.

Our final laps in Q3 weren’t actually our best. Neither driver could improve on the new tyre, so it was very tight at the end. We will look into the data to try and understand why that was. George found himself just able to hold off Max (Verstappen) but Lewis was more unfortunate. Nevertheless, they’ve both showed great speed this weekend so we will see what we can do tomorrow.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It's great to get pole position. It is really encouraging for the whole team who have been working so hard to improve the car over the last few months. We've still got work to do, but it's great to see that the incredible efforts everyone has made to bring improvements are all helping move us in the right direction.

It's a shame that we didn't get Lewis further up the grid but it's particularly disappointing for him as he's looked so strong all weekend. George was also unable to improve on his final effort, but his first lap was good enough for pole position. Obviously, the goal tomorrow with George is to keep him in front. Lewis also has a good opportunity to fight for a podium given his pace looked so strong on the long run in FP3 today. The weather may also play a part; it's been fairly unpredictable and keeping us on our toes but we've looked good in all conditions, so hopefully we are well set to cover whatever comes our way.