Saturday’s qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix promised to be exciting, and it certainly was, with pole position going to an imperial George Russell. The Briton took first place by pushing the limits on a lap that stole the spot from Verstappen, who had looked set to take pole. Piastri finished third.
Russell steals pole from Verstappen at the last gasp and Alonso puts his Aston Martin in sixth
And in it, Fernando Alonso surprised again, as he did with his 5th place on the grid at Imola and 6th in Monaco. The Asturian was among the best since the second session on Friday, obtaining a 5th place, and he hasn’t dropped from there. In Montreal, he will start 6th.
Both the Asturian driver and the Aston Martin team have managed to take a step forward since debuting their upgrade package three races ago. The ‘14’ wanted to make a difference again on a track where the drivers’ skills could count for a lot. In fact, the differences with his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll were more than noticeable, as the Canadian, after returning from wrist surgery, couldn’t even make it past Q1 and will start Sunday in 18th place.
Verstappen rises again when no one expected it
Aston Martin and Mercedes, in a move of genius or ignorance, tested whether it was better to go for a lap with soft or medium tires, putting a spare of each compound on their two drivers. Alonso and Antonelli took the yellows and were just a few thousandths of a second behind their teammates. In this way, both teams confirmed that red was the right choice for this session, but by a very small margin.
It was a qualifying session full of surprises. For the first time in a long time, McLaren did not dominate and George Russell took pole position in Canada, just as he did in 2024, beating a warrior Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. The Dutchman, with a car inferior to McLaren’s, achieved a great second place, once again rising from the ashes when it seemed that everything was against him this weekend.
Oscar Piastri was third and Lando Norris had another session to forget, with nerves and mistakes in Q3 leaving him seventh, just ahead of Charles Leclerc, who made a mistake due to the dirty air caused by Isack Hadjar.
As for the current top contenders for the World Championship, Piastri had to settle for third place, which was not too bitter a pill to swallow. His teammate, Norris, was unable to move up from eighth place and will start just behind Alonso.
Sainz, torpedoed by Hadjar, will start 17th, and Aston Martin’s improvement continues.
The negative note for the Spaniards was the departure of Carlos Sainz in the first round of changes. The Williams driver, on his flying lap, was torpedoed by Hadjar, which caused him to lose time and finish in 17th place, although he will start 16th. Alonso’s teammate Stroll also went out in Q1, along with Gasly, Lawson, and Bortoleto. Tsunoda, who finished 11th, was penalized with 10 places and will start last.
Things went much better for Alonso, who continued to demonstrate Aston Martin’s improvement after the initial disappointments of the World Championship. He made it through Q2 with an impressive final lap that even allowed him to dream of another top-five start. In fact, he even challenged Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari for position, who had to give it his all to get past the Spaniard. Hopes remained high for much of Q3, although the dream came to an end with a sixth place finish that once again leaves the Asturian well positioned to continue scoring points.