Canadian Grand Prix: What the drivers had to say after qualifying
- Chloe Buckley
- Jun 15
- 4 min read
Montreal saw a tight qualifying session as George Russell clinched pole position for the second year in a row ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. Here are some of the driver’s reactions to qualifying before Sunday’s race.
Mercedes
Following his stunning lap to gain pole position ahead of Sunday’s race, Russell said: “That last lap was probably one of the most exhilarating laps of my life because on my steering wheel, you've got the delta, and I just saw every corner I was going one tenth quicker, one tenth quicker.
“I got into the last corner and I was, you know, six tenths up. I was like, alright, this lap is mighty.
“Crossing the line, seeing we were P1, was a real surprise, but I was, yeah, so chuffed with it.”
Red Bull
It was a close fight for pole position between Russell and Verstappen at the end of Q3. In his post-qualifying interview, Verstappen said: “I think I felt quite good all weekend. The car actually was in a good window.”
“I mean, this track is quite cool. It feels a bit like a big go-kart on the kerbs. And then, of course, you have the long straights, heavy braking. You need to be quite efficient on the straight, which I think we are in general.”
“I'm very happy with qualifying. I think the car was again working quite well. Then, of course, the tough choice was the tyres, which one to use. But I think we did the right thing.”
Yuki Tsunoda, on the other hand, faced a 10-place grid penalty following FP3 when he passed Piastri under a red flag. He will start last on the grid.
McLaren
Oscar Piastri had another impressive qualifying session this weekend. When asked about his position in tomorrow’s race, he said: “To be honest, after how practice went, I'm pretty happy with myself at the moment. So, no, it was a nice turnaround.”
“You know, there's always the question: do you want a medium or do you want a soft for Q3? And we went with a soft because we were having a lot of problems. We just wanted to keep things consistent. So, I'm pretty happy with it, which is a bit different this year, but I'll definitely take it here.”
Lando Norris’ reflection on qualifying P7: “Not ideal. Just too many mistakes. I hit the wall on the last lap.”
"I had confidence, the car felt good today, I just made too many mistakes."
When speaking about race pace, Norris said: "It's looked good but it's not been as good as Max. We clearly don't have our advantage around this track compared to normal, it's a lot more of a track where you just need very good ride and just ability to take kerbs and bumps and very low grip.”
"It's still good, the car was quick. Maybe the medium tyre was a bit quicker at the end of qualifying. I think our pace is good enough. It's just I'm a bit too far back again.”
Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth for Sunday’s race in Montreal.
"We did the best we could with set-up,” Hamilton said.
"We have been working flat out all weekend trying to get it to go quicker but I just don't think the car's going to go that much faster.”
“I definitely don't think we can compete with the guys at the front and we just have to accept that that's the way it is.”
Charles Leclerc was disappointed with how qualifying went for him following a mistake on his final lap of Q3. He said: “I’m very disappointed because I don’t think yesterday had any impact on my bad performance today.”
“Q3 last lap I was putting everything together until turn 6 or 7 where I found myself with Isack [Hadjar] 100-150 metres in front, which is not impeding that’s for sure, but the dirty air on a track like with the walls so close you lose so much and I lost the rear.
“I’m very disappointed. I believed in it today. I thought that there was the pace in the car to be on pole. I don’t know if the choice of the tyre eventually would have cost us pole, but it would have been close, so I’m very disappointed.”
Williams
Carlos Sainz missed out on Q2 this weekend. Isack Hadjar impeded Sainz during qualifying with Hadjar claiming he thought Sainz had aborted his lap.
Sainz said: “Well, I don't care if I was fast. If in Q1 you arrive and there's a guy in the middle of the road that completely blows your qualifying away and that means that your weekend is destroyed.”
“I'm in P17 when I should be fighting for Q3 and top eight today, so I'm extremely disappointed.”
Isack Hadjar has received a three-place grid penalty and will now start the race from 12th place.
All eyes now turn to Sunday’s race at Circuit Gilles Villenueve. With Russell starting on pole and Verstappen close behind, the Canadian Grand Prix could be in for an intense battle up front, with plenty aiming to make recovery drives further down the order.
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