Credits: IMAGO / Motorsport Images

If the Monaco GP qualifying was exciting, the one in Canada certainly was, as Martin Scorcese would say, “Absolute cinema“. George Russell grabbed the provisional pole in his first flying lap in Q3 when every other driver was struggling. As the track conditions improved, the rivals began to close the gap. That’s when Max Verstappen put in a gem of a lap, only to match Russell’s timing, to the last millisecond.

Despite the duo registering the same lap time, Russell retained the pole position while Verstappen will start the race on Sunday from P2. The reason behind this is that the Briton set up the timing before the Dutchman.

Russell’s feat comes totally out of the blue, though. Throughout the practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton looked to be the Mercedes driver to land the top spot. Russell, however, delivered when it mattered the most. While Russell’s pole position comes as a surprise to many, Verstappen is surprised by his own timing.

Speaking with F1 TV‘s Lawrence Barretto, the reigning champion said, “We really maximized everything that we could in qualifying. We just didn’t have the pace to fight for pole, so I was positively surprised to be on the same lap as George but yeah they were just a bit faster today. It seemed like it was easier for them to do the lap times.”

Drivers matching each other to the last millisecond for the pole position is not a regular occurrence in F1. This is only the second time in the history of the sport that something like this happened, ever since they started registering the lap times to three decimal places.

The first time it happened was at the 1997 European GP. On that occasion, not two but three drivers tied for the pole position. Meanwhile, when it comes to Hamilton, he would be disappointed that it was Russell and not him who registered pole.

Why Lewis Hamilton fell behind

Both Mercedes drivers were among the last drivers to go on their final flying laps. However, neither managed to improve their timing while the rest of the grid easily found some crucial tenths.

That was because of the wind speed picking up. The strong gusts of wind made the W15 unstable, making it difficult for the Silver Arrows to improve their timings. Resultantly, Hamilton stayed in P7. The gap, however, remains less than three-tenths of a second to Russell.

That just goes on to show how bunched-up the grid is currently. Reacting to the session, Toto Wolff said, “It seemed that Lewis had the upper hand, both cars comfortably beating everyone. And at the end, it got so tight, and the time didn’t show up [for Hamilton], so we need to look. Tiniest of margins”.

It would be difficult for the seven-time world champion to move up the field during the race. Given the street credentials of the Canada circuit, the track is not wide enough at crucial sections to make overtaking maneuvers.

However, Hamilton has shown how dominant he was before the qualifying. That makes him hopeful for a podium finish, but not a favorite.