Rosberg makes rare admission and offers apologies to championship leader Piastri

He struggled in free practice, but when it mattered most, Oscar Piastri was once again ready to deliver. Although the McLaren driver didn’t take pole position this time, he still made a strong impression in Canadian GP qualifying, securing a valuable third place on the grid.

Before the qualifying on Saturday, Nico Rosberg stated that he did not expect Piastri to perform well since he had not been impressive in the practices earlier this weekend.

Soon enough, however, the former German driver had to backtrack and make amends while speaking to Sky F1 after qualifying: “I personally apologize to Piastri, I underestimated him. I made a mistake. He was definitely in the race for pole position. But I must say, I also underestimated how much the change in geometry improved for him, as he moved to Lando’s setup with that geometry''.

George Russell will start from pole position, with four-time and reigning world champion Max Verstappen lining up alongside him. According to the Sky Sports analyst, Russell has nothing to lose going into Turn 1, where Verstappen will undoubtedly try to challenge the race leader.

“He (Russell, ed.) is no longer in the title fight. Verstappen, on the other hand, still is a bit, so he should theoretically be more careful. However, we know that he will not be careful at all. I think it makes no difference to him. Whether he has 11 penalty points or 0 – it doesn’t matter to him at all''.