Russell highglights key factor that helped him securing stunning pole in Canada

23:42, 14 Jun

Updated: 23:46, 14 Jun

byTobia Elia

George Russell analyzed his exceptional performance in Canadian GP qualifying, which earned him pole position for tomorrow’s race.

Mercedes has shown strong pace throughout the weekend, especially with George Russell, but no one expected anyone to surpass the performances of Oscar Piastri earlier and Max Verstappen later. Yet the English driver managed to deliver an exceptional lap on medium tires and will start at the front for tomorrow’s race.

Analyzing his qualifying performance during the usual press conference with the top three drivers, Russell commented: ''I think that (the medium) was definitely the faster tyre today. We've seen it a few times before. The qualifying was a tricky session. It was, the people who were at the front, it was always variable''.

''In Q1 I was further down the order, in Q2 I had a good lap and first run in Q3 I was a bit off the pace, three or four tenths off. It felt like a good lap as well. But the medium really gave me that bit of extra confidence''.

According to Russell, the medium tire undeniably gave him a significant advantage over the softs in securing pole position: ''I think the gap still to Oscar on the Soft was still almost three tenths. So I'm not saying I'd have been able to do just as good a lap on the soft, but the medium is definitely three tenths better than the soft. So I think whatever tyre we had on for that lap, it would have been the one''.

''Every lap you do, the track is always going faster and faster, and especially on a circuit like this, which is a street track, it's a little bit windy, so you get a bit of dust on the circuit between the sessions. And that's why it's always that very last lap in Q3 that counts and that's when it doesn't matter how the whole weekend goes''.

''We'd been having a really strong weekend up until qualifying, so the pressure's on. It's sort of, if you don't perform as well as you did in practice, it's a bit of an underperformance. But obviously, getting that result was mega''.

Race won't be 'straighforward'

Shifting the focus on to the race tomorrow, Russell said: ''We had a good race pace on Friday, but it depends on the temperature. In practice, it was five degrees cooler than it was today and the car was easily in its sweet spot''.

''Now it can easily go the other way tomorrow in the race if the sun comes out. It's a two o'clock race, it was a four o'clock qualifying today, that makes quite a bit of difference. So it's not going to be an easy race and of course I've got some really quick guys around me. We don't know if it's going to be a one-stop or a two-stop, so it won't be straighforward''.