The drought at Mercedes has been a long, arduous affair. Little wonder, then, that they revelled in the chance to slake their thirst in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix where George Russell claimed pole by the tiniest of margins, indeed, by no margin at all with a time exactly matched by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
This was perhaps the most tense session thus far this year and at the death, Russell had the top spot with a time of 1min 12.000sec, a lap then equalled by Verstappen at the circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The world champion was denied pole by dint of Russell having set the time first.
