Why did George Russell win the Canadian GP pole despite doing the same qualifying time as Max Verstappen?

George Russell and Max Verstappen could not be separated during the Canadian GP qualifying session but it was the Mercedes driver who was awarded the pole position on Saturday. For only the second time since F1 went into three decimal points, we have had a qualifying session with identical timings for the pole position.

In this scenario, the driver who sets the timed lap first gets the honor of starting the race from P1. Russell's time of 1:12:000 came in the first time of asking while Verstappen had to use his new tires in the final part of the Q3 to match the British driver's lap.

The last time it happened was in Jerez 1997 when Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, and Heinz-Herald Fretzen set identical times for the top step.

It was a breathtaking qualifying session in Montreal as for the first time in the 2024 season it was the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton who were trading time for the pole positions.

But the Red Bull of Max Verstappen once again displayed his class heading into the Q3 session and wrestled his car to the front row.

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George Russell gives his take on challenging Max Verstappen in Canada

Mercedes driver George Russell was overjoyed with his second pole position in F1 and stated that he had missed the feeling of finishing fastest in the qualifying session.

In his post-quali interview with F1TV, the British driver said the result gave him a feeling of the 2024 season kicking into gear:

"Amazing. It feels so good. So much hard work at the factory has gone into this and we said it in Monaco, we hope this is the start of something for our season, and I think it is. I've missed this feeling. Excited for tomorrow. First step done, but now obviously we've got our eyes on that win."

When asked if he could take the fight to Max Verstappen and come out on top, George Russell replied:

"Why not? Of course. Let's go for it. The car has been feeling amazing since we brought some upgrades to Monaco, we have really been in that fight now. So we're going for it tomorrow."

George Russell had previously won in Brazil 2022 which remains his only race victory in the sport thus far. He would hope to stop Max Verstappen from completing a hattrick of wins at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.