F1 chaos as wild quali ends in dead heat; Ricciardo sends epic response to legend’s spray

George Russell has claimed the second pole position of his career, the Mercedes star topping qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix – but with exactly the same time as reigning champion Max Verstappen.

The pair both delivered a 1:12.000 in Q3, but Russell will start pole since he was the first driver to lay down that lap time.

It was just the second time since F1 began measuring lap times to three decimal places that a pole position had seen two drivers share the identical time, and capped off a thrilling qualifying where Red Bull’s Sergio Perez exited in Q1 before both Ferraris were shockingly dumped out in Q2.

Russell was lucky to escape Q2 after a scary near-miss nearly saw him slide into the wall, the Brit exclaiming “Holy Moly” on team radio.

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Lando Norris was just 0.021s behind in third place in his McLaren, with Australian teammate Oscar Piastri in fourth.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth in his RB, by far his best qualifying performance of the season and the perfect response to brutal criticism aimed his way this weekend by legendary former driver Jacques Villeneuve.

“Why’s he still in F1? Why?” former F1 champion Villeneuve said Friday.

“We are hearing the same thing now for the last four or five years. ‘We have to make the car better for him’. Sorry, it’s been five years of that. No, you are in F1.

“Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton whose won multiple championships. You don’t make that effort for a driver that can’t cut it.

“If you can’t cut it, go home, there’s someone else to take your place. That’s how it’s always been in racing, it’s the pinnacle of the sport.

“There’s no reason to keep going and to keep finding excuses.”

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It followed an overnight announcement from RB that his teammate Yuki Tsunoda had been locked down by the team for 2025 – leaving the Australian’s hopes of remaining with the team next season.

Tsunoda was just eighth, behind Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, while Lance Stroll and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10.

Earlier, it was a disastrous Q1 exit for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez – the fifth time he had suffered such an ignominious qualifying failure since the start of last season.

“F***,” Perez swore, hitting his car with his hand.

Then in the second qualifying session, both Ferraris were dumped out in 11th and 12th – the first time since Belgium in 2021 that the team had missed Q3.

“I guess we are f***ed,” Leclerc said.