Russell takes pole in a tight qualifying session; Alonso stuns with 6th place.

George Russell has a special fondness for Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Briton once again took pole position for this Sunday's race (8:00 p.m., Dazn), ahead of the bigwig, Max Verstappen, by just 0.060 seconds.

The Mercedes driver broke the extreme equality that existed throughout the session, initially dominated by the McLarens, but in the end they could only manage third (Piastri) and seventh (Norris).

Fernando Alonso's sixth place was a creditable achievement, beating a Ferrari (Leclerc, 8th) and the Monegasque's Ferrari in qualifying, as well as Albon's Williams and Hadjar's Racing Bulls.

Carlos Sainz finished in a modest 17th place, missing out on Q1 for the second time in a row. It's his worst starting position, just like at Montmeló.

Red flag Albon's Williams engine cover popped off and Q1 was interrupted by a red flag.

Q1, with alternating dominance, was interrupted with 5:30 remaining by a red flag when Albon lost the engine cover of his Williams. At that moment, Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin led the timesheets ahead of Max Verstappen by just 0.34 seconds. Piastri, the world championship leader, was third, 0.93 seconds behind the Asturian.

At that point, Carlos Sainz was 16th, out of Q2. The Madrid native, who found himself ahead on his flying lap with Hadjar, was unable to improve his time and finished 17th, equaling his worst starting position, which he had already achieved at the last Spanish GP at the Circuit de Barcelona -Catalunya.

In the remaining 5:30 seconds, Norris led the standings, followed by Piastri, Hamilton, and Leclerc. Alonso dropped to 6th.

Yuki Tsunoda was informed that he would receive a 10-place grid penalty for violating a red flag at the end of the morning free practice session.

Maximum equality Russell takes pole position in a fiercely contested final session

Q2 was extremely close, with four different cars in the top four spots, all within a tenth of a second. George Russell led the way in the Mercedes, followed by Norris (McLaren) just 29 thousandths behind, Leclerc (Ferrari) 59, and Verstappen (Red Bull) 68. Piastri was fifth, and Alonso repeated in sixth place, 235 thousandths behind. The Asturian driver made it into the top 10 for his fourth consecutive GP.

In the final Q3, the first attempt saw Verstappen as provisional polesitter , just 0.25 seconds ahead of Piastri, with Russell third and Alonso seventh. In the second attempt at best lap, pole went to George Russell, the only driver to break the 1m10s mark, 0.160 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen. Alonso finished in a creditable sixth place on the medium tyre, ahead of a McLaren (Norris, 7th) and a Ferrari (Leclerc, 8th).