George Russell sent a fresh F1 statement in his Mercedes at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday, claiming pole position for the sprint in Montreal.

The Briton’s time of 1:12.965 was enough to edge out his title-leading teammate Kimi Antonelli, who has won the past three races, by less than one-tenth of a second.

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“This is going to be a battle royal between Antonelli and Russell in tomorrow’s Sprint,” Sky Sport’s David Croft noted in commentary, while Martin Brundle said: “That was an important one for George Russell.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified third and fourth respectively with the two McLaren drivers split by less than two-hundreths of a second.

“[The car] felt pretty good. It was a bit of a messy day for everybody but the Mercedes still looks pretty strong,” Piastri said. “That is the biggest takeaway, unfortunately.

“We will see what we can do and how we can optimise everything .

“I am sure it is only a matter of time before Mercedes get theirs competitive as well but until that time comes we will try our best to take advantage.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified third and fourth respectively.Source: Getty Images

The McLaren drivers were followed by the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Isack Hadjar, Arvid Lindblad and Carlos Sainz.

Friday proved to be a dramatic day in Montreal with four red flags brought out between the day’s two sessions.

One involved Alex Albon hitting a marmot in his Williams and crashing.

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Speaking to Sky Sports, Williams team principal James Vowles said: “It’s one of the risks of this circuit. I know that sounds strange. Unfortunately there’s been a few of these.

“He [Albon] has hit a marmot [groundhog] and the damage is extensive from that point onwards.

“He needed this session. You get 60 minutes and that’s it, and to lose over half of it is frustrating.

“Back in the garage he’s more worried about his mum, who suspects he’s going to have to pay to adopt a family of marmots because that’s a consequence of that.”

Meanwhile, Russell was pleased with his response having trailed Antonelli in the past three races.

“This feels great after a tough Miami but I never doubted myself. I know what I can do. Miami is unique but this is an amazing circuit with high grip,” he said.

“It feels you are driving a proper F1 car around here, which is how it should be. It came together today.

“The team have done a great job to bring things forward and there is now a big focus for tomorrow. We are making baby steps.

“I am not going to say we are going to fly off the line.

“I hope that’s the case but history tells us that hasn’t happened often or at all this year. McLaren have been making good starts.”

Russell was pleased with his response having trailed Antonelli in the past three races.Source: AFP

Antonelli said his lap was “quite bad” and that he was thrown off by a mistake he made.

He added: “We brought the upgrades so we still need to understand the package a little bit more as the balance has changed.

“But it seems to have given us a bit of an edge again.”

ALBON HITS MARMOT IN RED FLAG CHAOS

Earlier, Antonelli set the pace on Friday ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell in an incident-hit extended opening practice.

The 19-year-old was fastest on both hard and soft tyres as he wound up on top in one minute and 13.402 seconds.

This lap took him 0.142 seconds clear of pre-season favourite Russell in a session interrupted by three red flags.

Behind them were the two Ferraris with Lewis Hamilton in third ahead of Charles Leclerc, and four-time champion Max Verstappen down in fifth for Red Bull.

World champion Lando Norris was sixth ahead of his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, rookie Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls, Nico Hulkenberg of Audi and a revived two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

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The three red flags came after Liam Lawson stopped his Racing Bulls car on track with gearbox problems, Albon hit a marmot and crashed and finally Esteban Ocon smacked the walls in his Haas.

After much paddock gossip about his future, Verstappen was soon on top once the sole session began in earnest, lapping the track in 1:17.432 before Piastri went faster and the Dutchman responded in 1.15.895.

Verstappen had suggested on Thursday that he was likely to remain in F1 if a mooted switch next year to a 60-40 split between mechanical and battery power was introduced, to replace the 50-50 in use in this first season of the new ‘hybrid era’.

Most teams introduced update packages with Mercedes bringing a major set of new parts and McLaren their second. Ferrari and Aston Martin appeared to have no updates.

The session was stopped by a red flag after Liam Lawson came to a halt with gearbox problems after 15 minutes, prompting a delay as his Racing Bulls car was cleared. The action resumed after five minutes.

For Lawson, this was another unlucky setback following his problems in Miami, earlier in May, when a technical failure caused him to collide with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and half-flip his car.

As they settled, Piastri and then Russell topped the times on a bright sunlit morning at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the Australian responding to clock 1:14.963 and go nearly half a second clear of the Briton with Antonelli third, before Hamilton leapt to second.

Albon then lost control of his Williams at Turn Seven after 28 minutes, suffering damage to the rear wing and rear wheels after smacking the barriers as he sought in vain to avoid hitting a marmot (a large ground squirrel native to north America, also known as a groundhog).

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– Mercedes revelling –

After a 15-minute break, with the time lost added to the session, the action resumed and Russell promptly trimmed his time to within 0.013 seconds of Piastri’s before Antonelli stole top spot only to see Russell take control in 1:14.560.

Both trimmed their times, Antonelli running quickest in 1:14.392 by 0.052 with 23 minutes remaining – and Piastri third adrift by more than half a second.

It was clear that the Mercedes upgrade was working and the drivers were revelling in a.high-speed rivalry.

With 15 minutes to go, Hamilton rose to third, 0.36 off the pace, while Russell switched to softs to clock 1:13.850 and go top, followed by Antonelli who did 1:13.402 to regain the initiative.