Winners and losers from Canadian Grand Prix qualifying as George Russell delivers statement pole

George Russell is the big Winner after qualifying in Montreal, but who else features on the PlanetF1.com Winners and Losers list ahead of the Grand Prix?

Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix qualifying.

George Russell headlines Canadian Grand Prix qualifying winners and losers

Winner: George Russell

Qualifying didn’t look like it was going George Russell’s way, languishing down in seventh place as Kimi Antonelli sat on provisional pole, but his last-gasp effort was an all-or-nothing moment of brilliance.

Twitching his way through the final chicane as he laid it on the line, he emerged 0.068 clear of Antonelli and set himself up again in the best possible position to repeat his Sprint race achievement.

Coming off the back of a ‘bogey track’ in Miami, Russell has needed a big weekend in Montreal to stem the flow of momentum behind his young teammate and, so far, has done just that.

But there’s not much in it: Montreal is something of a specialty track for Russell, with his pole position marking his third consecutive at the venue, and yet Antonelli is still right there with him.

What is becoming clear is that the dynamics of the intra-Mercedes battle are starting to evolve now, and it’s Antonelli who has questions to ask of himself as he figures out his path forward.

In theory, the cards are stacked against Antonelli, despite his lead: after an inconsistent first year, expecting him to have smoothed out the peaks and troughs of performance at only the second time of asking, and in the context of a championship fight, might be a task too much to ask.

Added to that is the clear reluctance from Toto Wolff to entertain the notion that Antonelli is a title favourite, in his eagerness to keep pressure off his driver’s shoulders. But Antonelli is in the big leagues now, and the Italian is clearly aware of the opportunity in front of him.

But so is Russell, and the experience the British driver has accumulated over the years has taught him to take no prisoners; his aggression in clearly shoving Antonelli wide at Turn 1 during the Sprint was Verstappen-esque in its messaging, and the teenager was absolutely correct to feel aggrieved by how his teammate had treated him.

Antonelli duly held his hands up for his over-enthusiastic attempt at Turn 8 a few moments later, but held firm in his assessment that he could have been treated more fairly by Russell, in what was an interesting press conference underscored by obvious tension as the duo attempted to downplay the awkwardness in the face of direct questioning.

It was the type of move that Russell would usually have criticised Verstappen for, and Antonelli played nicely on this occasion by backing out and letting his teammate continue, with the radio messages after that from Pete Bonnington and Toto Wolff himself commanding the driver to calm himself, rather than there being any obvious admonishment of Russell’s aggression.

With Antonelli clearly seeing red, this was obviously needed to help rein him back in, but the fact that he had lost emotional control in that moment just underlined how he had been played by the more experienced Russell.

What type of driver and person does Antonelli want to be? At this early stage in his career, playing a somewhat subservient role to his masters is the wiser choice but, in the context of the immediacy of the title battle in the here and now, this approach won’t win out.

Russell has shown his colours, and is laying the groundwork of the message that having a friendly and amicable partnership with Antonelli isn’t his top priority – success is, particularly given the pressure being applied by a non-committal Verstappen at Red Bull.

For Antonelli, his task is just that little bit more difficult, given how taking a similar hardline stance would mean creating tension and anger in the ranks, all without having the guarantee of the consistency needed through the year to make that risk worthwhile.

The next six months are going to reveal quite a bit about the character of the immensely likeable Kimi Antonelli – can he be the hard-nosed and selfish bastard he will need to be to come out on top against a self-assured Russell?

With Wolff and Co. being no strangers to handling tense teammate fights, Antonelli may need to be careful not to lose his head to the point where Russell’s experience means he gets the nod of favouritism.

Loser: Max Verstappen

After the thrills he found in a German forest last weekend, it’s all been a bit more morose for Max Verstappen in Canada, as it’s been clear the Red Bull RB22 is back in the pack where it had been during the opening handful of races, rather than capably competitive as it had appeared in Miami.

Three-tenths off in qualifying wasn’t a huge gap, but the Dutch driver appeared surprised by “where that had come from” after struggling with, seemingly, every aspect of the car through the weekend, particularly in terms of ride quality and a “confusing” straight-line speed.

An anonymous Sprint race saw him unable to keep up with the leading six cars, but also clearly ahead of the rest, and this pattern may continue in the Grand Prix, albeit with a rejuvenated Isack Hadjar for company.

Having had his Sprint race ruined by an engine problem, Hadjar has bounced back strongly from his poor Miami GP weekend, a welcome sign for Red Bull as the French driver is proving his mental toughness once again.

The fact that Hadjar is so close to Verstappen on pace again, even finishing quickest in Q2, like he had been through the first three races, suggests the Dutch driver is somewhat at sea once again, and it’s notable that some of the questions he’s fielded this weekend have focused on his future and the uncertainty that he refuses to outright shut down.

Part of this is likely a political play to try making it clear that a failure to make the proposed PU split changes actually happen would make 2027 “mentally not doable”, but it’s hard not to see that the Dutchman is just being a little down in the dumps this weekend after the exhilaration of experiencing a very different world just a few days ago.

Of course, if the forecast rain does fall on Sunday, Verstappen is one of the few drivers to have experienced the full extent of just how difficult one of these new 2026 cars is to actually drive in wet-weather conditions.

With that experience, and his prodigious talent for finding grip, might he be a happier driver come Sunday evening?

Winner: Lando Norris

The reigning World Champion has been the fly in the ointment for Mercedes so far this weekend, always being annoyingly close enough to be a factor in their squabbling.

Pouncing upon the Antonelli mistake in the Sprint to take second place and keep up relentless pressure on Russell throughout, Norris looks to have a clear edge on Oscar Piastri in terms of pace in Montreal, even if the Australian isn’t a million miles away.

Third and fourth in qualifying, Norris was quicker than Piastri in all three segments of the session, and appears content to be as close to the front as he is, given the extent of the upgrade package brought along by Mercedes, and the fact that McLaren is not using its full raft of upgrades this weekend.

“The fact that we’re not using some of our upgrades, we’re very surprised to be this close,” he said.

“Considering we’ve not been able to extract everything out of it just yet, shows there are still good things to come once we figure them out.”

While the weather is likely to be a factor on Sunday, Norris appeared capable of keeping pace with Russell for most of the Sprint, and will be hoping for more of the same in the Grand Prix.

With Piastri right there behind Norris, the Australian isn’t making any excuses: the British driver just appears to have had a slight edge through the weekend so far.

More from the Canadian Grand Prix

FIA reaches Lewis Hamilton verdict as Hulkenberg penalty disparity explained

Toto Wolff reacts to Kimi Antonelli radio rant after Russell clash

Loser: Charles Leclerc

Leclerc might only be a tenth behind Lewis Hamilton, but the closeness of the field means the Monegasque qualified in eighth to Hamilton’s fifth in Montreal.

Afterwards, he was despondent, labelling his session a “disaster” in one of the “most complicated weekends of my career.”

With tyre and brake issues hampering his competitiveness, Leclerc showed some of the self-deprectating honesty that stood out so clearly in the early years of his career and, while he didn’t call himself “stupid” like he once did, he explained that he feels Canada is a track that isn’t working well for him.

“I get more the impression that it’s Charles Leclerc and Canada that don’t go together, because the Ferrari has worked quite well at times for some of my teammates,” he said.

“But on my side, it’s never really worked. At least in qualifying.

“It’s quite strange because normally when it doesn’t work in qualifying, it doesn’t work in the race either, but here it’s kind of the opposite. I feel like my driving style works very well in race conditions, but in qualifying, I’m always struggling.”

As I wrote in Miami about Russell against Antonelli, a driver of quite a few years’ experience having a bogey track isn’t a particularly good excuse to fall back on, given the wealth of tools available in the modern era to identify and address shortcomings, but at least in Leclerc’s case, his deficit is relative to a seven-time F1 World Champion who first won at this circuit almost two decades ago and ties the record for the most victories (seven) in Montreal.

With the weekend already not going well for Leclerc, rain isn’t likely to help his case much: his struggles for tyre temperature won’t be made easier by a damp track.

Winner: Arvid Lindblad

A hard tyre gamble for the Sprint race paid off with a point, and his strong form in the upper midfield paid off as Arvid Lindblad secured a ninth-place grid slot for Sunday’s race.

Praising Racing Bulls for giving him a car he’s comfortable with, Lindblad has shown no inexperience around the tricky and idiosyncratic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and even admitted he was somewhat disappointed not to have ended up further up the grid.

“I’m happy with how the weekend has gone so far,” he said.

“Part of me was a little bit disappointed because I was hearing sort of P5 to P7 during Q1 and Q2, so to end up P9 was a little bit sad, but, at the same time, I think it was inevitable when the top teams figured everything out.

“So I think it was the best that was possible, best of the rest.”

With none of the big scalps from the top four teams stumbling, ninth is the best position anyone from the midfield can realistically target, and it’s Lindblad again who is delivering in this very early stage of his career.

Nothing appears too daunting for the young British driver, who is staking a claim for a possible promotion into the senior team if Verstappen does indeed opt for a sabbatical or something fresh in 2027.

As for Liam Lawson, the Kiwi has been up against it from the start of the weekend, since his car ground to a halt 10 minutes into practice, meaning he never had a chance to fettle his setup before the Sprint.

But Lawson has been open about the fact he’s made too many mistakes, even with these setbacks, including losing a set of tyres due to a bad lock-up. Reflecting that Racing Bulls should have had two cars in Q3, Lawson may not be performing badly, but is in danger of being upstaged by his new teammate.

Loser: Pierre Gasly

Lawson’s failure to make it into Q3 opened the door for Franco Colapinto to do just that, with the Argentine being the better-performing Alpine driver as Gasly has slipped into a more uncomfortable place with the car, openly saying he “can’t brake, can’t turn in, can’t accelerate” – a far cry from where he was at the start of the season when he was battling with Verstappen.

Gasly’s struggles have coincided with a clear step forward in performance from Colapinto, who scored his career-best result last time out in Miami, and then just missed out on a point in the Sprint as he came home in ninth place.

Colapinto is fighting on equal terms with Gasly this weekend, with Alpine showing up with the upgraded floor and rear wing for both cars that was initially rolled out on Gasly’s car in Miami, meaning identical specifications for the two drivers here in Montreal.

Three-tenths clear of Gasly in Q2, Colapinto didn’t make any further progress beyond 10th on the grid, but it was a very strong showing from him, given that, like Lawson, he lost most of his practice preparation time due to a power unit issue that necessitated an Energy Store change.

Momentum is building with Colapinto, whose future looks more and more assured with every passing race, and he couldn’t hide his delight with how things have progressed since the season started as he spoke to the media after qualifying.

“I think this one is kind of a bit more satisfying than Miami,” he said.

“Because it was not easy to get through to Q3, and everything had to be at the limit, and everything had to be perfect.”

As for Gasly, some head-scratching is needed: “Fundamentally, something is not clicking since Miami.

“I think there’s something more fundamental, which obviously we’re trying to understand. On the data, there’s quite clearly stuff that doesn’t make sense. Unfortunately, at the moment, we haven’t found the fixes yet.”

Winner: Sergio Perez

Cadillac’s steady improvement since the start of the season is starting to become very noticeable, with Perez proving very competitive throughout the Sprint after a gamble to start on the soft tyre from 16th.

Finishing 11th on the road, a penalty for his battle with Lawson dropped him to 14th – a result that, in itself, is impressive, let alone the 11th-place competitiveness.

A setup change for qualifying took the car in the wrong direction and the Mexican driver dropped back to 20th and a Q1 elimination but his time was still eight-tenths of a second clear of Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn made a mistake into Turn 1 on the first lap of his second run, locking up and wrecking his tyres, meaning the entire run was compromised, which he held his hands up about and explained that he’s been chasing the setup since the event began.

With Perez having had the legs on Bottas in Miami as well, momentum is on the Mexican’s side as the season starts to build for F1’s newest team.

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