Wolff reflects on Russell's "superb" lap in Montreal qualifying
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff called George Russell's final push lap "superb" while he also praised rookie driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who secured fourth place on the grid for today's Montreal race despite having set his final lap time on a used set of medium tyres.
Although George Russell did not always look particularly quick on Pirelli's red-walled C6 tyres, he opted for mediums for his final lap in Q3. The Briton managed a dream last lap to grab his first pole of the season.
The Mercedes driver nailed every single corner to beat reigning champion Max Verstappen by a tenth and a half, repeating his result from last season when he also secured pole position in Montreal.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli looked to struggle for pace in the opening stages of the Montreal weekend, but the Italian got his act together when it really mattered, posting encouraging lap times all through qualifying.
Similar to Russell, the Bologna-born driver completed his last lap on Pirelli's medium tyres, albeit he was on a used set of yellow-banded tyres, but he still did very well to bag a place on the second row.
"That was a very good Qualifying session for us as a team. George’s lap was superb; you could see the lap time coming throughout and he did well to put it all together.
"There were no mistakes and, even though it has been a bit warmer today, we were right there at the end to take pole position. That is a promising sign for us, but we need to make sure we build on that and race well tomorrow.
"For Kimi, he is slightly disappointed with P4 and that is a sign of just how high his standards are and the progress he has already made in his rookie season.
"Ultimately, he had to use his second new Medium tyre to get through to Q3 and that left him at a disadvantage for his final lap. Nevertheless, he still produced a solid effort and starting P4 tomorrow gives him every chance of fighting for the podium."
