Kimi Antonelli laments a bad SQ3 lap in Sprint Qualifying in Montreal

The 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' Championship leader arrived to the weekend in Montreal on the back of three wins in a row (China, Japan, and Miami) and started off in a solid manner by topping the only practice session.

But the situation shifted in qualifying as George Russell, looking to end his teammate's run of form, emerged as the better Mercedes driver and went on to take pole while Antonelli only managed second fastest, less than a tenth behind.

Speaking after qualifying, Antonelli said: "The lap was quite bad, to be fair. It was not clean at all. I did a mistake, and that threw me off a little bit.

"I then decided to go for a lap on the soft tyres without doing prep. The tyres were a bit cold. But still P2, so the potential is definitely there," he added.

Mercedes have finally upgraded their W17 in Canada, responding to the upgrades McLaren and Ferrari brought in Miami, which brought them closer to the 2026 F1 Constructors' Championship leaders.

The Mercedes new parts seemed to work well out of the box, and both Antonelli and Russell made the best of them to lock out the front row on the starting grid of the Sprint Race.

Commenting on the Mercedes upgrade, Antonelli said: "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," he concluded as Mercedes were almost three tenths clear of their closest rival McLaren.

Antonelli is currently 20 points ahead of Russell in the 2026 F1 Drivers' Standings.