George Russell confident about victory after setting identical time to Max Verstappen

George Russell is confident he can convert a shock pole position into victory following a dramatic qualifying at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to claim Mercedes’ first pole of the 2024 season in a thrilling qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, despite the pair setting identical lap times of a 1m12.000s.

The Briton bagged his second career pole due to completing his lap before Verstappen and Russell believes he can beat the reigning world champion to the win on Sunday.

“I wasn’t sure I had captured pole because that last lap, we just didn’t improve for some reason,” Russell said.

“I did my quickest lap on the old tyre. Here the new tyre is worth about three or four tenths. I still did my quickest lap in Q2, which is not how it should be. But the car has been so good this weekend.

“The team have done an amazing job bringing all these upgrades to the car and finally, this hard work is translating into results.”

Asked if he thinks victory could be on the cards on Sunday, Russell replied: “Yeah absolutely, I see no reason why not.

“Ferrari were not in the mix today but it’s been getting increasingly close between all the teams and it’s really great to see.

“Let’s see how it pans out tomorrow and let’s see how it pans out in the coming races.

“I see no reason why we can’t fight for victory. We’ve had the fastest car this weekend and I’m feeling really good behind the wheel.”

Russell added: “But there’s a lot of unknowns. We’ve got this new tarmac, we had no real practice to understand how the tyres are degrading.

“I think we saw in practice three this morning, as soon as they go, they really go. We’re going to have to play the long game.

“But I’ll have a good night’s sleep tonight and go for it tomorrow!”