Toto Wolff and Mercedes were under pressure after McLaren and Ferrari caught up to Red Bull. The Silver Arrows were the only big team not to be in the race-win fight this season. But George Russell’s qualifying performance at the Canadian GP has put that to bed as the Mercedes driver, along with Max Verstappen repeats Michael Schumacher’s feat 27 years later. But what did Verstappen and Russell repeat?

F1 introduced ground-effect cars in 2022 to promote closer racing but nobody expected it to be as close as the 2024 Canadian GP. George Russell took the pole position with a lap time of 1:12:000, which was set on the banker lap. Just a few minutes later, during the final runs of Q3, Max Verstappen equaled George Russell’s time to the thousandth. Despite setting the same lap time as Russell, Verstappen will start the race in P2, as he set the lap time after the Briton.

However, this is only the second time something like this has happened in F1, as Russell and Verstappen repeated Michael Schumacher’s feat from 1997. During the final round of the 1997 championship at the European GP held in Jerez, Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, and Heinz-Herald Frentzen set the same lap time of 1:21:072 during qualifying. Villeneuve took the pole as he was the first to set the lap time, followed by Schumacher and Frentzen.

The second time drivers set the same qualifying lap time surprisingly happened at the track named after Jacques Villeneuve’s father, Gilles Villeneuve. Schumacher crashed into Villeneuve, causing the German to retire from the race and handing the Canadian his only championship. Will we see Verstappen and Russell colliding tomorrow?

George Russell seems to be confident about keeping Verstappen behind him during the race whereas Verstappen doesn’t seem too stressed about starting in P2. Let’s see what the front-row starters had to say about post the qualifying session.

“Why not?”: George Russell’s Fiery Jab Towards Max Verstappen after Canadian GP pole

Mercedes has been longing for the day when they can beat Red Bull on track ever since George Russell’s 2022 Brazilian GP win. The Canadian GP qualifying pole must feel like somewhat of a win for the Mercedes team. George Russell is confident about having the pace to keep Max Verstappen behind him. The Dutchman however, seems to be quite relaxed about the race and isn’t worrying too much about Russell being ahead of him.

George Russell, when asked if he can keep Max Verstappen behind him, replied, “Why not? Ofcourse. Let’s go for it. The car has been feeling amazing since we brought those upgrades to Monaco. We’ve been in that fight now. We’re going for it tomorrow” On the other hand, when Max Verstappen was asked about his plan for the race, he replied, “I don’t know. We’ll think about it. I’m not that stressed about it.”

Who do you think will win the 2024 Canadian GP?