George Russell claimed pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix qualifying on May 23, joined on the front row by teammate Kimi Antonelli to complete a Mercedes front-row lockout [1, 2].
Lando Norris qualified third for McLaren, posting a best lap time of 1:12.7 [1, 2]. He expressed satisfaction with his performance but noted potential for more pace. "I was pretty happy, actually. My lap, the 12.7, I was reasonably happy with. I thought there was a little bit more in it, which I tried to get out on my second lap, but didn't really seem to be able to extract," Norris said [1].
Norris also highlighted positive signs for McLaren despite not fully running their upgrade package. "The fact that we're not using some of our upgrades, I think we're very surprised to be this close. There are a lot of positives... there are still good things to come once we figure them out," he added [1].
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella confirmed the team was making progress understanding their upgrades. "Between the Sprint sessions and qualifying, we did some work to optimise the car from a set-up point of view and a tyre exploitation point of view, so this allowed us to make the car quicker," Stella said [1].
Stella noted possible rain on race day that could introduce uncertainty. "I do think that this is an advantage because there's uncertainty in relation to the behaviour of the power unit. In wet, it deviates even more from what you anticipate and from what you can simulate. So power units certainly remain an element of variability that is concerning, but if you have tested it you might know a little bit more. There is a little advantage then," he explained [1].
The Canadian Grand Prix race is set to take place following qualifying, where weather conditions may play a role in the final results [1, 2].