Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports/Getty
Topics: George Russell, Max Verstappen, Formula 1
Nasir Jabbar
Topics: George Russell, Max Verstappen, Formula 1
George Russell aimed a ruthless dig at Max Verstappen after he snatched pole position from his rival at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Russell produced a sensational lap to secure pole for Mercedes at the Canadian GP as he edged out Red Bull's Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
The Brit beat the Dutchman by 0.160 seconds to grab the fastest time just seconds after the four-time F1 world champion himself had taken it away from Piastri.
The grid sets up a fascinating battle into the first corner between the two star drivers at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve following the controversial incident at the Spanish Grand Prix just two weeks ago.
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Verstappen was hit with a 10-second penalty and given three license penalty points for crashing into Russell in the closing stages of the race and is one licence point away from a race ban.
Speaking after beating Verstappen to pole, Russell was asked about being aggressive to win the Canadian GP on Sunday to which he replied: "I've got a few more points on my licence to play with. Let's see."
Verstappen lashed out at criticism of his driving as 'childish' when the subject came up in the post-qualifying press conference.
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"I don’t need to hear it again," he said. "It is really p**ses me off. You speaking about it on Thursday, it is such a waste of time. It is very childish.
"I don’t want to say too much because it is really annoying this world that we live in."
Russell goes into tonight's race in Montreal in pole for a second successive year.
He said it was 'one of the most exhilarating laps' of his life.
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"Today was awesome! That last lap was probably one of the most exhilarating laps of my life because on my steering wheel you have the delta and I was seeing every corner I was one tenth quicker," he explained when reflecting on claiming pole.
"I got into the last corner and I was six tenths up so I was like 'this lap is mighty'. Crossing the line and seeing we were P1 was a real surprise but I was so chuffed with it."