(Motorsport-Total.com) – Only 0.068 seconds separated George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix – a gap that lasts barely longer than a blink of an eye. But this minimal difference caused one of the most exciting intra-team qualifying battles of the season so far in Montreal.
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While Russell secured pole position with his last lap and then sent a cheer over the radio through the Mercedes camp, the main question remained for Antonelli: Was even more possible?
Because internally, much suggests that the young Italian possibly had the pace for first place. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff spoke after qualifying of a problematic car and at the same time pointed to a technical detail that could have cost Antonelli crucial time.
“I don’t think we gave the drivers a perfect car today,” Wolff explains. “George saved that for himself by doing those two fast laps to build more temperature on the rear axle.”
Then came the decisive sentence. “And Kimi had a missed downshift. A gear was not properly engaged on the fast lap – that’s exactly where he lost the difference.”
Tire management became the key factor
But the possible shifting error was probably only part of the story. More decisive was apparently the completely different approach to tire preparation.
Antonelli completed two preparation laps on his decisive run and then a single attack lap. Russell, on the other hand, took a more aggressive approach: two push laps with a slower lap in between. This approach apparently helped the Briton to bring the tires better into the optimal working window.
And that was extremely difficult in Montreal. The track is generally considered problematic when it comes to getting temperature into the tires. The asphalt offers little grip, the corners are mostly short, and in Canada there are enormous temperature fluctuations between morning, afternoon, and evening.
The result: The drivers constantly struggle with an unstable temperature balance between front and rear axles. Those who push too hard only overheat the surface of the tires briefly without getting enough temperature into the core. Those who drive too cautiously never get the tires to work properly. This balancing act practically determined the entire qualifying.
Russell ultimately seemed to have found the better rhythm. “That last lap somehow came out of nowhere,” says the polesitter later. “It was just an incredible feeling because the session was so difficult and you had to bring everything perfectly together on the last attempt.”
Antonelli shines especially in the first sector
Particularly remarkable: In two of the three sectors, Antonelli was even faster than his experienced teammate. Especially in the first section of the track, the rookie impressed with an extremely clean line.
Although Russell braked even slightly later in turn one, Antonelli countered with a better corner exit from turn two and thus carried more speed onto the following straight.
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Also in the fast chicane of turn three, the Italian remained strong. He braked later and kept his speed stable longer, allowing him to maintain his small lead. The result: the best time in the first sector.
The turning point came only in turn 6. There, Mercedes suspects the fateful shifting moment. Telemetry data shows that Antonelli stayed longer in fifth gear when downshifting than Russell.
Probably the gear change was delayed by a few hundredths – enough to lose momentum. Russell was thus able to carry more speed through the corner and turned the duel in his favor for the first time.
Russell risked everything on the last lap
In the last sector, Antonelli launched another comeback. Especially in the hairpin of turn ten, the 18-year-old showed an extremely clean line and took a few hundredths off Russell again. At times, the gap shrank to just five hundredths.
But Russell responded precisely in the notorious final chicane with his best passage of the entire lap. He stayed on the throttle longer, rotated the car more aggressively into the corner, and gained the crucial last thousandths there.
“I had to completely recalibrate my driving style for that last lap,” explains Russell. “And that’s exactly what worked.” Mercedes had actually consciously made compromises with its setup. The team had made changes to be better prepared for the expected cold and wet conditions in the race.
“That may have even hurt us a bit in qualifying,” Russell admits. “The car felt a bit unbalanced at times because of that.”
Especially risky: Russell had previously even aborted a fast lap after the rear suddenly broke loose in turn six. Afterwards, he got fresh tires and put everything on the last attempt – without a safe first lap in hand.
There is tension between Russell and Antonelli
There is no question that Antonelli impressed despite the narrow defeat. The Italian was at least equal for long stretches – and internally, Mercedes seems to have taken note of exactly that. Antonelli himself also sounds convinced after qualifying that even more was possible.
“Of course, there was still a bit of time on the track,” he says afterwards. “But George drove a great lap.” A sentence that sounded polite – but at the same time suggests that the rookie sees himself on equal footing.