In the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, George Russell managed a pole position lap that will be remembered by people forever, as he made it sound like one of the most exciting laps in his life to an electric crowd at the Canadian Grand Prix. In an unbelievable qualifying finale that saw lap times fall by each sector, the Mercedes driver came up with a breathtaking 1:10.899 to take the lead off Max Verstappen by a margin 0.160 seconds to pace the grid on Sunday. It is the second year in a row Russell is getting first place in Montreal, a track that obviously suits him well and is tailor-made to his aggressive and accurate driving style.

Q3 was also just a theatre to the end. Oscar Piastri was briefly occupying provisional pole, before Verstappen swept into the top of the timesheets. However unfazed and totally in the zone Russell kept digging. And gains, tenths knocking shave of his lap time, as with each corner his steering wheel delta displayed. Six-tenths ahead, he was braking into the finale, when he gave a short deceleration. He understood it. The group was aware of it. And with his crossing of the line, so with the crowd. The shout was thunderous.

This is the coolest thing to have done in front of this crazy crowd today, Russell explained with a smile that just did not reveal how much after the moment has become to him. As a matter of fact, to be quite truthful, that last lap was as near to being one of the most wildest laps in my life, because on my steering wheel there is a delta and I was getting just see corner to corner I was going one-tenth of a second faster, one-tenth of a second faster. I had gotten into the final corner and I was six tenths up and I was like, this lap is mighty and crossing the finish line seeing that we were in the P1 position was a real surprise but felt so chuffed with it.”

This was not all about pole. It was an assertion-evidence of the fact that Mercedes are creeping again into genuine contention and that Russell is becoming increasingly comfortable as a front runner. He has been after the latter highs and he may have produced his best on this weekend in Canada.

The pole creates an alluring clash at front-rows with Verstappen. This is the second update over the last clash of the pair on the Spaniard race track wherein contact between the pairing was already seen as costing Verstappen a 10-second time penalty. Nonetheless, he does not have bad blood, at least, superficially. Well we are mates, that is all right, Russell smiled sardonically. Neither of these men is one to be intimidated though, as they both understand the importance of having a front-row start during the Montreal challenge.

Then there is the story of penalty points. As an accumulation of events over the last 12 months, Verstappen has already notched up to one point short of race ban under the in-season penalties staged in 2021. When given consideration on whether he will be more assertive in the race on the next go, Russell answered tongue in cheek in the affirmative: because he has a few more points on his license to use: “I have a few more points on my licence to play with, so we will see.”

Behind the jokes one sees a serious edge. Russell is hungry, Mercedes is getting better and Verstappen, as much as he remains the current champion, is not untouchable. In Montreal, the Mercedes W15 has found its feet and should Russell get his start, right, 70 laps could give us a rare one-on-one visit between the two on equal terms.

What we are seeing in Russell at the moment is a driver not only with talent but with belief. Verstappen has been looming over the grid like a giant, virtually invulnerable in qualifying and unstoppable in the races, during years. This season however, cracks are beginning to show. There are crept-in errors. The RB20 is not as supreme as its predecessors. And when that lead starts to evaporate, Russell is the kind of driver who is ready to strike.

His pole lap at Canada may not only be the best of his career–it may be the moment of change in a season which has needed a kick-start. Dogged by inconsistencies earlier in the year, Mercedes, finally, seems to have figured out how to squeeze performance out of their car. They are not title contenders yet and the win here would flip the script quickly.

At this point, Russell is at the point of something special. There are still some miles and laps to go before it can be said that the race has been won but this pole position this lap will go down in history no matter what happens on Sunday. It was a brief masterpiece of driving, which came of courage, control and faith.

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