F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Mercedes dig deep to dominate grid for Saturday race

Russell and Antonelli smiling in Mercedes race suits in front of Canadian GP flag and track themed background — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Mercedes dig deep to dominate grid for Saturday race

Full results and times from qualifying for the sprint race in Canada

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Friday 22 May 2026 23:52

Mercedes locked out the front row for the Canadian Grand Prix sprint race in Friday's qualifying session, with George Russell on pole ahead of Kimi Antonelli, but the F1 title favorites had to reach deep in their bag to do it.

Lewis Hamilton had beaten both of the Silver Arrows in SQ1, and Antonelli in SQ2, but made a small mistake on his final lap in SQ3 to slip all the way down to fifth on the grid.

Max Verstappen had another difficult qualifying session, and will share the fourth row with young team-mate Isack Hadjar.

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Before all of that, Fernando Alonso became the first Aston Martin driver of the year to make it out of Q1/SQ1 in 2026. Unfortunately, he also locked up badly with just under two minutes left of the first part of the session, wrecked his car, brought out a red flag, and didn't run at all in SQ2.

The result is still an overall positive for the Aston Martin team, with Alonso showing the pace to mix it with the lower midfield for the first time this year, but his mechanics will have to work hard to get things ship-shape for Saturday's sprint.

Canadian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results

F1 Canadian Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results
Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1:12.965
2	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.068s
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.315s
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.334s
5	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.361s
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.445s
7	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.539s
8	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+0.640s
9	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+0.772s
10	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+1.571s
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
12	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
14	Esteban Ocon	Haas	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
15	Ollie Bearman	Haas	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
16	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
17	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
19	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
21	Alex Albon	Williams	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
22	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	ELIMINATED IN SQ1

Changes to F1 qualifying in 2026

There are a couple of changes to the way qualifying works this year, not quite as sweeping as the new technical regulations.

Firstly we now have 22 cars on the grid, so instead of 5 cars exiting after SQ1 and SQ2, we will have 6 being eliminated. That still leaves 10 for the pole shootout in SQ3.

Unlike in grand prix qualifying, where Q3 now gets an extra minute and lasts for 13 rather than 12, sprint qualifying timings are unchanged (12 minutes for SQ1, 10 for SQ2, eight for SQ3).

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