‘I never doubted myself’ - George Russell proud of bounce back to F1 Canadian GP sprint pole

George Russell insists he “never doubted” himself after taking pole position for the Formula 1 sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Following a difficult run of races that has seen him suffer three consecutive defeats to Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Russell bounced back to beat his championship rival to sprint pole at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Russell, who is 20 points down on the Italian teenager heading into the weekend in Montreal, edged Antonelli to set the fastest time in sprint qualifying by just 0.068 seconds.

It was the perfect response from Russell on a weekend that has been billed as being crucial for the Briton after a difficult start to a season he started as the overwhelming title favourite.

“It obviously feels great after a tough Miami but I never doubted myself – I knew what I could do,” Russell said.

“Miami was obviously a bit unique. This is an amazing circuit here – high-grip, feels like you’re driving a proper Formula 1 car around here which is how it should be. I’m glad today came together.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1: "It’s only the baby race but still it’s good to see the pace is there, also for his [Russell’s] confidence.

"But I’ve never doubted, we’ve never doubted in that. Miami was a bad track."

Mercedes debuted its first major upgrade package of the season in Canada and Russell said the early signs are positive as the team looks to stretch its advantage over the rest of the field.

“It’s definitely feeling great,” Russell said. “The team have done such a great job to bring this forward.

“We obviously saw in Miami McLaren were really close and Ferrari not too far behind. On a track like this, it’s really excelling, so pleased to have it on the car.

“Pleased to be back in P1 – it’s been a little while but obviously still big focus for tomorrow.”

Antonelli was left to rue a mistake on his final run of SQ3 as he narrowly missed out on pole.

"The lap was quite bad, to be fair. It was not clean at all. I did a mistake and that threw me off a little bit,” he said.

"I then decided to go for a lap on the soft tyres without doing prep. The tyres were a bit cold. But still P2, so the potential is definitely there.

"We brought the upgrades so we still need to understand the package a little bit more as the balance has changed.

"But it seems to have given us a bit of an edge again."