Russell storms to pole position ahead of Mercedes teammate Antonelli at Canadian GP

George Russell's perfect weekend continued Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Hours after winning the sprint race, Russell charged to the pole position for the third consecutive year as Mercedes locked out the front row for Sunday's main event.

The 28-year-old Brit appeared off the pace after making a pit stop in the final qualifying segment, then he surged to the top of the leaderboard with a thrilling last-gasp lap around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

"It is the most exhilarating feeling in the world when it comes last minute, out of nowhere," he screamed over the team radio.

"There are times when you expect to be on pole, and every lap you do is the quickest. But the times when you are fighting for it and you're never up there, and then it comes together on that final lap to be the one, it's the best feeling in the world," he later added. "That rush of adrenalin within the space of 10 seconds is what we live for."

Russell clocked a time of one minute 12.578s seconds, edging teammate and Formula One points leader Kimi Antonelli by 0.068 — the exact same gap between the two drivers in sprint qualifying.

"I'm going to remember that number for a very long time," Antonelli said.

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The Mercedes drivers will line up side by side after clashing in a fiery sprint race earlier Saturday, when Russell and Antonelli made contact but avoided a crash.

Russell fended off a pair of attacks from Antonelli on the sixth of 23 laps as the drivers went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1, sending the 19-year-old Italian into the grass.

"That was very naughty," a furious Antonelli said in one of several complaints as emotions boiled over on the team