George Russell left it for the last moment, but the Mercedes driver beat out his teammate Kimi Antonelli for a third consecutive pole at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday.
Russell's final lap was 0.068 seconds faster than that of Antonelli, who will line up second. Reigning drivers' champion Lando Norris rounded out the top three.
"It's just such a special feeling because there are times where you expect to be on pole and every lap you do is the quickest," Russell said in the post-qualifying press conference. "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 added: "On my preparation lap, I saw Kimi on the TV screen going purple. So, I was like, 'Alright, I need to bring something big here."
Russell joins Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to take three consecutive poles at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Russell's pole is the ninth of his career and his first since the season-opening race in Australia.
Sunday will be the fourth time in five grand prix races that Mercedes locks out the front row. Russell and Antonelli began in identical starting positions during Saturday's sprint race. Tension grew between the teammates and championship contenders during the shortened event, which Russell won. Antonelli finished the sprint in third.
Antonelli said after qualifying that the team reviewed the clash in the sprint race and everything is "all good now."
Oscar Piastri will line up alongside Norris, giving McLaren a second-row lockout. Hamilton and Max Verstappen will share the third row after placing fifth and sixth, respectively.
Charles Leclerc qualified eighth, his worst result of the season thus far.
Alpine's Franco Colapinto also made Q3 for a second consecutive weekend.
Sunday's race could be the first held in the rain since F1 introduced a new generation of cars for this season. Russell said he's "intrigued" to see how a potential wet-weather race pans out.
