Update: Hamilton avoids Canadian GP grid penalty for impeding Gasly

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has been cleared of allegedly impeding Pierre Gasly in Canadian Grand Prix qualifying, which means the Ferrari driver retains his fifth place on the starting grid.

Hamilton made a trip to the FIA race stewards one hour after qualifying for allegedly blocking Alpine driver Gasly at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. On his first flying lap in Q1, Gasly encountered Hamilton - who was on an outlap - on the run down to Turn 8. Hamilton appeared unaware of Gasly approaching as he weaved to warm up the tyres. 
 
Explaining the incident to the stewards, Hamilton said that both he and his Ferrari team didn't think Gasly was on a flying lap. And because the incident didn't change Gasly's Q1 result, with the Frenchman advancing to Q2, they didn't feel aggrieved by Hamilton's actions.
 
"The driver of Car 44 explained that he was under the impression that Car 10 was not on a push lap, and his team confirmed that it had the same opinion. The driver and team representative of Car 10 stated they did not consider this to be a case of “unnecessary impeding”. The Stewards therefore determined to take no further action."

Hamilton qualified fifth in Q3 behind the leading cars from Mercedes and McLaren, as he is set to share the third row with Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Gasly had struggled all weekend with the behaviour of his car, taking his Alpine out of parc ferme after sprint qualifying to use Saturday morning's 23-lap sprint as a glorified test run. But his fortunes didn't improve in qualifying as contact with a groundhog in Q1 caused lasting damage which prevented him from qualifying higher than 14th in the next segment.
 
Mercedes driver George Russell claimed pole with a last-ditch effort, beating team-mate Kimi Antonelli's time to claim his second pole of the 2026 season. McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will line up on the second row on Sunday, when wet conditions are a realistic possibility.