It was one of F1's most remarkable feats - George Russell and Max Verstappen posting identical lap times at the end of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
It is now over 40 years ago - 1982 to be precise - that the sport moved to timings of three decimal places. The days of a dead heat were meant to be a thing of the past.
Yet Russell and Verstappen achieved the near impossible for only the second time over the past four decades by clocking the same time at the end of the 4.361km Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The first occasion was even more astonishing as three drivers - Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen - all set identical times in qualifying for the 1997 European Grand Prix.
Russell starts on pole in Canada by setting his time of 1:12.000 ahead of Verstappen, who edged the first sector by a tenth, only for the Mercedes driver to counter strongly in sector two. In the final sector, it was Red Bull's three-time F1 champion who narrowly had the edge.
Instead of Verstappen scoring his third consecutive pole for this race, instead it was Russell who nabbed only the second of his F1 career.
Looking at the places on the track where Verstappen and Russell were quicker, data shows the Red Bull had the edge through the corners, whilst the Mercedes was faster over the straights by as much as six kilometres per hour. Verstappen, though, did lose a fraction of time coming out of Turn 7.
Overall, it was an astonishing performance from both drivers, with all the data below to see how it was achieved.
| Sector | Verstappen | Russell | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19,987 | 20.123 | 0,136 |
| 2 | 22.915 | 22.726 | - 0,189 |
| 3 | 29.098 | 29.151 | 0,053 |
| Round | 1:12.000 | 1:12.000 | 0,000 |
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