Max Verstappen is the only non-McLaren driver to win a grand prix so far this season
Canadian Grand Prix
Venue: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal Date: 15 June Race start: 19:00 BST on Sunday
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app
Max Verstappen said Formula 1 was "annoying" and that questions about him racing under the threat of a race ban were "childish".
The Red Bull driver, who qualified second for Sundays Canadian Grand Prix, will be contesting the lead at the start of the race with Mercedes George Russell, who took pole position.
Verstappen deliberately drove into the Briton at the last race in Spain and a resulting penalty has left him one licence point short of a race ban.
Asked about this at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday, the Dutchman said: "I dont need to hear it again. You were speaking about it on Thursday.
"Its such a waste of time. Its very childish. So, thats why I also dont want to say too much because its really annoying, this world that we live in."
Russells pole was his first of the season and he referenced Verstappens predicament in the context of their prospective battle for the lead in the race.
"Were mates so its all good," Russell said with a smile on his face. "I have a few more points on my licence to play with, so lets see."
Verstappen, who has said the incident in Spain was "not right and shouldnt have happened", said in his news conference on Thursday that the threat of a ban would not change the way he raced.
"I cannot just back out of everything," he said. "Im just going to race like I always do. I trust myself."
The incident in Spain was not the first moment of tension between Verstappen and Russell.
They had a public row at the end of last season, in which Verstappen was unhappy with what he perceived as Russell trying to get him a penalty at the Qatar Grand Prix. Russell was offended by Verstappens comments in a conversation afterwards.
They exchanged criticisms of each other in public, including Russell calling Verstappen a bully and Verstappen saying Russell was a backstabber.
They also insulted each other after colliding in the sprint race at the 2023 Azerbajian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen congratulates George Russell after qualifying in Montreal
Russell said his pole lap was "probably one of the most exhilarating laps of my life" and that it had given him "goosebumps".
The Briton let a victory slip through his fingers after taking pole in Canada last year and said he wanted to make amends for that.
"Last year was a poor race for me," he said, "and I felt it couldve gone differently. So obviously Ill be doing my best to make up for last years losses.
"But its totally different this year. We dont know how the race is going to pan out because the hard tyre is the one that were all going to use at some point in the race, and no one knows if that would do the distance to give you a one-stop or not. So, theres that curveball in there."
Mercedes improved performance is down to the combination of relatively cool temperatures at just over 20C and a low-abrasion track that enables their car to keep its tyre temperatures down.
But Russell said he was wary of how the car might perform in Sundays race.
"We had good race pace on Friday, but it depends on the temperature," he said. "In practice, it was 5C cooler than it was today, and the car was easily in its sweet spot.
"It can easily go the other way tomorrow in the race. If the sun comes out - its a two oclock race, it was a four oclock qualifying today - that makes quite a bit of difference. So, its not going to be an easy race."
The track characteristics have the opposite effect on championship leaders McLaren, whose car is the best in the field at managing tyre temperatures.
As a consequence, McLaren have been struggling to make it operate at its best in Montreal.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri is third on the grid behind Russell and Verstappen but his team-mate and title rival Lando Norris could manage only seventh, admitting that he had made two mistakes in the final session of qualifying.
Norris said: "I think we can go forwards anyway, but not a lot. You know, its not like were easy one-two, like we have been on other tracks.
"Its just very low grip, first of all is one of the bigger things. And therefore the car balance just never comes together as much as what it does in other tracks.
"Probably just low grip and some of the kerb-riding and bumps, which just hurts us, it seems, more than some others."
Norris was using a revised front suspension layout that was designed to increase the feel from the front axle of the car, the lack of which the Briton believes is important in the flip in form between himself and Piastri between last year and this.
Norris said it was "tough to say" whether this had improved the feeling coming from the car.
"This track, everything just feels different," he said. "So I think its something well have to wait and see on the next few races through Austria and Silverstone and so forth to understand and maybe back-to-back tests between them both.
"Its nothing that Ive felt just yet. But its more that when you go to a new track, its hard to remember everything perfectly relative to other tracks. So we just need a bit more time to understand if its any better or not."
Piastri stuck with the old layout, saying: "Its not an upgrade. Its a different part. It changes some things, some things are better, some things are worse. I have been happy with how the car has been this year."
Team principal Andrea Stella said: "From Landos point of view, there were no downsides. If anything, despite the result that we had in Q3 with Lando, pretty much right away, Lando has actually been competitive, especially compared to Oscar throughout the weekend.
"So we think that the experimentation of the front suspension is a successful one, and its a preference, its a set-up option in a way, that might be even different across drivers depending on their requirements from a driving point of view."
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