Canadian GP: Hamilton flies to pole ahead of Vettel
Lewis Hamilton secured his sixth pole position in Montreal after flying to first place in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Qualifying Top 3: polesitter Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1, second place Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, third place Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1
Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images
The Mercedes driver posted a lap of 1m11.459s to beat Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel by over three tenths of a second.
It was Hamilton's fourth pole of the 2017 season and the 65th of his career, matching his hero Ayrton Senna's tally.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas was third, but over seven tenths slower than Hamilton, the Finn qualifying ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo will share the third row of the grid in the Red Bulls.
Felipe Massa qualified seventh for Williams, ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10 in the Renault.
Hamilton set a blistering pace with his first flying lap in Q3, posting a 1m11.791s, a time seven tenths quicker than his best in Q2 and the fastest ever recorded at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
Vettel fought back moments later, but fell just short of his rival's best after a small correction at the first chicane cost him time.
Hamilton opted for a two-lap run for his final attempt, the Briton going three tenths quicker.
Vettel, in a one-lap run, failed to improve and had to settle for second place.
Toro Rosso duo Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz had missed the Q3 cut after a troubled second segment in which the Russian touched the wall at Turn 9 on his final flying lap. He suffered a puncture as a result and was forced to abort his run.
Sainz, who spun at high speed at Turn 1 on the second lap of his first Q2 run, finished two places behind his teammate in 13th position after having to abandon his lap due to the yellow flags displayed for Kvyat.
The Toro Rossos were split by Fernando Alonso in the quickest McLaren, the Spaniard missing the Q3 by two tenths of a second.
Romain Grosjean in the Haas will start 14th, ahead of Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who was nearly eight tenths slower than teammate Hulkenberg.
The Ferrari drivers were the only ones to set their timed laps in Q1 with the supersoft tyres, the rest of the field using the ultrasofts.
Despite that, Vettel initially kept the top spot ahead of Hamilton, before Bottas took P1 with the purple-marked rubber. Hamilton moved up to first place on the second lap of his run before Bottas regained the top position by 0.007s to lead the first segment.
The yellow flags were brought out with one minute of Q1 remaining when Pascal Wehrlein lost the rear of his Sauber under braking for Turn 1, the German crashing into the tyre wall.
The accident appeared to ruin the final runs for several drivers who had to abort their flying laps.
As a result, McLaren's Stoffel Vandoorne was knocked out in Q1 for the sixth time in seven races this year, the Belgian set to start from 16th place.
Lance Stroll, in his first home grand prix, also had a very disappointing day after qualifying down in 17th, ahead of the the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the two Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Wehrlein.
Cla | Driver | Chassis | Engine | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'11.459 | |
2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'11.789 | 0.330 |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes | 1'12.177 | 0.718 |
4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari | 1'12.252 | 0.793 |
5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | TAG | 1'12.403 | 0.944 |
6 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | TAG | 1'12.557 | 1.098 |
7 | Felipe Massa | Williams | Mercedes | 1'12.858 | 1.399 |
8 | Sergio Perez | Force India | Mercedes | 1'13.018 | 1.559 |
9 | Esteban Ocon | Force India | Mercedes | 1'13.135 | 1.676 |
10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | Renault | 1'13.271 | 1.812 |
11 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | Renault | 1'13.690 | 2.231 |
12 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | Honda | 1'13.693 | 2.234 |
13 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso | Renault | 1'13.756 | 2.297 |
14 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | Ferrari | 1'13.839 | 2.380 |
15 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | Renault | 1'14.293 | 2.834 |
16 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | Honda | 1'14.182 | 2.723 |
17 | Lance Stroll | Williams | Mercedes | 1'14.209 | 2.750 |
18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | Ferrari | 1'14.318 | 2.859 |
19 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | Ferrari | 1'14.495 | 3.036 |
20 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | Ferrari | 1'14.810 | 3.351 |
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