Hamilton blisters track record to score pole in Montreal but Vettel right behind in P2; Bottas P3
Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton set the all-time fastest lap on the ultra-quick and treacherous Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Saturday logging a blistering 1:11:459 on Illes Notre Dame in Montreal, Canada and besting his closest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, by 3-tenths of a second. Desperate to make amends for his subpar Monaco qualifying performance, which saw him bounced in Q2 en route to a damaging P7 finish, Hamilton’s superb effort gave him his 65th career pole. That tied the Englishman with his personal hero, Ayrton Senna, and after the session was over the Senna family presented him with a period official publicity helmet from the late F1 legend with a promise of an actual race worn version to come. Hamilton was visibly moved by the gracious gesture and it should give him even more motivation to run to victory come Sunday on a track where he has often dominated and where he has 5 career wins, including his first ever top step in F1 back in 2007 when he was a rookie with McLaren.
Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com
But as dominant as Hamilton’s Mercedes was Ferrari and Vettel must be well pleased to have ended up so very close to the lead Merc. The Monaco winner and points leader slotted in at P2 with the only other time below 1:12 and it will be all to play for when the lights go out so look for some fierce dicing between these ultra-competitive pilots, as well as key strategic decisions between the two mega-factory teams. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valterri Bottas was just a bit behind the elite duo in P3, while Vettel’s wingman Kimi Raikkonen, still stewing over a potential Monaco win that he failed to convert from pole, took P4. The start of the tomorrow’s race with those mixed Silver and Red front two rows should be very interesting indeed.
The Red Bulls were once again the best of the rest, with Max Verstappen laying down a time good enough for fifth on the grid and Daniel Ricciardo following up his excellent Monaco podium with a P6 start. Felipe Massa showed one again that the Williams is suited to tracks with long straights and nabbed a P7 starting spot, while Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon both showed good pace for Force India with laps good enough for P8 and P9 on the grid respectively. Renault’s excellent Nico Hulkenberg gave a good effort to get into Q3 and will start P10.
Top 10 Qualifiers for the Canadian Grand Prix:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:12.692 | 1:12.496 | 1:11.459 | |
| 2 | 1:13.046 | 1:12.749 | 1:11.789 | |
| 3 | 1:12.685 | 1:12.563 | 1:12.177 | |
| 4 | 1:13.548 | 1:12.580 | 1:12.252 | |
| 5 | 1:13.177 | 1:12.751 | 1:12.403 | |
| 6 | 1:13.543 | 1:12.810 | 1:12.557 | |
| 7 | 1:13.435 | 1:13.012 | 1:12.858 | |
| 8 | 1:13.470 | 1:13.262 | 1:13.018 | |
| 9 | 1:13.520 | 1:13.320 | 1:13.135 | |
| 10 | 1:13.804 | 1:13.406 | 1:13.271 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs on NBC proper live starting at 2PM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton and Vettel nice and tuck and the Mercedes-Ferrari dual as close as possible it’ll be game on in Montreal to see who bag glory and the most points out of this demanding and fast race. Hope to see you then!