A QUALIFIED SUCCESS AS HAMILTON’S POLES APART
LEWIS HAMILTON blew away championship rival Sebastian Vettel with a phenomenal lap to secure pole position for today’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s stunning time, the fastest seen at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, also moved the triple world champion level on 65 career pole positions with his childhood hero Ayrton Senna.
The British driver finished more than three tenths of a second clear of Vettel, whom he trails by 25 points in the championship race, with his young Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas lining up in third.
Canada has been good to Hamilton in the past and so it proved again in a thrilling final qualifying session.
It was here 10 years ago where Hamilton secured his first GP victory and he will now be odds-on to record his sixth victory in Montreal.
Hamilton laid down the gauntlet with a super-quick opener in the final phase of qualifying before Vettel hit back to move to within just four thousandths of a second.
But Hamilton, 32, responded in meteoric fashion to stamp his mark on pole and join Senna in second on the all-time list – only Michael Schumacher now has more poles than Hamilton in the sport’s long history. An emotional Hamilton was given a race-worn Senna helmet, provided by the Brazilian’s family, which he held aloft in front of the thousands of fans at turn two.
Fernando Alonso was back after his heroics at the Indianapolis 500 but the double world cham could only haul his Honda-powered McLaren to 12th on the grid.
Lance Stroll, the first Canadian driver to appear in this event since Jacques Villeneuve more than a decade ago, has endured a testing start to his GP career. The rookie, 18, whose rise through the ranks has been bankrolled by his fashion billionaire father Lawrence Stroll, has struggled for speed and he will start a lowly and disappointing 17th. Felipe Massa, Stroll’s veteran Williams team-mate, lines up seventh behind the two Red Bulls.