Hamilton claims Canadian pole

LEWIS Hamilton enhanced his impressive personal record at the Canadian Grand Prix to claim pole position ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg for today’s race.

The world champion, who is bidding to win his second race in succession, and fifth in Montreal, was just six hundredths of a seconds faster than Rosberg as he claimed the 53rd pole of his career.

An impressive lap from Sebastian Vettel, only a tenth shy of the Mercedes duo, sees the Ferrari driver line up in third on the grid with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo fourth.

It has been unseasonably cold in Montreal this weekend, but while qualifying took place under cloud cover, rain failed to materialise.

That is likely to have come as a relief to Rosberg, who struggled so badly in the inclement conditions at the last race in Monaco. Indeed in the dry, the championship leader provided Hamilton with the sternest of tests only for the Briton to display his prowess at the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit with the quickest lap seen at the venue since 2004.

“It doesn’t matter how far you are ahead as long as you are ahead,” said Hamilton. “Today, I didn’t have the pace I had yesterday, but it was enough.

“It was great to see how close we all were. That’s great for the fans. It is going to be interesting tomorrow, but it is the best place to start.”

Jenson Button, the McLaren driver who won so memorably five years ago, failed to progress beyond Q2, and will start 12th. His McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso will line up in 10th.