Vettel snatches dramatic pole
Montreal, June 9: Sebastian Vettel ended Mercedes’ run of earlyseason qualifying supremacy on Saturday when he claimed a dramatic late pole position for Ferrari in a crash-hit showdown at the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I feel so very, very happy for the team,” Vettel said. “I am full of adrenaline and the last few weeks have been tough for us. The car felt very good and now I hope we can carry that into the race.”
The four-time champion repeated his 2018 success, when he won from pole, by outpacing championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by two-tenths of a second at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It was Vettel’s first pole position triumph of the season, his first pole in 17 races since
last year’s German Grand Prix and a signal that Ferrari's superior straight-line speed was well-suited to the track.
“Seb did a stunning lap and he deserved to be on pole,” said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. “Lewis picked up a couple of mistakes
in the hairpin.”
Defending five-time champion Hamilton of Mercedes had appeared to be on course for his record seventh Canadian pole until the final laps, when he was outpaced by Vettel in the dying seconds.
“We’re certainly very happy and the entire weekend here we have been performing ok so this is a positive surprise for us,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto.
“The track will improve. It will be a lot hotter on Sunday so it will be a tough race.” Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc claimed third place on the grid.
“I don’t really know how I struggled with the car and the set-up,” he said. “Congratulations to Seb. He deserves it and hopefully I’ll have a better race from my side tomorrow.”
Vettel beamed as he talked to a congratulatory Hamilton after the session. Vettel clocked a best lap of one minute and 10.240 seconds to beat Hamilton's lap in 1:10.446. "He's bloody good in qualifying," said Vettel, pointing to Hamilton.