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Vettel tops Hamilton for stunning Canada pole

Sebastian Vettel claimed a stunning pole at the Canadian Grand Prix, topping Lewis Hamilton with a track-record time right at the end of qualifying.

By Opta
Sebastian Vettel claimed his first pole of the season in Montreal

Montreal, June 9: Sebastian Vettel claimed a stunning pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix, topping Lewis Hamilton with a track-record time right at the end of qualifying.

Charles Leclerc was third, with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas having to settle for a surprising sixth place on the grid.

Renault's Daniel Ricciardo impressed to claim fourth, with Pierre Gasly fifth and the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen down in 11th after the Dutchman missed out on a place in Q3.

Vettel was the last contender to cross the line and his stunning effort of 1:10.240 was 0.206secs faster than championship leader Hamilton, whose time would also have been a lap record.

The German said: "I'm full of adrenaline! You know the feeling in the car when you feel the grip and just go for it, it was just one of those laps.

"[I'm] Very, very happy for the team. The last few weeks have been tough for us. The car felt good. I hope we can carry that into the race."

Vettel's Ferrari team-mate Leclerc was 0.680secs behind, with Ricciardo and Gasly just pipping Bottas, who had spun at turn two during his first Q3 run and was fortunate to miss the wall, allowing him to set a laboured second time which was 0.861s off the pace.

Just three hundredths of a second separated Ricciardo, Gasly and Bottas, with Nico Hulkenberg and Lando Norris making up the fourth row.

Verstappen was the biggest casualty of the first two sessions, failing to make it out of Q2.

After being unable to set a competitive time on medium tyres, he put softs back on in a bid to make the final shoot-out but could not complete his flying lap after Kevin Magnussen had a major crash at the Wall of Champions, bringing the session to an immediate halt and delaying Q3.

"We tried it on the medium," Verstappen said to Sky Sports of his initial run in Q2. "The tyre didn't feel fantastic for us, but we also had traffic. Then we went onto the soft tyre, but we had a red flag. Very unlucky – it happens in Formula One."

It was the first time Vettel had claimed pole since July 2018 at the German Grand Prix.

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) 1:10.240secs

2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +0.206s

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.680s

4. Daniel Ricciardo (Renault) +0.831s

5. Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) +0.839s

6. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +0.0861s

7. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) +1.084s

8. Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.623s

9. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) +3.741s

10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) no time set

Story first published: Sunday, June 9, 2019, 7:53 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 9, 2019