Sebastian Vettel produced an ominously clinical qualifying performance to take pole position for today’s Canadian Grand Prix. He edged out Lewis Hamilton by three tenths of a second with Fernando Alonso continuing Ferrari’s improvement this season by taking third on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen missed out on the Q3 shootout, lining up 12th this afternoon while Jenson Button scraped through to the final session but failed to impress down in 10th.
Qualifying 1
Jean-Eric Vergne crashed out of FP3 earlier on Saturday afternoon and it proved to be costly as he again failed to make it out of Q1 this season. He will line up behind the Caterhams after they showed some improvements this weekend. HRT’s Pedro de la Rosa put in a superb lap to place him ahead of the Marussia’s, much to the delight of the Spanish team. At the front of the field, Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets to show that the RB8 wasn’t fazed by the modifications that the FIA forced Red Bull to make to it.
Eliminated:
- 18th Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham F1) 1:16.263
- 19th Vitaly Petrov (Caterham F1) 1:16.482
- 20th Jean-Eric Vergne (Scuderia Toro Rosso) 1:16.602
- 21st Pedro de la Rosa (HRT F1) 1:17.492
- 22nd Timo Glock (Marussia F1) 1:17.901
- 23rd Charles Pic (Marussia F1) 1:18.255
- 24th Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F1) 1:18.330
Another weekend, another frantic Q2 session. The field is so tightly bunched this year that just the slightest mistake in this session can ruin your weekend. The Lotus’ are not suited to this track and Raikkonen struggled all session to get close to the top 10. The Saubers were also off the pace with Kobayashi ending up 11th ahead of Perez in 15th. Jenson Button was on the bubble and facing elimination in the dying stages of the session with Pastor Maldonado on a flying lap but fortunately for Button, Maldonado got out of shape coming out of the final corner and spun allowing the McLaren to scrape into the final shootout.
Eliminated:
- 11th Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber F1) 1:14.688
- 12th Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus F1) 1:14.734
- 13th Nico Hulkenberg (Sahara Force India) 1:14.748
- 14th Daniel Ricciardo (Scuderia Toro Rosso) 1:15.078
- 15th Sergio Perez (Sauber F1) 1:15.156
- 16th Bruno Senna (Williams F1) 1:15.170
- 17th Pastor Maldonado (Williams F1) 1:15.231
Qualifying 3
Vettel always looked in control of this session and he produced a brilliant lap to be the only driver to duck under the 1:14 mark. Hamilton always goes well at Montreal, the site of his first win in F1, and he will fancy his chances from second on the grid. Button couldn’t find any pace and will line up 10th with Paul di Resta impressing on his way to 8th on the grid.
Top 10:
- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) 1:13.784
- Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) 1:14.087
- Fernando Alonso (Scuderia Ferrari) 1:14.151
- Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) 1:14.346
- Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG Petronas) 1:14.411
- Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari) 1:14.465
- Romain Grosjean (Lotus F1) 1:14.645
- Paul di Resta (Sahara Force India) 1:14.705
- Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG Petronas) 1:14.812
- Jenson Button (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) 1:15.182
Vettel secures his second pole of the season and I get the feeling that he will ‘do a Bahrain’ and just pull away and control the race. The battle behind could be fascinating though with some really tight racing in prospect. Here’s my prediction:
- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
- Fernando Alonso (Scuderia Ferrari)
- Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
Have a good one folks!
The Eternal Sunshine of the Sporting Mind 