Vettel scores his first pole of 2019 in Canada

Sebastian Vettel achieved his first pole position of the 2019 Formula 1 season in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix by snatching the top spot in the final moments of Q3.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver was second fastest after the first runs in Q3, but put in a superb lap to jump ahead of title rival Lewis Hamilton and take pole by 0.206 seconds.

Hamilton did improve on his second run, but only by 0.047 seconds, which was more than enough to ensure he retained a front-row starting position.

As for Charles Leclerc, he had a slow run in the final sector on his final lap and ended up almost four tenths slower than Hamilton in third position.

The Ferrari driver faces an investigation after the session for rejoining the track at Turn 8/9 after driving on the wrong side of the marker bollard earlier in qualifying.

All of the top three will start on medium-compound Pirellis having used that tyre spec in Q2, as will Valtteri Bottas.

Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo claimed an impressive fourth on the grid, beating Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly by just 0.008 seconds.

Bottas abandoned his first run in Q3 after spinning exiting Turn 2 and had a difficult lap on his second set of tyres. The Mercedes driver suffered several lock-ups and ended up down in sixth, 0.861 seconds off the pace.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

Sainz was 2.1 seconds slower than Norris after aborting his final lap having had to run on a used set of softs to set his time on the first run.

Sainz will be investigated after the qualifying session for impeding Toro Rosso driver Alex Albon in Turn 2 during Q1.

Kevin Magnussen was tenth but was unable to take part in Q3 following a crash on the exit of the final corner on his final push lap in Q2 and bringing a premature end to the session.

The Haas driver lost the rear out of the final part of the chicane and tagged the wall before spinning heavily into the pitwall on the inside of the track.

Magnussen’s crash led to the elimination of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen in Q2 in P11, as he was on a lap on soft Pirellis at the time that would have got him comfortably into the top ten shootout.

Verstappen had used mediums for his first run in Q2 in the hope of being able to start on the more durable tyre, but didn’t hook up a strong enough lap and complained about traffic, forcing him to go again.

Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat only had one set of fresh softs for Q2, putting in a lap good enough for P12 and beating Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi.

Alex Albon was P14 fastest ahead of the Haas of Romain Grosjean and suggested his tyre preparation was compromised by having to rush out at the start of his final run after being delayed by the weighbridge.

Grosjean did not set a time in Q2 thanks to only having one set of fresh softs and then being caught out by Magnussen’s crash ahead of him on his quick lap.

Racing Point driver Sergio Perez didn’t improve by enough as he took the chequered flag in Q1 to escape the drop zone.

He jumped up to P16, 0.033 seconds faster than Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen – who had been bumped by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi a few seconds earlier.

Lance Stroll continued his run of Q1 exits in P18, although he switched to his early-season engine after suffering a failure of his new ‘Phase 2’ Mercedes in Saturday’s practice session and lapped just 0.069 seconds slower than teammate Perez.

As usual, the Williams drivers battled it out for last place with George Russell P19 and 1.351 seconds behind Stroll.

While the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica will start last after lapping 0.776 seconds slower than his teammate.

So a fantastic pole position for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari. This is what Formula 1 needed after the dominance of Mercedes. Fingers crossed the fight back by the Scuderia begins, for the sake of the championship.

Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m10.240s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m10.446s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m10.920s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1m11.071s
5 Pierre Gasly Red Bull-Honda 1m11.079s
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m11.101s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m11.324s
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Renault 1m11.863s
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren-Renault 1m13.981s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari –
11 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda 1m11.800s
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Honda 1m11.921s
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m12.136s
14 Alexander Albon Toro Rosso-Honda 1m12.193s
15 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari –
16 Sergio Perez Racing Point-Mercedes 1m12.197s
17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 1m12.230s
18 Lance Stroll Racing Point-Mercedes 1m12.266s
19 George Russell Williams-Mercedes 1m13.617s
20 Robert Kubica Williams-Mercedes 1m14.393s

4 thoughts to “Vettel scores his first pole of 2019 in Canada”

  1. Canadian Grand Prix qualifying review as reported by Formula1.com.

    Sebastian Vettel secured his first pole position of the 2019 campaign in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, pipping Lewis Hamilton by two-tenths of a second to claim his 56th career pole, and his fifth at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.

    A scintillating final effort from the German saw him stop the clocks at 1m 10.240s, while team mate Charles Leclerc was 0.680s behind him in third, as Hamilton claimed his 10th front row appearance in Canada, to tie the record for a single circuit held by Michael Schumacher at Suzuka.

    Behind, a fantastic effort by Daniel Ricciardo put him fourth on the grid for Renault – the team’s best starting position of the year – 0.831s off Vettel’s time, ahead of the Red Bull of Pierre Gasly in fifth and the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in sixth, the Finn having suffered a spin on his first push lap before a messy second effort.

    The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, ahead of the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz – meaning all four Renault-powered cars on the grid were represented in the top 10 – while Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was 10th despite not making a Q3 appearance, having had a massive shunt at the very end of Q2 that ultimately prevented Max Verstappen from making it into the final segment.

    Q1 – Both Racing Points out, along with two previous Canadian Grand Prix winners

    Williams’ George Russell declared the track conditions “hideous” as he headed out for Q1, but the circuit evolved quickly throughout the opening segment, meaning that the times tumbled in the final minutes.

    The biggest upset of Q1 was for Racing Point, losing both cars, Sergio Perez ending up 16th – having been as high as P9 this morning – while local hero Lance Stroll had a big sideways moment at the final Turn 13-14 chicane on his last effort to finish P18 and extend his Q1 exit streak to 11 Grands Prix.

    Out with them went 2005 winner in Canada Kimi Raikkonen, who was just 0.108s off Alfa Romeo team mate Antonio Giovinazzi in P15 – but that was enough to see the Italian make it through to Q2. Bringing up the rear were the two Williams, George Russell out-qualifying 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica for the seventh time in as many races this year.

    Up at the front, meanwhile, less than 0.030s separated Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P1 from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P3 – with Sebastian Vettel in between – while Nico Hulkenberg impressed to go P6 for Renault, ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz – although the stewards were set to investigate after the session some alleged impeding by the Spaniard on the Toro Rosso of Alexander Albon.

    Times were incredibly tight in Q1, however, with a fraction over a second separating P1 and P18.

    Knocked out:
    Perez
    Raikkonen
    Stroll
    Russell
    Kubica

    Q2 – Red flag for big Magnussen crash sees Verstappen drop out The main focus of Q2 was which of the top three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull could make it through to the final part of qualifying on the more durable medium tyres.

    Both Ferraris and both Mercedes managed it, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, after a promising Q1, decided to give it a go. Traffic on his fast lap compromised him, however, and left him in the drop zone, forcing him to head back out on a new set softs.

    Having done that, Verstappen was then circulating with enough speed to make it through to Q3 when Kevin Magnussen, up ahead in the Haas and attempting to make it into Q3 in Canada for the first time, smacked the Wall of Champions with his right-rear tyre, the impact sending him slewing wildly across the track and into the pit wall before bouncing back to the other side and coming to a rest.

    That meant that Verstappen was unable to complete his lap – leaving Pierre Gasly as Red Bull’s sole representative in Q3 – while the crash also denied Magnussen’s team mate Romain Grosjean a chance to improve, leaving him P15. Ironically, though, Magnussen’s off ended up cementing his 10th place, meaning the Dane, despite his very second-hand looking VF-19, got that previously elusive Q3 slot!

    Out with Verstappen and Grosjean went the Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon in P12 and P14, along with Giovinazzi in 13th.

    Knocked out:
    Verstappen
    Kvyat
    Giovinazzi
    Albon
    Grosjean

    Q3 – Vettel secures 56th pole position ahead of Hamilton, as Ricciardo goes P4

    Following some stoppage time as the remains of Magnussen’s Haas were swept up, the drivers headed out on track for the final showdown.

    Valtteri Bottas had a lively time of it early on, spinning his Mercedes on his first push lap coming out of Turn 2 and using all of his rally driving experience (and a bit of luck) to keep it out of the wall. His second effort, meanwhile, saw the Finn oversteering on the run out of the final corner before locking up at Turn 6 and the hairpin, consigning him to a lowly P6 spot at the grid.

    Hamilton’s first effort had sent him top of the charts, and as he went round again in the final seconds, he was turning the timing screens purple. But a slow final sector meant his record-breaking seventh pole position in Canada would have to wait. Instead, it was Vettel who swept through, using Ferrari’s horsepower advantage to claim his first pole since Germany last year, and by a comfortable 0.206s in the end.

    Leclerc slewing wildly out of the final corner meant that the Monegasque could only finish third, while a delighted Daniel Ricciardo claimed fourth place for Renault – something that would have been particularly satisfying, given that he ended up 0.006s ahead of Pierre Gasly in the seat the Australian vacated at Red Bull last year.

    Hulkenberg, Norris and Sainz in P7, P8 and P9, meanwhile, meant that the full gamut of Renault cars were represented in Q3, marking a strong day for the French power unit maker.

    But ultimately, all eyes were on Vettel, as he claimed Ferrari’s first pole position since Bahrain earlier this year. And with Leclerc well-placed in third and Bottas all the way down in sixth, signs are auguring well for the Scuderia to get their season back on track on Sunday at the circuit named for one of the team’s great heroes.

  2. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton hopes pole position is a “turning point” for Ferrari in terms of competition. Motorsport.com has the news story.

    Mercedes Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton hopes Sebastian Vettel’s Canadian Grand Prix pole position marks a turning point for the Ferrari team this season.

    Hamilton leads the championship after four wins from the first six races, and teammate Valtteri Bottas has won the other two grands prix to give Mercedes a perfect record so far.

    Ferrari, by contrast, has only scored four podiums and Vettel’s Montreal pole is his first in a so-far tricky season for the four-time world champion.

    Asked by Motorsport.com if he would like to see Ferrari this competitive elsewhere after being forced to settle for second place Hamilton said: “This is fantastic for the sport.

    “I love to fight with another team, and today was just so close. I had no idea where we’re going to be. At some stages they were ahead of us and we were swapping all the way.

    “I hope this is a turning point for them and it’s going to be very close from now on, and we’re going to have a serious battle throughout the season. That would be fantastic.”

    Hamilton was on provisional pole after the first runs in Q3 but was overhauled by Vettel on the second runs and said Ferrari was “killing” Mercedes down the long back straight in the final sector.

    Vettel complemented that sector three performance with a strong first sector that almost matched Hamilton, who was slightly slower in sector three compared to his first run.

    However, he was wary of declaring Ferrari could use this as a springboard at other races after acknowledging the track layout plays to its strengths.

    “We know we still have to catch up,” he said. “This track maybe favour us a bit more. We had more top speed at all the tracks so far and this is a track where top speed is a bit more relevant, not too many corners.

    “The team is pushing very hard, the whole of Maranello is throwing everything at it to try to give us a better car and make it better races to come.”

    Vettel said his car was “shouting ‘keep going, keep going!'” on his lap, which secured him his first pole since the 2018 German Grand Prix almost one year ago.

    Asked by Motorsport.com to describe his emotion, Vettel said: “This is one of the tracks where you need to dare going very close to the walls in many of the places.

    “It’s very bumpy, very rough. If you get it right it feels great. I think I got it quite right. Then you finish the lap and you’re full of adrenaline.

    “I saw I was a big chunk down and then improving as I crossed the line, then I was looking up and I didn’t know who was coming behind. Then I heard them screaming ‘pole position!’ so it was just pure joy, mixed with the adrenaline. I’m not a singer, but I was screaming quite hard.”

  3. Max Verstappen was unlucky to be knocked out in Q2 following the crash of Kevin Magnussen. The Red Bull Racing driver defends the “logical” strategy despite qualifying exit. Motorsport.com has the details.

    Red Bull Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen believes he was “very unlucky” to miss out on the final qualifying segment in Canada, defending the decision to qualify on the medium as “logical”.

    Verstappen mirrored the two Ferraris and two Mercedes cars in heading out on the medium C4 tyre at the start of the second qualifying segment, looking to secure it as his starting compound for Sunday.

    But he was left outside of the top 10 after his initial run – and though he was on course to progress to Q3 after returning to the track on the quicker soft tyre, Kevin Magnussen’s late crash brought out the red flag and forced the Dutchman to abandon his attempt.

    This meant Verstappen qualified 11th, although he is set to start two places higher due to a penalty for Carlos Sainz and a likely pitlane start for Magnussen.

    Asked post-qualifying if the running the medium in Q2 had been too big a risk, Verstappen said: “Well, afterwards it’s easy to say that – but at the time it seemed quite logical.

    “I just didn’t have the grip I wanted, but then also I had traffic in the hairpin, otherwise we would’ve made it. Had to go on the softs, and it’s just very unfortunate to get the red flag. I think it’s just very unlucky.”

    Verstappen felt that without traffic his lap would’ve been good enough to make Q3, but admitted “it would’ve been anyway really close, so I think to be sure we would’ve gone out anyway on the soft tyre”.

    And while starting the race on the medium was the preferred option, Verstappen conceded he would rather be higher up the grid, even if that meant running a less-optimal compound.

    “The thing is it would be great if you had the medium starting P5 or P4. Starting P10, with the medium – it’s good because the cars ahead of you, most of them are on the soft, but you lose a lot of terrain to the top three.

    “So… it’s not ideal. I would rather start P5 with the soft than P10 with the medium.”

    Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly was four tenths down on the Dutchman in Q1, but then advanced to Q3 with minimal fuss as he used the soft tyre straight away in the second segment.

    “After Q1 we saw it was not that easy, for us especially, taking the risk,” Gasly explained. “In a way we knew that, what happened with Max, we could’ve been in the same position, and we thought it was worth just focusing on ourselves, focusing on the car with the C5 [tyre] and making sure that we go to Q3.

    “In the end we did only one run but with what happened was clearly the right decision.”

    Gasly put the car fifth on the grid, and felt he could be “satisfied” with the outcome.

    “We were slightly more than a tenth from P3 and [that] could’ve been achievable, in my opinion, but I think overall P5 is decent.

    “I think on my side it’s mainly about how I feel in the car, and I just feel like it’s better and better. Still not perfect but I think it’s going in the right direction.”

    Verstappen, meanwhile, acknowledged Red Bull lacked the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes, but felt he would’ve had a shot at third place in the final segment “because of all the mistakes from the cars around”.

  4. Kevin Magnussen is set for a pitlane start in tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix as a consequence of the Haas Formula 1 driver’s hefty shunt in qualifying.

    Losing control of his car at the final corner, Magnussen brushed the wall on exit before hurtling towards the pit wall on the opposite side of the circuit, crashing heavily and returning to the outside of the track.

    Although the Haas driver held onto his position in Q3, the car was heavily damaged – meaning Magnussen qualified 10th by default.

    “We have to change the chassis. We can start from the pitlane obviously with the C5 tyres,” team principal Gunther Steiner said afterwards.

    “We also need to change the gearbox. The best decision was to change the chassis. It’s the quickest and safest way.”

    Discussing his crash, Magnussen explained that the wheel damage from touching the famed “Wall of Champions” meant he was unable to rescue the situation.

    “I just had a snap and brushed the wall,” Magnussen explained. “It wasn’t even that hard, but I caught the wall with the rim, so it just blew the rim and took the tyre off the rim and chucked me over to the other side.

    “I didn’t expect to spin like that, but because the outside of the rim had blown off it just turned me to the other side.

    “I didn’t think it would be any problem, because when I had the snap I thought ‘okay I might hit the wall but it’s gonna be fine’, but then I hit it only slightly, right on the rim and it flew.

    “It was going well, but bad luck.”

    He added: “That’s the thing when you make a mistake like this – it means your guys have an all-nighter.

    “They don’t get any sleep at all. I feel really bad for them also, not only because it cost a good result in qualifying but they have to work all night. That sucks big time.”

    While downbeat, Magnussen refused to accept that his weekend was over, pointing to the unpredictability of past races around the Montreal circuit.

    “There’s loads of chance, sometimes you have a crazy race and you can make it to the top.

    “But there’s also the chance that I’ll start from the pitlane, get the two Williams and have a good time from there. Anything can happen.”

    Source: Motorsport.com

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