Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton achieved his fifth Canadian Grand Prix pole position at the Circuit Gilles Villeueve.
The Mercedes driver edged out his championship rival Nico Rosberg by a tiny margin of 0.062 seconds to earn his fifty-third career pole in Formula 1.
Hamilton held on to top spot despite failing to improve on his second run in Q3 at the Montreal circuit.
Rosberg messed up his second run at the first corner so also failed to improve, while Sebastian Vettel cursed losing some traction at the hairpin on his final flying lap.
Vettel put on a brave fight for Ferrari but was unable to match the sheer speed from the Silver Arrows. Third on the grid is the end result. Just 0.116 seconds adrift.
The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen qualified fourth and fifth respectively. A solid effort from the charging bulls, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were seventh and eighth for Williams, with the former less than a tenth away from beating The Iceman.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India was almost two tenths further back from Massa in ninth, while Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda rounded out the top ten.
Alonso made Q3 for the third race in succession by bumping Sergio Perez out of the top ten in the closing moments of Q2, so the Force India driver ended up in P11.
Jenson Button was fractionally quicker than his McLaren team-mate Alonso in the first two sectors of his final lap in Q2, but he dropped time in the final sector and wound up P12 – blaming a lack of a tow on the run from the hairpin.
Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso was just 0.020 secondss slower in P13, ahead of Haas pairing Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean, who were separated by 0.232 seconds.
The Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz Jr ended up slowest in Q2 after he bashed against the Wall of Champions at the end of his first proper flying lap, causing the session to be red flagged while the track marshals remove his broken car.
Jolyon Palmer had earlier come within 0.015 secondss of stealing the final Q2 spot from Grosjean, but had to settle for P17 in his Renault.
He was 0.140 seconds ahead of the impressive Pascal Wehrlein, whose Manor was P15 after his first run in Q1, but slipped back when others improved.
Wehrlein’s hopes of improving himself were scuppered by team-mate Rio Haryanto clouting the wall at the exit of the first chicane, which effectively ended the closing minutes of Q1.
Wehrlein at least remained ahead of both Saubers, with Marcus Ericsson over a second clear of team-mate Felipe Nasr, who had to rely on a slow first run in Q1 thanks to the timing of Haryanto’s crash.
The second Renault of Kevin Magnussen failed to participate in qualifying following his heavy crash in final practice, so he will start last on the grid with the stewards’ permission.
Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying result:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m12.812s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m12.874s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m12.990s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m13.166s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m13.414s
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m13.579s
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m13.670s
8 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m13.769s
9 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m13.952s
10 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m14.338s
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m14.317s
12 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m14.437s
13 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m14.571s
14 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m14.803s
15 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m21.956s
16 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m14.457s
17 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m15.459s
18 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m15.599s
19 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m16.663s
20 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1m17.052s
21 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.635s
22 Kevin Magnussen Renault No time
Canadian Grand Prix Formula 1 polesitter Lewis Hamilton said his qualifying laps “weren’t that great” after he edged out Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.
The reigning world champion finished just 0.062s ahead of Rosberg after the first run and failed to improve on his second run as he lost time in the middle sector.
“Qualifying wasn’t great for me in terms of laps,” said Hamilton.
“My pole lap was definitely at the lower end of pole laps I’ve had.
“As that is the fact, I’m pretty happy I’m still on pole.
“In practice, there was a much bigger gap and today, I didn’t have the pace I had yesterday but clearly it was enough.”
Rosberg said he was pleased with his first run but conceded he pushed too hard in the second, where he made a mistake at Turn 1.
“The first lap in Q3 was good, but not quite enough to beat Lewis,” he said.
“The next one tried to pull out of bag and it didn’t work out.
“Second place, it’s a good team result to show we’re still the fastest.
“Everything is possible tomorrow, the weather forecast is all over the place.”
Vettel, who lost time at the hairpin on his final run to finish 0.178s adrift in third, felt he had the speed to get pole.
“Going into qualifying, I thought it [pole] was possible,” said the German, whose Ferrari team is running an updated turbocharger this weekend.
“As a driver, you always feel there is a bit more in it. The last lap, I was happy with it in general.
“I was maybe a bit greedy out of [Turn] 10 and I was not greedy enough into Turn 6.
“I wanted to get below 1m13s as I knew it would be close and I did that but only by a hundredth.
“Overall, we have a good car and we did a step and I’m happy with the weekend so far.”
Source: Autosport.com
Canadian Grand Prix qualifying report as posted by Formula1.com:
Little over a tenth of a second separated the top three cars in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2016, with pole going to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton from team mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Daniel Ricciardo beat Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen to fourth place, with Kimi Raikkonen sixth in the second Ferrari. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.
Q2 was punctuated by a red-flag period five minutes in after Carlos Sainz clouted the right side of his Toro Rosso against the infamous Wall of Champions, eliminating the Spaniard on the spot.
The second phase also accounted for Force India’s Sergio Perez, pipped at the death by his team mate, McLaren’s Jenson Button, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, and Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean.
Q1 saw light rain in the closing minutes, and effectively ended with a late crash for Manor’s Rio Haryanto, who hit the wall with his right-rear wheel in Turn 4, picking up a puncture and spinning across the track before also brushing the left of the car against the barriers.
Joining the Indonesian rookie on the Q1 elimination list were Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein, and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.
Kevin Magnussen did not participate after Renault were unable to get his car repaired in time following his FP3 crash. With his R.S.16 requiring a new gearbox, the Dane is set to start from the back of the grid or – more likely – the pit lane.
Mercedes and Ferrari began slugging it out the moment Q1 began, and it was Rosberg who narrowly beat Vettel to the fastest time, with Daniel Ricciardo jumping up late to third for Red Bull ahead of Hamilton, Bottas and Raikkonen.
At the other end of the grid Haas duo Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean just made it through, surviving a late onslaught from Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who – despite a brush with the wall of champions – improved at the death, but fell 0.015s shy of demoting Grosjean.
Once the red flags came in following Sainz’s crash, the two Mercedes quickly jumped to the top of the times, with Hamilton’s 1m 13.076s shading Rosberg’s 1m 13.094s by just 0.018s. Bottas split the third and fifth-placed Red Bulls, as Ferrari were a disappointing sixth and seventh with Raikkonen and Vettel eight-tenths off.
The Force Indias and McLarens meanwhile were locked in a fight to progress into Q3. Jenson Button looked set to secure his place, but dropped away in the final sector – unlike team mate Alonso, who jumped up to ninth with his final effort.
That left Perez in 10th, but in danger given Hulkenberg – on the brink of elimination in 11th – was on track and going quickly. The German made his last effort count to secure ninth, which meant Perez got bumped to 11th on 1m 14.317s ahead of Button on 1m 14.437s, Kvyat on 1m 14.457s, and the Haas pair of Gutierrez on 1m 14.571s and Grosjean on 1m 14.803s. Sainz’s 1m 21.956s left him 16th.
Q3 began badly for Hamilton when he ran over the same Turn 14 yellow kerb over which he had damaged his car in FP3. This time it appeared to have had no ill effect however as his first run yielded a mighty 1m 12.812s. Rosberg was matching the Briton blow for blow however, and crossed the line just 0.062s down.
Behind them, Verstappen provisionally took third with 1m 13.430s from Vettel on 1m 13.479s and Ricciardo on 1m 13.521s.
Vettel had a scare when he brushed the wall of champions, but he avoided damage and found massive gains on his second run to move into third. Hamilton had also improved on the first sector, but lost time over the remainder of the lap – a fact that went unpunished when Rosberg locked up at Turn 1 and abandoned his own effort.
Pole therefore was Hamilton’s – his fourth of the season, fifth in Canada, and by the closest margin so far in 2016.
Thus the grid will line up: Hamilton, Rosberg; Vettel, Ricciardo; Verstappen, Raikkonen; Bottas, Massa; Hulkenberg, Alonso; Perez, Button; Gutierrez, Grosjean; Sainz, Kvyat; Palmer, Wehrlein; Nasr, Haryanto; Ericsson, Magnussen.
Kvyat and Ericsson have three-place grid penalties for causing collisions at the previous round in Monaco, while Magnussen takes a five-place drop after being forced to change gearbox as a result of his crash in FP3.
Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz took a risk in qualifying by pushing to the limit. Unfortunately it didn’t pay off, with a crash against the Wall of Champions. Autosport.com has the news story.
Carlos Sainz Jr has admitted his crash in Canadian Grand Prix qualifying was a result of him “closing my eyes and going for it” to make Q3.
Sainz clipped the renowned ‘wall of champions’ at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on his first flying lap in Q2, and he felt it would probably have been good enough to have pipped fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso for a place in the top 10 shootout.
Alonso made Q3 with a lap of 1m14.260s, and will start 10th in his McLaren, while Sainz’s accident means he will line up 16th.
“He took my place. I handed it to him,” said Sainz.
“I’m disappointed because I’ve been strong all weekend, so do that mistake, sorry, but it sucks.
“We were very strong in FP3, but immediately when I started doing laps in Q1 I saw we were a bit far off.
“I was a bit gutted because we were not there.
“I wanted to be in Q3, so I closed my eyes and went for it, and after three or four corners I was flying.
“So I thought it might be the lap to take me into Q3, to keep doing what I was doing and go for it, and it was perfect until the last 200 metres.
“I clipped the wall, it was a miscalculation and avoidable because I thought I had enough space.
“But then I saw the replay and I saw the car was sliding and the rear wheel was touching [the wall] while my front was not at all.
“I risked it because I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to repeat the lap on the second run.”
Suggested to Sainz he was living on the edge, he replied: “I’ve been living on the edge the whole weekend.
“If you saw the replays from yesterday I was pushing hard the whole weekend, and the situation in Q1 made me push that tiny bit extra.
“In Q1 it was a disappointment for me to be so far off, so I thought I would try something extra.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes I am the hero when one day it works, but today it didn’t.”
Jenson Button has blamed a lack of a tow on the back straight for his failure to make Q3 in qualifying for Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
The McLaren-Honda driver was in contention for 10th pace in the dying seconds of Q2, but that spot went to team-mate Fernando Alonso and Button ended up 12th.
Although he had a minor lock-up into the hairpin (pictured), Button said it was the lack of tow that explained his deficit to Alonso 0.177s in Q2.
“I locked up every lap at the hairpin and actually went quicker there on my final lap,” said Button.
“It was on the straight that I lost out compared to Fernando – he got a very good tow off me and gained almost two-tenths in the last sector.
“Up until the last sector, it was looking pretty good for P10 but then I lost out because I didn’t get the tow.”
Button, who also slipped behind Force India driver Sergio Perez, believes he can fight for points in a dry race – aided by having a free choice of which Pirelli tyre compound to start on.
But he also suspects tomorrow’s race will be hit by rain, giving him and McLaren a chance to punch above their weight.
“We can choose our tyres and 10th or 12th doesn’t really make a lot of difference if it’s wet anyway,” said Button.
“In those mixed conditions it always makes it a bit more fun, it’s not just the quickest cars that are near the front and you can mix it up a bit if you get the strategy right and they don’t.”
Alonso admitted he was surprised McLaren was this competitive in Canada.
But he warned the car’s lack of straightline speed could prove a big weakness in the race.
“It was a nice surprise, at this circuit we didn’t expect to be in Q3 in front of one Force India and four-tenths off the Ferraris in Q2,” said Alonso.
“The race will be difficult, quite tough for us [because of] the very long straights here.
“We are lacking a bit of straightline speed with a lot of fuel saving to do.”
Source: Autosport.com