Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying: Hamilton takes pole number 44

Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix from pole position alongside Nico Rosberg . Championship rival Sebastian Vettel will start towards the back of the griud alongside Felipe Massa who both ran into engine problems in the early stages of qualifying. Today marked Hamilton’s 44th career pole position.

After a frustrating FP3, Hamilton was the first car to take to the circuit desperate to make up for a difficult practice session earlier in the day. The championship leader who has won in Canada three times in the past, went into qualifying on the back foot and headed into the session without doing a qualifying simulation thanks to the rain that came in FP2 yesterday.

Vettel had a far from smooth start to the session with an MGUH problem. The German will start 16th after a lengthy stint in the pits and just two laps on the board. Vettel was not the only big name casualty to fall at the first hurdle. Jenson Button did not take part in the session following an ERS issue with his car in FP3 as well as Massa who like Vettel, ran into problems with his engine in the first phase of qualifying.

The pace of the Mercedes was clear from the outset, Hamilton and Rosberg miles clear of the field, despite Ferrari bringing upgrades to the power unit the gap does not seemed to have gotten any smaller since Monaco. 

#Seb5 out of Q1 electronics problems on his SF15-T/ Seb fuori da Q1 problemi di elettronica sulla SF15-T #CanadianGP #redseason

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 6, 2015

With the likes of Massa and Vettel failing to make it into Q2, there was a chance for the likes of Lotus and Force India to spring a surprise. Mercedes once again were the class of the field, Hamilton once again led Rosberg by a slender margin, this time just 0.012s separated the championship rivals.

Whilst the Mercedes pair, who have been one pole for every round since the British Grand Prix last season, were almost inseparable, the Silver Arrows finished Q2 as the class of the field, but the fight behind gave us a glimpse of what was to come in the top ten shootout.

After a positive Friday, Lotus carried over their strong pace from yesterday with Romain Grosjean the best of the rest with an impressive time just 0.526s slower than Rosberg.

Max Verstappen headed into qualifying with a fifteen-place penalty, five places following his collision with Grosjean in Monaco and an extra ten places for using a sixth power unit. Verstappen qualified 12th just a tenth of a second behind team-mate Carlos Sainz. Joining the Toro Rosso’s in the drop out zone was Marcuss Ericsson, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Nasr.

Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to set a time in the top-ten shootout with a time of 1:15.126s, but was quickly beaten by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Mercedes, like they did in Monaco, opted for a warm up lap in Q3. Throughout the session the times between the Mercedes pair were close. After the first run in Q3 it was Hamilton that lead Rosberg just 0.309 after Hamilton set a time of 1:14.393s.

Heading out for final #Q3 runs. We’re a close team pic.twitter.com/w4f2Tpbeyg

— Lotus F1 Team (@Lotus_F1Team) June 6, 2015

Lotus continued to threaten Ferrari as Grosjean was in a provisional 4th place, a fraction of a second behind the sole remaining Ferrari of Raikkonen slightly ahead of 5th place Pastor Maldonado.

Hamilton’s first effort was enough to secure his 44th pole position for car number 44 and Mercedes 18th consecutive pole position.  

#StatOfTheDay – 44th career #F1 pole for #LH44 at the venue where he took his very first P1 slot in 2007! What a story for @LewisHamilton!

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) June 6, 2015

What did you think of qualifying? Leave your comments below.