MONTREAL – Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes to pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix.
It was only the second time in seven races Mercedes have been beaten to pole – the other by Vettel’s team-mate Charles Leclerc in Bahrain in March.
Vettel was 0.206 seconds quicker than Hamilton, with Leclerc 0.680secs off.
Daniel Ricciardo was a surprise fourth for Renault after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was caught out by a crash by Kevin Magnussen in the second session.
Hamilton had been quickest on the first runs in the top 10 shoot-out, by nearly 0.2secs from Vettel, but the German four-time champion pulled out a special lap on his final run.
Vettel whooped with delight over the radio as he took his first pole position since last year’s German Grand Prix in July.
Leclerc, who had been swapping fastest times with Vettel for much of the weekend and in the first two parts of qualifying, said he struggled with the car’s balance when it mattered, and had also made two mistakes.
Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas will start sixth after a spin on his first lap and then a scrappy lap on his second attempt.
Hamilton currently leads Bottas by 17 points in the drivers’ championship. (BBC)
