Lewis Hamilton secured his career’s 44th pole position in Canada on Saturday followed by his team mate Nico Rosberg in second to make it an all Mercedes front row for the race on Sunday. Kimi Raikkonen was third followed by Valtteri Bottas in fourth and Romain Grosjean in fifth. A major disappointment was in store as Vettel and Massa both were out in Q1 itself.
F1: Lewis on pole for Canadian Grand Prix
This weekend is being taunted as a reply to Nico and Mercedes by Lewis for the debacle that took place in Monaco Grand Prix. Lewis’s pole was a result of precision driving and perhaps a revenge-fuelled charge. The gap between the two teammates has come down to just ten points after Monaco and Lewis is under serious threat of looing the top spot to Nico Rosberg.
On Friday, Hamilton and Rosberg went out on track in second free practise session in rain while rest of the cars were in pit. It was soon evident why. The cars were out in intermediate tyres and had no grip on the track. Nico managed to drive cautiously and bring the car back into the garage however, Lewis aquaplaned in the tight hairpin corner and crashed straight into the barriers. There was not much damage to the car but it had lost it nose and had to be towed back.
“It felt amazing”, said Lewis after securing pole in Qualifying, “It wasn’t the easiest of days P3 was tough. I didn’t get any last mostly my fault but I got set-up where wanted it be”. Lewis was very excited to be back at Canada he explained, “I won my first Grand Prix here and to come back and finally get another pole is very special”.
Nico Rosberg was not happy with his qualifying session was could be heard over the car radio in dismay after the result. He was more than 0.3 seconds off the pace of his team mate and rival. Rosberg after the Qualifying said, “I was really on a roll and then the end did not come together at all. I had less rear grip on the first set especially. But fair play to Lewis and in the race tomorrow there are still some goos chances so it is not over yet”.
It was Lotus’s best qualifying result of the year with Romain Grosjean in fifth and team mate Pastor Maldonado in sixth. Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg made it six Mercedes power cars in the top seven ahead of the Red Bull cars of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Riccardo in eight and ninth respectively. Serfio Perez from Force India finished the top ten.
The major surprises were Vettel and Massa who struggled with their cars and perhaps were crippled by lack of power. Both could not manage to get past Q1. The four time world champion said, “It is what it is. We’ll see in what we can do in the race”.
Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen who finished 12th will get a five place grid penalty for Monaco’s crash and further ten places penalty for engine change. He will further pace a 10 second penalty at the pit stop in the race.
Tags: Canadian Grand Prix, F1, Formula One, Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Lotus, Mercedes, Motorsport, Motorsports, Nico Rosberg, Romain Grosjean, Valtteri Bottas
