Triple world champion Sebastian Vettel will start on pole for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after topping the times in today’s rain-hit qualifying session.
The Red Bull ace will be joined by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton on the front row.
The surprise of the session was the performance of Williams’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas, who posted the third fastest time ahead of the second Mercedes driven by Nico Rosberg.
Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso occupy the third row after an incident-packed qualifying in which the second session was red-flagged after Felipe Massa escaped unhurt after a crash.
Vettel, yet to win on the streets of Montreal, said: “I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, I think we had a strong performance yesterday so whatever happens in terms of conditions it should be good.
“We expect dry conditions tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter. We have both sets of tyres left, but even if it rains we should be in decent shape.”
Hamilton, reflecting on his showing, said: “”I was doing a pretty good final lap but I ran wide, so it was unfortunate but I’m still happy.”
Official Qualifying times :
1. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 1:25.425
2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes 1:25.512
3. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams 1:25.897
4. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes 1:26.008
5. Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull 1:26.208
6. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1:26.504
7. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) Toro Rosso 1:26.543
8. Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India 1:27.348
9. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Lotus 1:27.432
10. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Toro Rosso 1:27.946
11. Nico Hülkenberg (GER) Sauber 1:29.435
12. Sergio Perez (MEX) McLaren 1:29.761
13. Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Williams 1:29.917
14. Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren 1:30.068
15. Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) Sauber 1:30.315
16. Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1:30.354
17. Paul di Resta (GBR) Force India 1:24.908
18. Charles Pic (FRA) Caterham 1:25.626
19. Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus 1:25.716
20. Jules Bianchi (FRA) Marussia 1:26.508
21. Max Chilton (GBR) Marussia 1:27.062
22. Giedo van der Garde (NED) Caterham 1:27.110