Qualifying - Hamilton claims 44th pole in Montreal

Lewis Hamilton dominated to pole at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. 44th pole for car 44, just one shy of Sebastian Vettel in the all-time pole list.

"I feel amazing today. I won my first Grand Prix here, and to get my 44th pole here is very special for me" said Hamilton, as he helps Mercedes also claim their 18th consecutive pole position.

It was three big names eliminated in Q1. Jenson Button didn’t take part in qualifying as he will change the PU (and get a 10s penalty). Then were Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel disappointingly out - Felipe due to loss of power and Sebastian due to electric issues. Lotus finished P1 with Romain Grosjean.

Felipe Nasr got into Q2 after Sauber barely got the car ready for qualifying, but couldn’t move further up than 15th. Also in Q2, Fernando Alonso failed to set a good enough time, and was out alongside Marcus Ericsson, both Toro Rossos and Sergio Perez.

In the Q3 shootout, a good first effort placed Kimi Raikkonen as best of the rest to ensure him third place, ahead of Bottas and Grosjean. Top job for Lotus, as they get their best result of the year with Grosjean ahead of Pastor Maldonado.

Up front, Rosberg failed to get in a good lap and was three-tenths off Hamilton’s time. Can he (or anyone else) overcome Lewis for the win tomorrow?

Qualifying result at Canada:
1 Lewis Hamilton — 1:14.393
2 Nico Rosberg — +0.309
3 Kimi Raikkonen — +0.621
4 Valtteri Bottas — +0.709
5 Romain Grosjean — +0.801
6 Pastor Maldonado — +0.936
7 Nico Hulkenberg — +1.221
8 Daniil Kvyat — +1.686
9 Daniel Ricciardo — +1.721
10 Sergio Perez — +1.945