Defending Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton will start on the pole for the Canadian Grand Prix after topping his Mercedes teammate and title rival, Nico Rosberg, in Saturday's qualifying.
Hamilton, the driver of the No. 44 car for Mercedes, made a lap around the 2.709-mile (4.361-kilometer), 14-turn Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1 minute, 14.393 seconds for his 44th career F1 pole. He is one pole victory away from tying Sebastian Vettel for third on the all-time list.
It will be the sixth time in seven grand prix this season that Hamilton starts on pole. His lap time in the final round of qualifying (Q3) was three-tenths of a second quicker than Rosberg. Hamilton posted the fastest laps in the first two practice sessions for the Canadian GP on Friday but struggled in Saturday's final practice, held just prior to qualifying.
Hamilton has now won the pole for the Canadian GP four times. During his rookie season with McLaren in 2007, Hamilton scored his first career grand prix win and pole victory in Canada. He also won this race in 2010 and '12.
"It wasn't the easiest of days, and FP3 (third and final practice) was quite tough because I actually didn't get any completed laps, mostly my fault, so I went into qualifying quite blind, not knowing what the set-up would be," Hamilton said. "I won my first grand prix here in 2007, and that was incredibly special, so to be back here and get another pole, and it being the 44th, that's also very special for me."
Hamilton enters Sunday's 70-lap Canadian GP with a 10-point lead over Rosberg, who has won the last two grand prix -- Spain and Monaco. Rosberg topped the time charts in final practice. His best lap in the third qualifying round was clocked in 1:14.702.
"I was really on a roll and feeling good, but in the end (of qualifying), it just didn't come together at all," Rosberg said. "Just struggling with grip and this and that. It didn't work out. We need to analyze what it was."
It was the fifth time that Mercedes swept the front starting row this season.
Kimi Raikkonen from Ferrari qualified third (1:15.014), his best starting position for a grand prix since April 2013 in China when he drove for Lotus.
Raikkonen's new teammate this year, Sebastian Vettel, the four-time F1 world champion, failed to advance into the second round and finished 16th in qualifying due to an electrical problem. Vettel is presently 28 points in back of Hamilton.
"We lost power, and we were not able to recover at the end (of the first qualifying round)," Vettel said. "It's a shame. I don't think it was anything with the engine. It's more on the electronic side."
Valtteri Bottas from Williams placed fourth, followed by Lotus teammates Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. Qualifying seventh through 10th were: Nico Hulkenberg from Force India, Red Bull drivers Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo, who won his maiden F1 grand prix in Canada one year ago, and Hulkenberg's teammate, Sergio Perez.
McLaren's Jenson Button did not participate in qualifying after he suffered engine failure with his Honda-powered car in final practice. Button's team was unable to fix it in time for qualifying. He will start the race from pit lane. His teammate, Fernando Alonso, qualified 14th.
[SportsNetwork.com]
