Hamilton sets fastest lap around Montreal circuit to take pole position // Vettel comes close but settles for second
Published by Christine Blachford
The first session of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix had the normal names dropping out, Stroll, Vandoorne, Magnussen, but Jolyon Palmer got through to the second. He was helped by the fact that Pascal Wehrlein hit the grass and spun into the barriers, giving his Sauber colleagues a significant amount of work to do overnight.
In the second session, Daniil Kvyat made contact with the wall and picked up a rear puncture, but there were no real surprises. The treat of the afternoon was saved for Q3. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap ever around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to secure a provisional pole position.
He looked unbeatable, but Sebastian Vettel came within four thousandths of a second of his time. On their next go round, Hamilton improved even further, another astonishing lap, and Vettel couldn’t match it. He settled for second, with Bottas and Räikkönen on the second row of the grid, and the two Red Bull drivers on the third.
