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Sebastian Vettel takes pole position in Canada from Hamilton!

Sebastian Vettel takes pole position in Canada from Hamilton!

08-06-2019 20:10
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Sebastian Vettel has taken his first pole position in 17 Grands Prix in Canada as he took his first pole of the season, beating Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to it as Max Verstappen got eliminated in Q2.

Vettel was initially on second place after the first run of Q3 behind Hamilton, but a massive second run saw the German take it from the clutches of Hamilton and Mercedes, giving Ferrari their first pole since Bahrain.

Valtteri Bottas only mustered a P6 for Mercedes as both his runs had big mistakes in them, as Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for Renault ahead of both Bottas and Pierre Gasly.

The other highlight of qualifying came in Q2, when Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas hard at the Wall of Champions and caused Verstappen to get eliminated in Q2. 

Q1

Both Mercedes and Ferrari looked determined to get the quickest lap in the first of the three qualifying sessions. The Italian team put their cars on the one-two early on, before the Mercedes cars came back with a Bottas-led one two of their own. Still, the Scuderia came out on top, with Vettel leading the line and Leclerc following suit.

At the back, the usual suspects at Williams were eliminated with Robert Kubica being over seven tenths slower than teammate George Russell in P19. Both Racing Point cars were eliminated as well, with home driver Lance Stroll making it 11 straight times of not making it out of Q1. Lastly, Kimi Raikkonen was eliminated from Q1, as he was beaten by teammate Antonio Giovinazzi.

Q2

The second of the two sessions was an exciting one. Ferrari and Mercedes battled at the front again on the medium tyres, while Verstappen failed to get anywhere near the top on his mediums. He was in P11 after the first run and had to go again on softs to secure his spot in the final shoot-out.

However, Magnussen ruined this for the Dutchman, as the Haas driver had a massive crash at the Wall of Champions, causing a red flag and ruining many hot laps. Romain Grosjean was one of the victims, Verstappen another. A grid penalty might be needed for Magnussen as the Haas mechanics will have to work all night to get the car ready for the Grand Prix on Sunday.

Q3

Magnussen was through to Q3 but obviously didn't run, making it a top-nine shoot-out. Hamilton took provisional pole after the first run, beating Vettel by almost two tenths, as Bottas was very lucky to avoid the wall after spinning out at turn two.

Then, at the death, Vettel absolutely stole it from the clutches of Hamilton. A massive lap from the German, particularly in the final sector, saw him get his first pole position of the season.

Hamilton completed the front row, with Leclerc in third and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth for Renault and Pierre Gasly in fifth for Red Bull. Bottas made another mistake on his second run as he locked up and finished sixth.