• Canadian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Vettel edges out Hamilton and Bottas for pole

Sebastian Vettel secured his third pole position of the season © Getty Images

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• News:
• Vettel confident in all race conditions
  

• Race:
• Canadian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Valtteri Bottas
• |
• Lewis Hamilton
• |
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Mercedes
• |
• Red Bull
• |
• Williams

Sebastian Vettel took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix, edging out Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in changeable conditions in Montreal.

Rain fell throughout qualifying but with the track conditions always changing it was an impressive job from Vettel to take pole position on his first run in Q3. Hamilton was just 0.087s off Vettel with his lap, while Bottas - who had looked quick all afternoon - was last across the line during the first runs and went third.

Rain started to fall more steadily in the final five minutes to prevent any further improvements, with Nico Rosberg having to settle for fourth ahead of Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. It was a good session for Vettel as his other title rival - Kimi Raikkonen - only lines up ninth.

Both McLarens missed out on a place in Q3 as both Toro Rossos made it in to the top ten, while there was only one Ferrari in the final part of qualifying after Felipe Massa had another crash.

After a damp Q1 the rain was heavier by the start of Q2 and intermediate tyres were required from the start. Massa was struggling to get out of the drop zone and lost the rear approaching Turn 3, sliding sideways in to the wall and bringing out the red flag. With just 1m59s to go in the session it was a mad dash for the line and Jenson Button failed to start his lap before the chequered flag.

There were a few improvements on a slightly drier track, and Sergio Perez also dropped out as late laps from Adrian Sutil and Daniel Ricciardo pushed him down to 12th place.

Rain started to fall before the start of Q1 and even though everyone went out on slick tyres to try and set a time the circuit was too damp, forcing everyone back in to the pits to change to intermediates. The rest of the session was run on the inters despite the track continuing to dry, but drizzle prevented anyone switching to slicks.

With times dropping, it was all about who could improve late on but both Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean failed to get clean laps in and couldn't improve enough on their final laps as the rain intensified slightly. They both dropped out alongside the two Caterhams and Marrusias - the second race in succession di Resta has dropped out in Q1 - while Grosjean will start last as a result of the grid penalty hanging over him from Monaco.

Chris Medland is assistant editor at ESPNF1

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