The 2017 season is quickly establishing a reputation for breaking prior track records. This weekend proved no different, following an exciting qualifying session at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Canada.
Regaining form after a dry spell, Lewis Hamilton secured his 65th career pole position with a qualifying time of 1’11.459. It’s a blistering pace that shatters the previous pole position record (1’12.275) set by Ralf Schumacher in 2004.
The grid order for tomorrow’s race is a familiar one that’s persisted throughout the season thus far. Sebastian Vettel secures second place for Ferrari, albeit three-tenths off the optimal pace.
Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas sits behind the esteemed German in third, getting the better of Raikkonen. The Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo weren’t far off the pace and will occupy the third row.
Felipe Massa sits in seventh for Williams, while the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon occupy eighth and ninth, respectively. Nico Hulkenberg rounds out the top ten in his Renault.
Both Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz missed Q3 after a troubling series of events. Sainz spun heading into Turn 1, while the Russian hit a wall and suffered a tire puncture. The Toro Rosso teammates were split up by the down-on-power McLaren of Fernadno Alonso, who missed Q3 by two-tenths.
Luck was not on the side of Sauber’s Pascal Wehrlein, who suffered a violent spin, backing his car into a wall at Turn 1 — an incident undoubtedly reminding the German of his turnover scare at Monaco two weeks ago.
Lance Stroll took on a disappointing role in his first home grand prix. Finishing in 17th ahead of the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and the two Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Wehrlein.
The provisional grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix will line up as: Hamilton, Vettel; Bottas, Raikkonen; Verstappen, Ricciardo; Massa, Perez; Ocon, Hulkenberg; Kvyat, Alonso; Sainz, Grosjean; Palmer, Vandoorne; Stroll, Magnussen; Ericsson, Wehrlein.
Here’s the full timing board below. Please note that any grid drops due to penalties sustained have not been taken into account.
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:12.692 | 1:12.496 | 1:11.459 | |
| 2 | 1:13.046 | 1:12.749 | 1:11.789 | |
| 3 | 1:12.685 | 1:12.563 | 1:12.177 | |
| 4 | 1:13.548 | 1:12.580 | 1:12.252 | |
| 5 | 1:13.177 | 1:12.751 | 1:12.403 | |
| 6 | 1:13.543 | 1:12.810 | 1:12.557 | |
| 7 | 1:13.435 | 1:13.012 | 1:12.858 | |
| 8 | 1:13.470 | 1:13.262 | 1:13.018 | |
| 9 | 1:13.520 | 1:13.320 | 1:13.135 | |
| 10 | 1:13.804 | 1:13.406 | 1:13.271 | |
| 11 | 1:13.802 | 1:13.690 | ||
| 12 | 1:13.669 | 1:13.693 | ||
| 13 | 1:14.051 | 1:13.756 | ||
| 14 | 1:13.780 | 1:13.839 | ||
| 15 | 1:13.990 | 1:14.293 | ||
| 16 | 1:14.182 | |||
| 17 | 1:14.209 | |||
| 18 | 1:14.318 | |||
| 19 | 1:14.495 | |||
| 20 | 1:14.810 |
See more articles on Canadian Grand Prix and F1 2017 Season.