You couldn’t have had a more incisive afternoon from Sebastian Vettel - he topped each timesheet of each of the three qualifying sessions and took the 32nd pole of his F1 career. And his second at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
But, it will never be an easy race around the kerbs, unforgiving walls and a track with little run-off, coupled with the fact that between Sebastian and Mark, in fourth, are two drivers who have both won here – Hamilton is P2, having been on the top step of the podium in 2010 and 2007 and Fernando Alonso who was the winner here in 2006.
Sebastian’s pole means he has now scored as many P1s as Nigel Mansell did in his 14-year F1 career; an amazing feat, but our concentration is less on record books and more on ensuring both our drivers pick up a bag full of points tomorrow.
Today’s results are only half the battle and we know - while it isn’t going to be a repeat of last year’s marathon - tomorrow is still a long race. For the whole team, whose efforts have contributed to our drivers having a fighting chance of adding to our points tally tomorrow – as Christian recognised.
He said: “A strong team performance today. Sebastian looked really competitive throughout qualifying, going quickest on his first run in Q3 and improving slightly on his second run to take pole position for tomorrow. Mark also had a strong qualifying, but we had a small issue with a tyre blanket on his last run, but nonetheless he did an excellent job and to be starting on pole and the second row is a great for tomorrow’s grand prix.”
Elsewhere, the top ten is losing some of its randomness – although who knows what would have happened had Pastor Maldonado finished his final Q2 lap, rather than (unfortunately) hitting wall and spinning. But it is dominated by Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes. Oh, and Red Bull.
Vettel’s last pole? Well, that will have been Bahrain. He did well there.
Still Some Distance Left To Race
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Still Some Distance Left To Race