Vettel on pole in Montreal

Sebastian Vettel superbly grabbed the 32nd pole position of his Formula One career and second in succession ahead of today’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Reigning world champion Vettel proved to be the class act in qualifying, crushing his rivals around Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his Red Bull.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton again lines up on the front row, but the 27-year-old found himself three tenths of a second adrift of Vettel’s hot lap of a one minute 13.784secs.

The pole elevates Vettel up to fifth in the all-time standings, and he now stands alongside Nigel Mansell, with only Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark and Alain Prost ahead of him, the latter duo with 33 poles.

Championship leader Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso starts third as he failed to pip Hamilton at the death, followed by the Red Bull of recent Monaco Grand Prix winner Mark Webber.

Mercedes’s Nico Rosberg starts fifth ahead of Felipe Massa in his Ferrari and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, with Paul di Resta, in his Force India, a stunning eighth, equalling his second best grid slot of his F1 career.

In ninth and 10th are Mercedes’ Schumacher and Jenson Button in his McLaren, the latter in the top 10 for the first time in three races, but continuing to struggle and on a circuit where he won in dramatic fashion a year ago.

Button narrowly had survived Q2, but only by eight thousandths of a second to Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi who will start from 11th place.

In the dying stages of the middle 15-minute session it appeared as if Williams’ Pastor Maldonado would be the man to drop Button out of the top for the third consecutive race.

But after going fastest of all in the first sector, and pushing to the limit, he clipped the Wall of Champions coming out of the final turn, sending him into a 360 degree spin and only 17th.

Kimi Raikkonen’s awful weekend continued as he could only grab 12th, well behind team-mate Grosjean.

Today’s grid

1. S. Vettel (Red Bull) - 1:13.784
2. L. Hamilton (McLaren) - 1:14.087
3. F. Alonso (Ferrari) - 1:14.151
4. M. Webber (Red Bull) - 1:14.346
5. N. Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1:14.411
6. F. Massa (Ferrari) - 1:14.465
7. R. Grosjean (Lotus) - 1:14.645
8. P. di Resta (Force India) - 1:14.705
9. M. Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1:14.812
10. J. Button (McLaren) - 1:15.182
11. K. Kobayashi (Sauber) - 1:14.688
12. K. Raikkonen (Lotus) - 1:14.734
13. N. Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1:14.748
14. D. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) - 1:15.078
15. S. Perez (Sauber) - 1:15.156
16. B. Senna (Williams) - 1:15.170
17. P. Maldonado (Williams) - 1:15.231
18. H. Kovalainen (Caterham) - 1:16.263
19. V. Petrov (Caterham) - 1:16.482
20. J.E. Vergne (Toro Rosso) - 1:16.602
21. P. de la Rosa (HRT) - 1:17.492
22. T. Glock (Marussia) - 1:17.901
23. C. Pic (Marussia) - 1:18.255
24. N. Karthikeyan (HRT) - 1:18.330