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29 March 2024

F1: Rosberg beats Hamilton to Canadian GP pole

Pole sitter Nico Rosberg of Germany and Mercedeswith teammate Lewis Hamilton (left) and Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany, after the qualifying session of the Canadian F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal June 7, 2014. (REUTERS)

Published
By Agencies

Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday, with Mercedes team mate and closest rival Lewis Hamilton beaten into second place at a favourite circuit.

The pole was the seventh in seven races for the sport's dominant team, who have won every grand prix so far this season and finished one-two in the last five.

After controversy surrounded his pole in Monaco two weeks ago, Rosberg left no room for argument on a sunny afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The German, who is four points clear of Hamilton but has never finished higher than fifth in Canada, pulled out a stunning lap of one minute 14.874 seconds to beat the Briton by 0.079.

"I know it's a track where he's very strong," said Rosberg. "I'm very happy that it worked out. It's been a fantastic day and just through the weekend, progressing all the time and getting stronger and stronger."

Rosberg had already thrown down the guantlet to his team mate by going fastest with his first flying lap of the third and final session on the island layout and Hamilton failed to meet the challenge.

"Nico did a fantastic job today, so congratulations to him," Hamilton, a three times winner in Montreal including the first grand prix triumph of his career in 2007, told reporters.

"It just wasn't the greatest qualifying session. Sometimes you have good ones, sometimes you have bad ones. But it's great for the team that we've got the one-two and a really fantastic performance by the team. Let's hope we can make history tomorrow."

In Monaco, Hamilton suggested Rosberg had deliberately brought out yellow warning flags at the end of qualifying in an incident that forced the Briton to slow and denied him the chance of going fastest.

Red Bull's quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, last year's race winner, will line up third on the starting grid.

Mercedes-powered Williams enjoyed a strong qualifying session, with Finland's Valtteri Bottas qualifying fourth ahead of team mate Felipe Massa in fifth.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo will start on the third row in the other Red Bull while Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the winner in Canada in 2006 and runner-up last year, will line up seventh.

STARTING GRID

1st row

Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)

2nd row
Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull)
Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams)

3rd row

Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams)
Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull)

4th row
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari)
Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/Toro Rosso)

5th row
Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren)
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari)

6th row
Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Force India)
Kevin Magnussen (DEN/McLaren)

7th row

Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India)
Romain Grosjean (FRA/Lotus)

8th row
Daniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso)
Adrian Sutil (GER/Sauber)

9th row

Pastor Maldonado (VEN/Lotus)
Max Chilton (GBR/Marussia)

10th row
Jules Bianchi (FRA/Marussia)
Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Caterham)

11th row

Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Caterham)
Esteban Gutierrez (MEX/Sauber)