Nico Rosberg produced the goods when it mattered most, taking pole in a dry and hot qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
With team-mate Lewis Hamilton quickest in FP2, FP3, Q1 and Q2, and highly fancied to take pole on a circuit he’s run well at in the past, Rosberg managed to find something extra at the crucial moments in Q3, producing two laps good enough for pole.
He started with a lap of 1:14.946, and then bettered with a 1:14.874, ultimately taking pole by eight hundredths of a second over his team-mate.
Hamilton will still line up on the front row, but only after being beaten by a team mate in qualifying in Canada for the very first time in his career. A minor lock up on his final flying lap may have made the crucial difference.
Williams found a balance that suits the unique demands of the Montreal track, with Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa qualifying fourth and fifth, making it the team’s first double top ten at the track for ten years.
They were sandwiched by the Red Bulls, with Sebastian Vettel finally getting one over his team-mate with third, and Daniel Ricciardo lining up sixth.
Fernando Alonso will line up seventh in a Ferrari that was significantly off the pace, while the top ten is completed by Jean-Eric Vergne over-achieving in the Toro Rosso, Jenson Button in the McLaren and a scrappy Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari. Both Button and Raikkonen ran out of new super-softs to use in Q3, ultimately only doing one meaningful run each.
Hamilton had set the pace in Q2 with a 1:15.054, beating Felipe Massa’s long standing best of 1:15.773 by a solid seven tenths.
Vergne produced a blinder of a lap right at the end to pip both the more fancied Force Indias and Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren.
As such, Nico Hulkenberg fell agonizingly short and will line up on the sixth row with Magnussen, followed by Sergio Perez and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean on row seven. Daniil Kvyat will line up 15th, with Adrian Sutil’s Sauber 16th, a full second short of making it into Q3.
Hamilton also set the pace in an eventful Q1 with a lap of 1:15.750, seven entire tenths ahead of Magnussen and Mercedes team mate Rosberg.
Pastor Maldonado was the big name casualty, pulling off with a mechanical issue while his Lotus was still 17th and at the head of the drop-zone.
This was immediately followed by Marcus Ericsson backing his Caterham into the wall and bringing the session to a premature end. Ericsson will start 21st, one place behind his team-mate Kamui Kobayashi, despite the Japanese driver having numerous lock-ups and trips through the escape roads.
The Marussia’s of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi will start 18th and 19th after opting to not do a second super-soft run, while Esteban Gutierrez will start last after not participating in qualifying due to the extent of the damage suffered by his Sauber in an accident during FP3.
