Lewis Hamilton has wasted no time in responding to his disappointing weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix after he claimed his 65th pole position of his career. In the process the Mercedes driver equalled his idol Ayrton Senna's pole position record and is just three poles behind all-time record holder Michael Schumacher.
After finishing seventh in Monaco that left Hamilton 25 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel, the Brit knew that he had to make an impact at the Canadian Grand Prix to stand any chance to remain in the hunt for his fourth world championship. And Hamilton did exactly that.
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The Q3 session in Canada was one of the most intense we have seen this year so far especially Hamilton's final two laps. The Mercedes driver produced a superb lap of one minute 11.791 seconds, only for Vettel to set a time just 0.004secs slower than him. But that lap was just a warm up for Hamilton as he went faster the next lap.
He clocked 1:11.459 which proved to be too much for Vettel to beat and after the session he was presented with one of Senna's old helmets, a gift from the late Brazilian's family for equalling his record.
"Honestly, I'm so happy. Montreal has been very good to me over the years. It was such a close battle with the Ferraris - they have been so quick this weekend. I dug down deep... It was a great lap, a sexy lap! I can't quite believe that it all came together so well. After such a tough time in Monaco, we learnt from our mistakes," Formula1.com quoted Hamilton as saying.
With Hamilton and Vettel occupying the first row, Valtteri Bottas took third place with Kimi Raikkonen in fourth. The two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo are in fifth and sixth followed by the Williams of Felipe Massa. Force India continued to impress as they qualified in the top 10 with Sergio Perez in eighth and Esteban Ocon in ninth.
The Renault of Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten. This race also sees Fernando Alonso get back inside a Formula One car and despite Honda not able to deliver their upgrades, the Spaniard managed to qualify 12th and with free tire choice, he could finally get his first points of the season.
"The car has felt great so far. It's been fun out there today, and the level of grip is very high. Even though the tires are difficult to warm up, they're very consistent and you can push throughout the run, so I think it's going to be an interesting race," Alonso said.
Check out the highlights from the qualifying session of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Where to watch
The 2017 Canadian Grand Prix is set to star at 2:00 pm local time, 10:30 pm IST and 1:00 pm EST.
TV and live streaming information
Australia: TV: Ten HD. Live Streaming: Ten Play.
India: TV: Star Sports SelectHD2. Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports F1. Live Streaming: Watch Sky Sports.
USA: TV: NBCSN. Live Streaming: NBC Sports Live.
Asia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Fox Sports Play.
Canada: TV: TSN, TSN 2, RDS
