Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Vettel denies Hamilton pole position with his final lap

2019 Canadian Grand Prix qualifying

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Sebastian Vettel denied Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking seventh pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix with the final lap of the session.

A superb final lap by the Ferrari driver meant Hamilton had to settle for second place.

In a dramatic session Kevin Magnussen crashed heavily and cost Max Verstappen a place in Q3. And a stunning lap by Daniel Ricciardo put his Renault ahead of both Red Bulls and a Mercedes.

Q1

The Ferrari and Mercedes drivers put on a tremendous show in their scrap for fastest overall time in the first phase of qualifying. All four drivers took turns at the top of the times, and by the time they had finished their opening run on soft tyres the top three were separated by less than three hundredths of a second: Vettel ahead of Leclerc and Bottas.

Romain Grosjean, who lost time after clipping the wall in final practice, had fallen into the bottom five before his final run but found enough time to claim a place inside the top 10. Alexander Albon followed his move to go safe.

That put Lance Stroll at risk. The Racing Point driver had been forced to switch to the older Mercedes power unit after suffering a failure in the final hour of practice. He came out of the final corner in an elegant drift but took a Q2 spot only temporarily before being relegated by four of his rivals.

It was a double blow for Racing Point as Sergio Perez’s final run left him seven-hundredths of a second shy of a place in Q2. The last spot went to Antonio Giovinazzi, whose final lap also pushed team mate Kimi Raikkonen into the drop zone. The Racing Point pair and Raikkonen were joined, as usual, by the two Williams drivers.

Drivers eliminated in Q1

16Sergio PerezRacing Point-Mercedes1’12.197
17Kimi RaikkonenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’12.230
18Lance StrollRacing Point-Mercedes1’12.266
19George RussellWilliams-Mercedes1’13.617
20Robert KubicaWilliams-Mercedes1’14.393

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Q2

With the soft tyres degrading quickly, the tactical advantage of starting on the medium compound was clear. Ferrari were able to set sufficiently competitive times to reach Q3 on the medium rubber with little difficulty. Mercedes managed it too, but unlike Ferrari they had to do two runs of the mediums to get it done.

For Red Bull the decision was trickier. Pierre Gasly, who hadn’t been on Verstappen’s pace for much of the weekend, opted for softs. But Verstappen gave the medium tyres a shot.

His first runs were compromised by traffic, which left him 11th. With the clock ticking down, the team decided it was no longer worth the risk, and switched him to the soft tyres. But luck was against them.

Exiting the final corner on his last run, Kevin Magnussen glanced the ‘Wall of Champions’ and spun hard into the pit wall, smashing the right-hand side of his Haas. That brought out the red flags and, with insufficient time left to restart the session, spelled the end for Verstappen’s hopes of reaching Q3.

Magnussen’s crash meant he did secure a place in Q3 but prevented his team mate, running close behind him, from completing a flying lap in the session, and ensured Grosjean’s elimination. The two Toro Rossos dropped out too, and were joined by Giovinazzi.

Drivers eliminated in Q2

11Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1’11.800
12Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Honda1’11.921
13Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1’12.136
14Alexander AlbonToro Rosso-Honda1’12.193
15Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari

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Q3

Hamilton seemed on course to deny Ferrari pole position after a superb first run put him on top of the times. But an error by Bottas kept him from matching his team mate – he spun at the exit of turn two, wrecking his first run.

Hamilton chipped away at his lap time with his final effort and managed a small improvement, lowering the benchmark to a 1’10.446. But Vettel had more in hand, and the Ferrari’s superior straight-line speed helped him beat Hamilton by two-tenths of a second at the line.

Hamilton and Vettel out-classed their team mates in the final runs. Leclerc was over two-thirds of a second off Vettel, while Bottas continued a mystifying Q3 performance with sixth-fastest time. He was beaten by Gasly’s Red Bull and an inspired lap by Daniel Ricciardo, who put his Renault an excellent fourth.

Nico Hulkenberg took seventh in the other Renault ahead of the McLaren pair and Magnussen.

Top ten in Q3

1Sebastian VettelFerrari1’10.240
2Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’10.446
3Charles LeclercFerrari1’10.920
4Daniel RicciardoRenault1’11.071
5Pierre GaslyRed Bull-Honda1’11.079
6Valtteri BottasMercedes1’11.101
7Nico HulkenbergRenault1’11.324
8Lando NorrisMcLaren-Renault1’11.863
9Carlos Sainz JnrMcLaren-Renault1’13.981
10Kevin MagnussenHaas-Ferrari

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2019 Canadian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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69 comments on “Vettel denies Hamilton pole position with his final lap”

  1. Panagiotis Papatheodorou (@panagiotism-papatheodorou)
    8th June 2019, 20:31

    Absolutely perfect qualifying by Vettel and Ricciardo. Lewis did a good lap to be sure. Very disappointing by Gasly and Bottas. Bad luck for Grosjean and Max.

    1. Ricciardo’s improvement is the real surprise story. This shows the car finally delivering on its promise. This all bodes well for Ricciardo.

      The other story is Bottas. I wonder if Mercedes swapped cars after Hamilton’s crash yesterday. Would Mercedes do that?

      This could mean a much closer season, or it could simple reflect the fear/less factor which comes with this walled circuit.

      1. They wouldn’t and they can’t don’t know how you could imagine such things.

      2. The other story is Bottas. I wonder if Mercedes swapped cars after Hamilton’s crash yesterday. Would Mercedes do that?

        Hahahahahaha

        No, just no

      3. Kimberley Barrass
        9th June 2019, 7:40

        It’s a fair comment about Bottas and the car swap but this isn’t really possible. For many reasons, like pedal positioning, brake and throttle feel, engine parameters in accordance with the above, etc…

        But more importantly the sport now tracks the various components that a driver is allocated and uses over a full season, meaning that such a thing wouldnt be done…

        Hope that helps!!

        1. It’s a fair comment about Bottas and the car swap

          It’s really not.

    2. Not sure why Gasly is disappointing, being a bit over half a second off Hamilton; did you perhaps mean Leclerc, who’s well off his teammate, like Bottas @panagiotism-papatheodorou?

      1. @bosyber gasly is .500 slower than max, rb had a decent car and they were hitting 330.

        1. No @peartree, Gasly got through with the right tyres, and indeed, it is likely Verstappen could have been a few tenth faster, had he been able to get the right lap in, without traffic, and, eh, had he actually made it to Q3, but, he didn’t.

          Because of a combi of tyre choice, car (setup?), track position/timing/luck of the draw meant Verstappen didn’t pull out a fast enough lap to get through. And so, you can think the Red Bull should have had fourth, but they weren’t able to with either driver, because they weren’t fast enough as a team. Still, Gasly got ahead of Bottas, even though he lost out to a stellar lap from Ricciardo by 8 thousands of a second.

          Do I think Verstappen is likely to end the race ahead of his teammate? Yeah, quite likely, because he won’t hesitate to overtake him, and he will likely have a better pace and strategy. He is a stellar driver after all, and Gasly hasn’t really shown much of that this year.

  2. Russell quicker than Sainz confirmed! 13.6 compared to a 13.9

  3. Impressive lap by VET! He made the difference. HAM had the car to take the PP, yet he failed.

    1. Despite the narrative you are trying to drive, I suspect the post-weekend analysis will probably show that the Ferrari was the marginally quicker package here. Very close in S1 & S2, not so much in S3.

      1. His narrative is hatred, he would have said something similar if Lewis was on pole.

        1. The real narative is how Lewis managed to split a likely Ferrari 1/2 with Bottas only managing 6th place.

        2. I gathered. And to be fair to him, he’s had to wait 7 races for his man to ‘make the difference’.

          Probably not wise to give it large when his horse had the car to win an entire WDC for the previous two years. And failed.

        3. @dallein

          if lewis took pp, it was “to be expected, and a monkey would take pp with that car”
          vettel took the pp which was to be expected, now “lewis just simply forgot to drive again, his wdc chances are all but” **miracle** :)

          sighs, fandom…

          tomorrow is the real race, and party afterwards… hope vettel/ferrari drives well to the end and merc doesnt win “by a miracle mistake, miracle drive from lewis” otherwise people will just say lewis/merc was fav anyway and what a boring race…

      2. This escalated quickly! What I wanted to say is that the cars are most likely pretty equal, it’s just that VET did the perfect lap, not HAM… so this is the result.

  4. How can Bottas lose to a Renault given the pace difference between the teams?

    1. He had a miserable lap with three lockups.

    2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      8th June 2019, 21:00

      Did you notice how close Ricciardo was to Hamilton? Renault were not bad at all today.

      As silly as this sounds, Hamilton did as bad as Bottas did today in Spain, but because of how quick Mercedes were over other teams here, Hamilton’s lack of performance really didn’t show. He still got 2nd despite being almost exactly the same distance behind Bottas as the other way round today. But due to how close the other teams were, Hamilton got beaten and only got 2nd, but Bottas got 6th.

      1. There is some truth here, but let’s not forget the lap is shorter in Canada. So 6 tenth is a lot here.

        1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
          8th June 2019, 21:28

          The pole lap was a fraction over 5 seconds slower in spain. Is that really going to make 6 tenths of a gap that much larger? The times in Spain were much closer to this track than any other so far this year excluding Monaco. I don’t think 6 tenths is much less representative of the speed difference here than Spain if I’m honest.

          1. I agree. But in Canada much of that lap time is going in a straight line

      2. You’re right, it does sound silly.

  5. Yeah!!!!! Suck on that Toto and Hammy! And mega kudos to Danny Ric!

    Maybe, just maybe we get an entertaining and competitive race for the first time this year.

    1. 6 out of 7 were very entertaining, don’t know which races you watched.

      1. Then you must be a Merc homer. This has been the worst season I’ve seen.

        1. homer

          Homophobic ranting?

          1. Lol, do you not know what a homer is? My God some people are such sensitive little girls here.

          2. My God some people are such sensitive little girls here.

            Sexist ranting? My god you are a garbage person aren’t you.

          3. I for one don’t know what a ‘homer’ is @jblank (am I too old? Fact I live in Germany? not sure, but please explain/not to use it ;)

            By the way, sheesh, I get it, you are apparently (even though you don’t believe it) anti Merc/HAM by now, but please is it that difficult to just be civil. Yes, great that Vettel pulled out a great lap. Great for him, for Ferrari (1-3 vindicates some of their team order stuff, and reinforces they have good car at some tracks), and for F1 it’s great too. Did you notice even Hamilton said as much (as I noted before: his main title rival is 6th, so he can easily be glad of the result, but even so), saying he was glad it was a fight, and he wanted it that way?

            While Spain was, well, Spain, and Australia was a downer, in several of the other races the only thing that made it a clear cut 1-2 for Mercedes was Ferrari messing up; in Monaco (two weeks ago!) Mercedes messing up (and Red Bull being aggressive, as they tend to be) made it quite a good Monaco from the front, while in the midfield the fight was interesting too (only the directing made it so we barely saw it). I am sorry you apparently missed that, but really, the results so far don’t represent the full picture of car pace.

          4. Wow, verified you’re a SJW. If you don’t like my comments, skip right on past them.

      2. @dallein, don’t bother – you’re talking to somebody who has an obsessive hatred with Mercedes, to the point where his obsession is starting to get rather disconcerting (at least it hasn’t trickled over into more threatening behaviour yet).

        1. Oh boo hoo, did I diss your team? So, so not sorry.

          1. @jblank, no, you did not.

            It is more that your rather creepy obsessive behaviour, your self confessed psychopathic behaviour and having a rather violent streak to your side makes me more worried that you will graduate from mere verbal attacks to physical attacks, such is your obsession with hating and wanting to destroy them.

        2. Hahahahahaha, so being critical is now associated with a violent streak? My God what has happened to you people? Never encountered such wussified people on a sports discussion board in my life.

      3. @dallein

        6 out of 7 were very entertaining, don’t know which races you watched.

        Australia, China and Spain were all very boring races. How did you arrive to this number?

        1. A Merc one, lol, that’s likely his criteria.

    2. Let’s hope so.
      Great for Danny and great for seb.
      Poor Bottas, the turnaround?

      1. Erikje, as long as a Merc doesn’t win and we have some legit battles at the front, I’ll be happy. I’d love to see Danny Ric somehow be able to hold onto that spot but I’m probably hoping against hope.

    3. Classy! Shame the said “suckers” are sitting pretty at the top of the championship and losing 7 or 10 points will mean very little. Still…there’s always monza xx

      1. Hey for one important session the Mercs don’t have ownership of the top spot….that’s progress as far as competitiveness as far as I’m concerned.

      2. Also there’s gonna be Hockenheim and Spa,where Ferraris are undoubtedly going to be quicker.

  6. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    8th June 2019, 20:43

    Go Vettel! Kinda expect Hamilton to blow past him by lap 10 but really great to see. Shame with Bottas, that one run he had in Q3 was a horror show.

    Gasly, where are you?

    1. With the advantage Ferrari seem to have in the straights (particularly in the third sector) Vettel might win this, if Ferrari doesn’t screw up the strategy. Lewis is fast at the twisty sectors, which aren’t exactly good for overtaking (and might be more impacted from having to drive in dirty air).

      1. Yeah, either he pushes Vettel into a mistake, or he’s got to do an undercut (or a Stroll/Magnussen early SC?).

  7. Great fight, great session!
    And lots of surprises! Max out, Valtteri 5th, Ricciardo 4th!

    Why is the race only in 22 hours???

    1. Correction – Valtteri 6th!

      And addition – the attempts of marshals to take away the car were very… interesting.4

      And one disappointment – with Kevin just crashed, his nice and loyal teammate was not believing his own bad luck… without even asking if Kevin is ok.

      1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        8th June 2019, 21:07

        Remember not all the radio is always broadcast. And in the heat of the moment, very few drivers would have sympathy on their mind when their lap gets ruined. He could well have asked a bit later.

        But you can’t argue with Grosjean. His luck has been terrible this season.

        1. @dallein as @thegianthogweed said, not all radio is played always, just like last race the director focussed on ‘tyre-complaining HAM’ that wasn’t all he said, nor was he the only one talking (Max was having issues too, but we didn’t hear it, maybe bc. they thought it would dampen our excitement??). Anyway, later in the transmission they played radio of Grosjean asking how Kevin was, which was just after the bit they played before, where he was just reacting to his job being done for the day.

        2. You mean the same “Luck”, which was called Ericsson in Singapore?..

          Yeah, in that case his “luck” is indeed really bad. Though I call it “driving skills”.

  8. Well done Danny Ric! I know he doesn’t stand a chance at a podium, but it will be interesting to see if he can keep Verstappen behind (as the RedBull doesnt seem to be a great car this weekend).

  9. Verstappen had a good 6 minutes to make the switch to softs, so why did Redbull leave it to the last minute?

    Redbull would have known he was no where near making the cut so why did they not get Verstappen turned around faster. I suppose now he’ll have a choice of tires from 11th, from where he’ll keep things interesting by over-taking the field ahead of him.

    Bottas has to be thankfull too. If Verstappen had made it to the last 10, there’s a good chance he would have finished in the top 4, pushing Bottas down another place.

    1. @ajaxn I think after sainz’s penalty and Magnussen starting from out lane that Verstappen would start ninth with the choice of tyres. Wonder if he has a new set of mediums to start on? Maybe they might start him on the hards?

  10. Filippo Peverini
    9th June 2019, 0:03

    Vintage Vettel, doing it at the last possible moment. Respect to Hamilton too, and to his great attitude. Great to see them both.

  11. NeverElectric
    9th June 2019, 1:56

    Before the race weekend, Helmut Mark and Toto both said the ferraris would be very fast in Montreal.
    The reactions of some on here were predictable – Toto was toying with everyone, Red Bull are trying to maintain interest, etc. Hamilton says the ferraris will be a danger on the straights, reaction is angry yawns as fans declare he’s boring and playing mind games.
    Ferrari get on pole, proving Toto, Lewis and Mark right – and the same people who derided the three are back to declare it’s the happiest day ever, with a few particularly bitter anti Lewis ones throwing in a snarky comment or two about Hamilton.
    Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

    1. Indeed, it’s a bit sad that people are so bifurcated in their reactions and don’t even seem to realise it after the fact, amend their future behaviour.

  12. What a drive by Hamilton to denied a Ferrari 1-2 qualifying season! Told ya Top Speed advantage is a bonus, you don’t have to taking risk finding extra micro-tenths on corners.

  13. Cue SV taking CL out in his usual fit of red mist rage. Likely LH will get the drop on both Ferrs at the start. Then CL will challenge SV at turn 2, nearly overtake him at turn 3. SV will do the usual & take him & CL out by rear ending CL. GO MERCEDES!

    1. @wildbiker Your comments are what makes this a garbage forum of Shamilton fans.

      1. Your comments are what make this a garbage forum. You come out (rightly) to challenge these sort of comments from one side. But you either turn a blind eye to similar or worse comments from the other side. In fact on occasion you are more than happy to pile in with your brand of bile when it suits. So stop playing the sensitive little victim.

      2. No need to go to his level @sjzelli – to be honest, today I see more ‘anti-HAM/Merc’ fans here, which is as it goes, since hoping against the ‘default’ does tend to do more to provide an interesting race, but both of those are annoying, and I would just prefer we talk about merit when it happens.

        So far, Ferrari has been letting us down this year as much as Mercedes has kept up a too good job for it to be a real fight. And Red Bull has been a good race team, but out of the blocks their chassis was the weaker link in their Honda partnership, which is why Verstappen has been only been able to mix it with Ferrari for the podium, apart from Monaco.

        1. @bosyber, unfortunately, that is always the level that she goes to – it cannot be that she celebrates the achievements of Vettel and of Ferrari, it always has to be tainted with the stench of bile that comes with her vitriolic diatribes against other drivers.

          It’s a shame, because it does detract from the fact that Vettel and Ferrari both maximised their performance and earned themselves that pole position with an impressive lap.

          1. Glad you keep a thesaurus by your bedside ‘anon’. Pouncing on the opportunity to step on your soapbox doesn’t impress. If u care to check, I’ve said nothing about SV. I’m merely bringing attention to the ‘sore-winner’ LH fans that pollute this forum.

  14. 90th Anniversary Ferrarri > Mission Winnow Ferrari

    1. Wrong, since the missionwinwhen? appearance they dropped the ball. Currently do you see it on the livery?
      That’s why reds turned on fight.

      1. @formevic dont get what you’re saying.

        What i mean is that there only 2 poles came when mission winnow branding was not on the car.

  15. was a gud qualifying. we may not always see the competative nature of the drivers when their times are soo far apaet but today was 1 of those qualies wgere you can see the drivers pushing, making mistakes, hitting the wall… maybe thats whats needed. less run offs more walls on more circuits.

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