Vettel masters the rain for pole position in Canada

Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix in a wet and action filled qualifying. Setting a flying lap time of 1:25.425 on a damp track, Vettel beat second placed Lewis Hamilton to pole position by just 0.087 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas did a fantastic job in his Williams car and will start third on the grid for tomorrows’ race. The only other driver to set a fast lap in the 1:25’s, it is the first time in his Formula 1 career that Bottas has qualified in a top three position, providing a much needed boost to himself and the struggling Williams F1 Team.

The rain levels changed regularly over the third qualifying session, with the best opportunity to set a fast lap coming early in the session before the track conditions worsened. Vettel judged the poor conditions perfectly, with Lewis Hamilton doing his best to keep Mercedes run of pole positions alive. Pushing hard, Hamilton slid going into the final chicane, falling just behind the time needed to take first on the grid from Vettel.

Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes will line up fourth on the grid after falling short to Bottas by just 0.111 seconds, Mark Webber’s Red Bull will start from fifth. Friday practice pace setter Fernando Alonso could only manage sixth on the grid, whilst an impressive drive from Jean-Eric Vergne sees a Toro Rosso start from P7 tomorrow. Adrian Sutil and Kimi Raikkonen qualified eighth and ninth, whilst the second Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo captured the final top ten position, successfully placing both Toro Rosso’s in the top ten to start tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Qualifying 2 got off to a busy start with all drivers looking to get as many laps in as possible before the possibility of heavier rainfall. The track remained damp though, and spectators found themselves treated to the first shunt of the afternoon, and weekend, which came from Felipe Massa late in Q2. Losing the back end of the car, Massa hit the barrier at speed going into turn 3, coming to an immediate halt. The position of the car meant the session was Red Flagged whilst the marshals cleared the track safely. Taking his noticeable frustration out on the steering wheel, Massa walked away from the crash uninjured, but will be checked by a doctor as standard practice following a series of crashes two weeks ago in Monaco.

With just under two minutes to go in Q2 the session was restarted, prompting all remaining 15 drivers to take to the track at once. The delay of the session meant that falling rain had once again covered the track, and times were hard to beat with only one flying lap available. As the chequered flag fell, Nico Hulkenberg was able to put his Sauber in eleventh place, with struggling McLaren driver Sergio Perez lining up just behind in twelfth. Pastor Maldonado, who found his car ‘difficult’ throughout the practice session, strung together a lap for thirteenth.

McLaren’s Jenson Button lost out on a chance at pole, dropping out of Q2 with a lap time of 1:24.021 and just fourteenth on the grid for tomorrow’s race. The McLaren drivers’ pace was over two seconds off the pace set by front running Sebastian Vettel. Behind Button is Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, and Felipe Massa who failed to improve on sixteenth after crashing his car.

At the back of the grid, a surprise dropout came from the Force India of Paul di Resta. Struggling with the lack of grip and difficult tyre selection, di Resta could string together a lap god enough for just seventeenth place, and only marginally quicker than the Caterham of Charles Pic in eighteenth.

Romain Grosjean was the other surprise driver unable to make it out of the first qualifying session. Already holding a ten-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Monaco, Grosjean set a qualifying time to place nineteenth overall. He will likely start tomorrows’ race from the back of the grid, giving Lotus an opportunity to work on the car before the race.

After a promising start to the weekend, the Marussia duo of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton qualified P20 and P21 respectively, with the Caterham of van der Garde qualifying at the back of the grid.

Full qualifying times and results can be found below. The Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2013 starts tomorrow, Sunday June 9th at 14:00 local time.