Zoom Hamilton heading to the pole on the option tyre

Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position on Bridgestone’s super-soft compound Potenza at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the seventh round of the championship, the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren Mercedes driver produced a blinding lap in tricky conditions of 1:17.886s, over six-tenths faster than the second fastest driver, Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team) who achieved a 1min 18.498secs and will start from the front row tomorrow at the same track where he had his dramatic accident last season. Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) and Fernando Alonso (ING Renault F1 Team) will start from the second row, with Raikkonen in third and Alonso in fourth. Nico Rosberg (AT&T Williams) and Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) will start from the third row, with Rosberg the faster.

Track conditions are improved from yesterday as more rubber has been laid on the track in the dry conditions. The weather was considerably improved from Friday, with blue skies and high temperatures all day. The day’s fastest lap, a 1:16.909s, was set by Hamilton in Q1 on the soft compound.

Hirohide Hamashima, Tyre Development Director
“Our super-soft compound was working well today, and both compounds showed improved performance from the higher ambient and track temperatures we saw. In particular, the higher temperatures help lessen graining, as does the increased levels of rubber laid down on the track."

"Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for driving a very fast lap to get pole position. The track surface did suffer from an amount of breaking-up and there were asphalt marbles which made things difficult for drivers as this is very slippery. Tomorrow, it will be very interesting to see what strategies teams use as different choices could be made.”

E.A. © CAPSIS International