McLaren-Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton will start beside the Red Bull-Renault driver on the front row of the grid for the 2 p.m. race. His time of 1:14:087 around the 14-turn, 4.361-km track, was less than three-tenths of a second slower and represents only "a difference of eight metres" between the first two cars, according to Vettel.
Fernando Alonso will go off third in his Ferrari, followed by Mark Webber (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault), Paul Di Resta (Force India-Ferrari), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and defending race winner Jenson Button (McLaren).
"It was definitely a bit harder for us today," Hamilton said, talking about the 37-degree track temperature as compared to the significantly cooler weather on Friday. "We struggled working with the tires but we had a new set in Q3 and managed to get through.
"I'm happy with performance, and surprised to see us on the front row, but we will be trying as hard as we can tomorrow."
Alonso. who said races in 2012 are difficult to predict -- there have been six different winners in the six races to date -- said he would like to win his second race of the season (after Malaysia) "to give all the Canadian Ferrari tifosi (fans) a nice result in the 30th anniversary year of the death of Gilles Villeneuve (Canadian hero Villeneuve died in 1982 while racing for Ferrari).
"But we know at the moment there are two guys quicker than us. They proved it today and tomorrow we need to do better if we want to win."
As blistering as it was, Vettel's pole time was still about a half-second slower than the time he set when he won the pole a year ago: 1:13:014.
But it got the job done because pole position seems to be even more important this season than it has been in others. The winners of the last four Grands Prix -- Webber, Pastor Maldonado, Vettel and Rosberg -- all started from the pole position.
Meantime, Canadian racing heo Jacques Villeneuve has received a death threat, the newspaper Le Journal de Montreal reported Saturday.
The threat, apparently delivered via email, followed the 1997 world driving champion's public condemnation Thursday night of public protests against the government of Premier Jean Charest.
The usual, large, Saturday crowd was in attendance and the atmosphere was festive, as it always is at Grand Prix time in Montreal. But the damage has been done by the protests. Attendance at the race over the three-day weekend will be off about 20 per cent, organizers estimate, with an expected race day crowd of about 100,000, down from the usual 120,000-plus. For the first time in memory, there are still seats available in grandstands for race day.
The Montreal economy, generally, is suffering as well. There are still hotel rooms available in downtown Montreal, with no minimum stay and at a reasonable cost, on Grand Prix weekend. This is unheard of.
There is a strong police and security presence at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and any organized protest would have a difficult time getting to the circuit, considering the number of roadblocks and police checks between downtown and Ilse Notre-Dame, where the race is being held.
Downtown is another matter. Police again had to confront and chase away protesting students and their supporters Friday night, although there was none of the pepper-spraying, kettling and tear gassing that took place during previous confrontations this spring.
However, organizers continued to vow Saturday to continue trying to disrupt Grand Prix celebrations during the weekend, particularly the festival on Crescent Street that traditionally attracts thousands of revellers.
Earlier,
Defending world champion Sebastien Vettel won the pole for Sunday`s Canadian Grand Prix today with a stunning time of one minute, 13.784 seconds.
Lewis Hamilton, of Team McLaren-Mercedes, will start beside the Red Bull-Renault driver on the front row of the grid.
Fernando Alonso will go off third in his Ferrari, followed by Mark Webber (Red Bull), Nico Rosberg (Mercedes), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault), Paul di Resta (Force India-Ferrari), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) and defending race winner Jenson Button (McLaren).
Earlier
Kimi Rikkonen was the first big name to be knocked out of qualifying today. The former world champion, known as the Iceman, who is making a comeback in F1 for Lotus-Renault, was knocked out at the last minute by Felipe Massa in a Ferrari.
F1 qualifying is knockout style. Seven drivers were eliminated after the first 20-minute session, then another seven were knocked out.
The remaining 10 drivers, led by Sebastien Vettel (Red Bull-Renault), Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) will now race for the pole position in a 10-minute session.
The seven eleiminated in Q2 were Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Raikkonen (Lotus), Daniel Ricciardo (Scuderia Toro-Rosso-Ferrari), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault) and Pastor Maldonado (Williams), who survived a hair-raising spin at the last corner as he tried to set a faster lap time.
Earlier,
Sebastien Vettel was fastest but seven drivers were eliminated from further qualifying after the first session ended at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve this afternoon.
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton drove their McLaren-Mercedes F1 racers to second and third fastest laps in preparation for Sunday's Grnad Prix of Canada.
Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top five. Qualifying will continue momentarily.
The following drivers will line up 18th through 24th for tomorrow's 2 p.m. Eastern race"
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham), Valery Petrov (Caterham), Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso), Pedro de la Rosa, (HRT), Timo Glock (Marussia), Charles Pic (Marussia) and Narain Karthikeyan (HRT).
Earlier,
The cars are out for the first session of qualifying for Sunday`s Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso has set the early pace.
Earlier,
Reigning world champion Sebastien Vettel turned the fastest time in third practice at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve this morning, a one minute, 14:442 lap in his Red Bull-Renault F1 racing car.
Fernando Alonso was second fastest in a Ferrari - a 1:14:448 - and Lewis Hamilton was third in a McLaren-Mercedes at 1:14:712.
Hamilton was the leader after both practices on Friday but was overhauled by the double world champion in the rubber match leading up to 1 p.m. qualifying that will set the 24-car field for Sunday`s Grand Prix of Canada.
Posiitions four through ten: Mark Webber (Red Bull), Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), Michael Schumacher (Mercedes), Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Nico Hulkenberg (Force India-Ferrari).
Michael Schumacher`s seventh place was - well, intriguing. It is the seventth of the season, he is a seven-time world champion and he has won this race seven times.
There is a suspicion in some circles that Schumacher is destined to win on Sunday, with the universe of sevens lining up as it has.
We`ll see.
Earlier,
Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastien Vettel were taking turns setting fast times during third practice.
It's great stuff and bodes well for qualifying.
Earlier,
Jean-Eric Vergne has gone into the tires out at turn six but he`s out of the car and practice has not been disrupted.
Earlier,
Despite a short break after Nico Rosberg stalled on his first out lap, the 24 cars and drivers entered in Sunday`s Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal are back on track for the third practice before qualifying.
First, Jenson Button and then Kamui Kobayashi led the times, turning laps in the one-minute, 16-second range.
It`s a beautiful day in Montreal with not a cloud in the sky. Temperatures will be above 20 by the time qualifying starts at 1 p.m.
Earlier,
Canadian racing heo Jacques Villeneuve has received a death threat, the newspaper Le Journal de Montreal is reporting today.
The threat, apparently delivered via email, followed the 1997 world driving champion's public condemnation Thursday night of public protests against the government of Premier Jean Charest.
Villeneuve, son of legendary Formula One racer Gilles Villeneuve, attended a black-tie fundraiser on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend and told a television interviewer that the "students have made their point and should go home now and think about their futures."
POLICE (YELLOW VESTS) GUARD PEEL AT ST. CATHERINE ST. FRIDAY NIGHT
The demonstrations against Charest have morphed from a student-led protest against increases in university tuition fees into general hell-raising involving trade unionist, anti-capitalists and nationalist sympathizers.
Villeneuve, who's gone from a brown-haired, pony-tailed Formula Atlantic driver to a short brown hairstyle as an Indy car driver to a dyed-blonde F1 driver to absolutely no hair today (he's shaved his head), went on to say that the protesters represented a generation whose parents never said no to them and that they were still being spoiled by a society not willing to put an absolute end to the disruptions.
(Although there were not the mass arrests Friday night that have have become the norm in this city for several months now, demonstrators continued to try to crash street parties on Peel and Cresecent streets downtown but were rebuffed once again by hundreds of riot police.)
"I have been threatened with death," Villeneuve told the paper. "Not good."
Police are investigating.
Although these protests are receiving national attention now, because of the Grand Prix, it's amazing that so litttle real attention has been paid to them as compared to the G20 in Toronto or the Vancouver hockey riot.
For months - months - riot police - to the tune of millions of dollars in overtime payments - have kettled, tear-gassed and pepper-sprayed demonstrators, almost on a nightly basis, and have escaped - for the most part - the condemnation of politicians and influential commentators.
Thousands of people have been arrested. Thousands.
But the protests have become so much a part of life in this city that as a parade of 15 police cars roared up University Ave. Friday afternoon at 5:30, lights all flashing and sirens all going, hardly anybody seemed to take notice.
In fact, two people standing at a bus stop didn`t even stop looking at their phones as the procession screamed by.
Having said that, the protests have been peaceful so far as property is concerned. The protesters might be confronting the police but they are not breaking windows or trying to create a situation that might lead to looting, as happened in Vancouver.
In fact, the city`s looking pretty good - nice and green, with flowers on the boulevards and the grass cut and trimmed.
The damage has been done, of course. Attendance at the race over the three-day weekend will be off 20 per cent, organizers estimate. For the first time in memory, there are still seats available in grandstands for race day.
The Montreal economy, generally, is suffering as well. There are still hotel rooms available in downtown Montreal, with no minimum stay and at a reasonable cost, on Grand Prix weekend. This is unheard of.
Restaurant reservations are down; shopkeepers are suffering.
It`s estimated there are 5,000 temporary employees at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and yet many of their hours are being cut because there are fewer people buying programs, souvenirs and food.
Everybody`s suffering.
I'm sitting in grandstand 11 this weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and it was pretty full for qualifying today. I have the same seats as last year, however the seats to my left last year were occupied by a family of 4 who had come up from Washington DC to see the race. I guess they're skipping this year as nobody's been in those seats all weekend.
As for the protests, I booked a hotel in Laval several months ago so I haven't seen any of the protesters so far in two days just going to and from the track on the metro. Other than having to pass through Berri-UQAM metro station I've avoided downtown all weekend this year. Last year we went spent the evenings taking in the F1 atmosphere downtown but not this year. Something tells me the protesters may make their presense felt more tomorrow on race day in the metro system.
Posted by: Kyle | 06/09/2012 at 04:29 PM