Vettel grabs pole for Canadian Grand Prix

World champion Sebastian Vettel grabbed pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit on Saturday.

Vettel’s Red Bull car showed no diminution of speed following the FIA’s order to change the rear floor of the RB8 after rival teams questioned the legality of a hole in the car’s floor located in front of the rear tire.

The German drivers clocked one minute 13.784son his final run – 0.303 seconds quicker than Hamilton – with his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber in fourth, ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

And two-time world champion Vettel, was quick to make reference to the changes the Red Bull car has undergone.

“I enjoyed qualifying today,” the world champion quipped, “even without the hole in the floor!”

In the previous six races this season pole position has been decided by just hundredths of a second, but Vettel’s performance was almost a quarter of a second better than Hamilton.

“I think we have learned a couple of lessons, especially in the last two races where arguably we were quick on Sunday in the race but we didn’t get the best out of the car on Saturday in qualifying,” said the German driver.

Hamilton, who has won the Canadian Grand Prix twice, added: “I’m very, very happy with the performance. I’m very surprised to see us on the front row but nonetheless we’ll definitely take it and work as hard as we can.”

Meanwhile Alonso came away from qualifying pleased to notice a continuing improvement in the Ferrari car’s performance.

“The car felt quite good on Friday when we tested some new parts and we feel much more happy with the balance of the car and the grip of the car, Felipe and me, straight away.

“It’s a first step. Obviously, the world will never stop, for us or for the competitors, but at the moment we are extremely happy and thankful to the guys in the factory.”