Vettel storms to pole position in Canada
- Published on 09 Jun 2018 21:10
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- By: Paul Athes
Sebastian Vettel set the fastest lap of the qualifying session and will start from pole position in the Canadian Grand Prix. The German driver set an outstanding hot lap in Q3 and took anyone by surprise. Valtteri Bottas is set to take place in the first row alongside Vettel. The Finn had no response for the Ferrari driver and had to settle for the second place.
Although he finished every free practice on top, Max Verstappen had to settle for the third place in the qualifying session. The young Dutchman will be joined on the second row of the starting grid by Lewis Hamilton, as the reigning world championship had the fourth fastest lap in Q3.
Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo completed the usual top six. A quite notable fact was the small gap between poleman Vettel and sixth placed Ricciardo, which was less than a half a second.
Nico Hulkenberg overcame the tech difficulties he had to endure yesterday and finished seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez, the other three drivers who were present in Q3.
Kevin Magnussen was once again the top man for Haas. The Danish driver narrowly missed out a huge chance to enter in the last qualifying part as he ended Q2 with the eleventh fastest time. Alongside him, Brendon Hartley, Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were the other four drivers eliminated in Q2.
Pierre Gasly missed a big opportunity to get past the first part of the qualifying session. The Frenchman will have to start from the 16th place as he was eliminated in Q1. The other four drivers who were out after Q1 were Lance Stroll, Sergey Sirotkin, Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean. Unfortunately for him, Grosjean didn't manage to do a flying lap as his car had an engine issue in the first minutes of the qualifying session.
The Canadian Grand Prix race will commence tomorrow at 7PM GMT time.
Paul Athes
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Replies (16)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thats some amazing pace. I legit thought we'd see Mercedes on top here, yet Ferrari outqualified them, and I expect Red Bull to be very strong tomorrow. Another exciting race ahead of us, it seems.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Very nice job by Vettel.
It was a nice blast from the past seeing Grosjean's engine go up in smoke. Makes me miss Stewart-Ford a little bit.
I have to say I find great joy in McLaren's incompetence. Great stuff.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, awesome performance. Im a bit surprised to see Ferrari and Red Bull matching Mercedes here in terms of race pace. This will be fun.
They werent really all that bad though. They've been pretty consistently right behind Works Renault, which is okay seeing as its their first year and they have a customer engine and they arent Red Bull. And considering how high aero their setup is, its still impressive to see them this high up. But I'll admit I smirked a bit, because I find some weird amusement in seeing a team that promised us heavens this season bite a sour apple.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
I wouldn't care had they not been so overbearing and cocky for 3 years. Best chassis, GP2 engine and all around just bashing Honda every chance they got.
No matter how you look at it, they should at be ahead of - or at very least on par with - Renault at this stage.
I have a feeling that the worst is yet to come for McLaren in the coming years, because logic would dictate that if the have any truly talented people left, they will start looking for greener pastures. And then it'll be extremely hard (not to mention expensive) to bounce back.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont necessarily agree that they should be ahead of works Renault already. One shouldnt underestimate the power of a works team. But then again, this is McLaren we are talking about, so they shouldnt have the kinda problems they are having. But sadly they had it coming. I said it already before this season began, if they overpromised they would be bound to lose no matter how well they do, and it really seems like that is true. As you say, it wouldnt surprise me if the true decline of McLaren isnt far away.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
As for the GP2 engine thing: I really loved Suzuka 2016, when they finally had to admit that there were in fact some major issues with the chassis aswell.
On another note: Im not sure McLaren will be able to be a works team again in a near future. Even if they were to get the shot at it, whom would like to partner with a team that were so ready to throw their engine supplier under the buss when shit hit the fan?
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Well let's not forget that Renault essentially started from zero a few years ago, and they've had a slow and steady climb up the ranks. McLaren, on the other hand, have been going on and on about how they've had the best chassis, and all they needed was a somewhat decent engine, and then everything would be rainbows and unicorns.
I said numerous times last season that I didn't believe they had the best chassis but rather they had a chassis that was heavy on downforce and drag. So I didn't believe anything really would change, besides the fact that they wouldn't be able to hide behind Honda anymore.
In that respect it's a shame we never got to see Sauber Honda vs McLaren Honda, although I'm sure much of Sauber's improvement can be traced to "Alfa Romeo" and a current PU. But it would've been fun anyway, ask things considered.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Good point, and they've really managed to make some decent steps. Hell, at times they almost seem to be close to Red Bull. I were inclined to believe McLaren had one of the best chassis last year. Not the best, but among them, but as you say, after a while it got pretty apparent it was a one-trick pony. Far from anything the top 4 produces. I just dont see McLaren as capable of mounting a legit challenge for podiums, when there are others that are just so much better prepared. Hell, alot of their current form is down to luck. Haas has looked far more impressive, and McLaren has managed to parasite from their failures. I think McLaren will pretty much stay around P6 from now on, the new Williams of F1.
Alot of Sauber's current bout can be attributed to more support from Ferrari, for sure, and that up to date PU surely help, but I also think its down to Williams' decline, meaning there are more opportunities for them to challenge for points.
RacetoWin
Posts: 95
We will see who sacrificed brake cooling for less drag tomorrow, it may be fast in qualifying but it'll hurt your lap times during the race or even end your race with a brake failure.
RacetoWin
Posts: 95
It's all about brake cooling and tire management tomorrow.
xoya
Posts: 583
McLaren did a "great" job. They are the slowest Renault user, and by some margin. I suppose Renault is to blame for their failures.
Looks like they just put their feet up during the Honda era and let Honda do all the work and take all the blame.
Honda would be way ahead by now had they chose another partner, it seems.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I honestly dont know. On one hand, I agree with Boudy: they came at a time when F1 did their best to really limit how much development the teams could do with that pathetic and very token token system. On the other: a team with less pressure, and more freedom to develop on their own accord would probably have been better to start with. Cooperation between chassis development and engine development is vital, but too much influence from one department over the other can be really bad, and thats probably, in part, what happened here.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
@xoy About the Honda remark: I don't believe so. The really never had the chance to improve since they had restricted running and had a lot of mechanical issues. However they didn't control their driver who blamed all on the power unit who gave the impression that their chassis was one of the best. Switching to Renault proves that their chassis isn't on that level. Hopefully they can change driver before he destroys McLaren.
Kean
Posts: 692
I thought there were several drivers that impressed during quali, the top three – Vet, Bot & Ver – were impressive. Leclerc was really impressive, the way he’s going he’ll be in a Ferrari next year. A tip of the hat to Hulk for being best of the rest, Ocon and K-Mag did well and good for Hartley after all the axing rumours. Like I said, plenty of impressive runs given their respective material. But the McLaren cars (!!) talk about having built a draggy car, however Vandoorne was only beaten by Alonso 0,009 sec, so I guess good for Vandoorne (?) (looking for a silver lining). Sadly the Williams cars, and drivers, and Ericsson continue to disappoint.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, this track really isnt down McLaren's alley. And that has been their problem from the beginning: they've built far too draggy specialized cars. And thats why they will never be able to beat Red Bull, since their cars are so flexible that they can make them work basically anywhere.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
Agree. Leclerc looked very good also. Love that Hartley is generating a bit of momentum I like his story. McLaren could do with lowering their driver bill. However having a relatively inexperienced driver line-up could backfire on you looking at Williams. If drivers are quick than it's ok they might put Norris next to vandoorne. I could see Alonso go to Renault next year.