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World
Championship leader Sebastian Vettel has comfortably beaten last year’s pole
time at the Montreal circuit in Canada, thanks to a time of 1m13.014s on the
PZero Red supersoft tyres in Q3. The Red Bull Racing driver claimed his
sixth pole position of the year.
Vettel saved his biggest effort for the final session, eclipsing last year’s
pole position time of 1m15.105s by more than two seconds. Vettel’s time was
only eight-tenths of a second off the all-time circuit qualifying record,
which dates back to 2004 (Ralf Schumacher, 1m12.275s).
It was also a very successful qualifying for Ferrari today, with Fernando
Alonso and Felipe Massa lining up in second and third respectively, closely
behind Vettel. Alonso will start from the front row for the first time in
2011.
Qualifying in Canada was dominated by the weather, as plunging temperatures
and overcast skies suggested that rain could fall at any moment. In order to
counteract this risk, teams concentrated on setting their fastest times as
soon as they could. This meant that the emphasis was on the PZero Red
supersoft tyre, which as expected proved to be around a second per lap
faster than the PZero Yellow soft tyre. In the end
the session remained dry, although the ambient temperature dipped to 21
degrees; making it harder for the drivers to get the tyres up to
temperature.
Pirelli’s former test driver Pedro de la Rosa, who was called up to drive at
10 minute’s notice yesterday after Sauber driver Sergio Perez felt unwell,
had a very solid run. The Spaniard will line up 17th on the grid for
tomorrow’s race: his first since the 2010 Italian Grand Prix.
Earlier this morning the final free practice session was initially dominated
by Mercedes and Ferrari before Vettel put in a time of 1m13.381s at the end
of the session, which was held in warm conditions. Tomorrow’s race, which
takes in 70 laps, has a 60% chance of rain: a high percentage that has
influenced a number of car set-ups today.
Pirelli’s
Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said: “There were a number of tactical
choices for the teams to make today and the weather certainly kept everyone
guessing. This obliged the teams to run the supersoft tyres maybe earlier
than they would have done normally, and this is sure to affect race strategy
as well tomorrow. Ferrari have shown themselves to be consistently quick all
weekend so far, and we’ve seen in the past just how strong their race pace
is. With a high chance of rain as well, we are all set for a very exciting
and unpredictable race tomorrow.” |
