Canada – Qualification: Vettel knocks out the competition!

Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, and Pastor Maldonado can hope to achieve pole position again, while some drivers like Kimi Räikkönen, who was fined 2500€ for crossing the white line to enter the pits at the end of FP3, might manage to stand out during this qualifying session.

Q1: Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) and Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) are the first on track as there is a great and beautiful sunshine in Montreal. Paul Di Resta (Force India) is the first to take the lead of this session, ahead of Räikkönen. The McLaren drivers and then Sergio Pérez (Sauber) take turns placing P1. Alonso sets a time of 1:15.121 and takes the lead in turn. Everyone is currently on soft tires, as the difference between the two compounds is not so significant on the Canadian track. Hülkenberg takes the best time, with an improvement of 15 thousandths.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Pedro de la Rosa (HRT) are the only drivers not to have set a time, with ten minutes remaining in this session. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) reclaims his position with a 1:14.916, but Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) does better by two hundredths. Vettel ranks fourth in his first serious lap, likely already secure with less than seven minutes remaining, but he continues his momentum by achieving 1:14.743. He takes the lead in this part of the qualification.

Räikkönen is the first leading driver on super soft tires (red), closely followed by Pérez and Pastor Maldonado (Williams). Bruno Senna, his teammate, has a scare with a close call at the wall of champions while Vettel pushes his time further with 1:14.661. Jenson Button (McLaren) falls short by a tenth of the reigning double world champion, Hamilton by two-tenths.

Maldonado improves to get out of the tricky zone, setting the 13th fastest time. The 18th place will likely be contested between Daniel Ricciardo, who has upgrades in the exhaust system, and Jean-Eric Vergne, who does not benefit from them. The Frenchman fails in Q3, once again, outpaced by the two Caterhams.

Eliminated in Q1: Kovalainen, Petrov, Vergne, De la Rosa, Glock, Pic, and Karthikeyan

Q2: Ricciardo opens the session on super soft tires: 1:15.9 for the Australian, quickly overtaken by Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), but especially by Nico Rosberg, with 1:14.568. Hamilton improves by 58 thousandths, while Button locks his wheels at the hairpin. Vettel takes the lead by three-tenths and gets closer to the 1:14 mark.

Less than ten minutes into this Q2 and Webber has taken second position behind his teammate. Massa, on the attack, sets the eighth provisional time on soft tires. Hamilton, on the other hand, falls short by nearly two-tenths of the Red Bull’s time. Maldonado is struggling in twelfth position. Alonso, for his part, is 17th with less than six minutes remaining, but he starts a timed lap and takes the second provisional place.

The Saubers and Williams are out of the top 10, as is Räikkönen. The last qualified driver is Grosjean with only three minutes remaining. The leading drivers are already in the pits, calmly waiting for the outcome of this second part of qualifying. Kobayashi and Di Resta improve their times and make the cut. Räikkönen has to put in the effort to achieve it and just snags tenth place, but Massa improves and eliminates the Finn. Grosjean improves and takes P7! Maldonado takes all the risks and hits the wall. Welcome to Quebec with the right rear wheel breaking. He manages to recover but has to let Q3 slip away, just like Räikkönen and Pérez.

Eliminated in Q2: Kobayashi, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Ricciardo, Pérez, Senna, and Maldonado

Q3: Lewis Hamilton, on super soft tires, and Jenson Button, on softs, are the first on the track. The 2008 world champion is attacking and has a slight slip at the exit of the fast section where Vettel got caught out last year. He slows down to restart. Rosberg is the first driver to set an interesting time, quickly overtaken by Massa with a 1:14.465. Hamilton takes the lead with a 1:14.439 but Vettel crushes that time with a 1:13.905. Alonso falls short by two tenths.

By mid-Q3, Vettel leads Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Webber, Grosjean, Rosberg, Schumacher, and Button. Di Resta has not yet set a timed lap. Vettel makes a comeback, as do Hamilton and Alonso. The German improves with a 1:13.784, with Hamilton three-tenths behind. The qualifying session concludes, with Sebastian Vettel claiming pole position, his 32nd career pole and the 41st for Red Bull!

Results of the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix Qualifying: