Hamilton secures pole in Montreal

Eurosport - Sun, 08 Jun 21:35:00 2008

Lewis Hamilton completed a stunning final lap to steal pole position from Robert Kubica at the Canadian Grand Prix.

FORMULA 1 2008 Canadian GP McLaren Hamilton - 0

The Briton led for the majority of qualifying on the Montreal track, only for BMW driver Kubica to go fastest with seconds remaining.

Hamilton still had one lap left, however, and took his chance in swashbuckling style.

The championship leader, who won his first race in Canada 12 months ago, took a brave line and cut more than half a second off Kubica's time to seal pole.

Kubica will be second on the grid, with Kimi Raikkonen in third and Fernando Alonso in fourth.

Raikkonen was the first of the big guns to hit the track in Q1, but both Kazuki Nakajima and Toyota's Timo Glock soon displaced the reigning world champion. Felipe Massa re-established the status quo by going faster still.

Hamilton soon asserted his authority, though, and would be joined right at the sharp end by team-mate Heikki Kovalainen before the session was out.

With concerns over the track's surface breaking up, both McLarens and both Renaults were out early in Q2, but it was Rosberg who set the first representative marker, lapping quicker on the hard tyre than Kovalainen did on the softer rubber. Hamilton soon moved fastest once more, however.

Alonso was also going quickly, and his Renault team-mate Webber was just one place back. Raikkonen then went second, but even he seemingly couldn't hold a candle to the unassailable Hamilton's time.

The McLarens were again swift to take to the increasingly disintegrating circuit at the start of Q3, though Kovalainen went too deep into turn one and got it all out of shape, and dropped over a second adrift of his championship-leading team-mate.

Alonso popped up into a superb second place with five minutes remaining, demoting the Ferraris down to third and fourth, with Massa ahead of Raikkonen, whilst Hamilton just kept going quicker and quicker, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that the track was falling apart beneath him.

Raikkonen and Kubica were both looking strong on their final efforts, and whilst the former's time was ultimately almost a second adrift, as if out of nowhere Kubica grabbed the lead.

The final surprise was yet to play out, however, as Hamilton gave all of his rivals something to think about with a mesmerising last lap to wrap up pole.

Eurosport

Comment 10 - 29 of 29

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  1. I LIKE KIMI BUT I NOTICE THAT HAMILTON IS A LEGEND IN THE MAKING....

    From jimi a, on Sun 8 Jun 4:44PM

  2. simpley the best dude and paul chantler i see your mesage andy chantler spain

    From tina, on Sun 8 Jun 11:55AM

  3. hamilton got an easy pole .british roads are all pot holes too. it would be just a normal daily drive for him .go hamilton.as for the bimbo i bet its a guy trying too start a web site..

    From tamscott, on Sun 8 Jun 11:44AM

  4. Yo baby

    From paul_chantler2003, on Sun 8 Jun 7:15AM

  5. Yawn.

    Why not moderate this pap so that these BS 'linder' postings of incredibly limited value, humour and adolescent 'bike shed' cwap are banished where they should be - straight out of the circuit?

    Go Hamilton !!! Best driver in any car, any circuit, anytime...... quite simply setting the standard that others only dream of aspiring to......... LOVE IT!!

    Huggz y'All from Brewsta from China - an expat who exemplifies and excels English values of Free Speech and ID Cards - d'oh?

    From pwebsterhughes, on Sun 8 Jun 5:15AM

  6. I dislike Lewis Hamilton very much. I predict he will hit the wall damaging his mp4-23 allowing Kimi to take the lead in the Championship. Go Kimi Go!

    From Heywood R. Floyd, on Sun 8 Jun 5:10AM

  7. hamilton IS a legend in the making and it is NOT the car

    From charlyandste, on Sun 8 Jun 4:19AM

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    From Rosa S, on Sun 8 Jun 1:18AM

  11. i said dat kubica deserved tha pole postion cos if he had a better car he would b the best, and he deserves to one at least one of the races this season :) just let him drive ferrari or mclaren and he will beat every1, do u tink if hamilton was drivin bmw he would b 2nd ? i dont tink so :) this is wat i think you can disagree :)

    From kkondera, on Sun 8 Jun 12:09AM

  12. we always think that the foreigners are better than us, its a british thing, Lewis Hamilton Best of the best in F1 6+5 in football only way back for the foreigners to actually win something because they hate when the BRITS win everything

    From nicholas s, on Sat 7 Jun 11:53PM

  13. How can kkondera say Kubica deserves pole - He was slower than Hamilton. Isn't the fastest man in qualifying the one who deserves pole or have F1 got it wrong?

    From NS, on Sat 7 Jun 11:53PM

  14. kubica must be running light on fuel and i also think lewis will be pitting before massa and kimi but lewis has the advantage of kubica and kimi's squabbling to give him chance to get a good

    Hamilton 1st
    Kimi 2nd
    kubica 3rd
    massa 4th
    alonso 5th
    webber 6th
    truli 7th
    barachello 8th

    From cetdriver03, on Sat 7 Jun 11:11PM

  15. Alonso was also going quickly, and his Renault team-mate ?Webber? ?was just one place back?

    From nick_aquatic, on Sat 7 Jun 9:36PM

  16. Come On Lewis - Come on my Son - You're the best driver to hit F1 in the last 10 years! Hamilton to win by over 10 seconds.......

    From MR E, on Sat 7 Jun 9:32PM

  17. Hamilton for the win...people may say he is over rated or to big for his shoes but after this stunning lap time and his recent form he is still one of the best drivers out there and as long he beats that muppet Alonso the cry baby i am always happy

    From Chris Rogers, on Sat 7 Jun 9:29PM

  18. Ferrari are much beter than McLaren. McLaren just got two circuits in a row they are good at. Ferrari'll show them in the European races over the summer. Raikkonen for the title

    From arshad_iceman2, on Sat 7 Jun 8:57PM

  19. Hamilton's in the groove and no one can match him. Kubica could have taken the pole if he took more kerb. I believe Raikkonen is out of the runnings, but he was slow because he is running pretty heavy. I am very disappointed with kovaleinen's qualifying performance if he wants to keep his race seat he will have to do better than that. Hamilton to win, raikkonen second, kubica third. I reckon Kubica is too light and Kimi's experience will get him closer to the BMW and pressure Kubica. This will be good news for Hamilton as he will be gone into the distance and if McLaren time their pit stops to perfection (as always) he won't get caught by the safety car. I have to say the MP4-23 looks the best car on the grid this year and it's not all looks. Theoretically the car shouldn't be very good on this circuit as it is more suited to sweeping tracks so this is a big message to ferrari. I do believe it is even better than its predecessor. Sorry foor the long comment but I like to express myself. Good luck Hamilton!

    From leo.gauvain, on Sat 7 Jun 8:53PM

  20. Raikkonen 2 win ahead of Kubica and Hamilton. Hamilton is over-rated. Heikki probably on the way out but Rosberg to replace him, not Kubica

    From arshad_iceman2, on Sat 7 Jun 8:53PM
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