Lewis Hamilton described his Canadian Grand Prix pole effort as a “sexy lap” as he beat Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel during qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Hamilton edged Vettel by just 0.004s during the early stages of Q3 before moving clear on his final run, recording a time of 1:11.459, to finish 0.330s faster than Vettel.
The lap secured Hamilton pole position in Montréal for the sixth time in his career, and praised Mercedes’ efforts, following his struggles at the preceding Monaco round.
“Montreal has been good for me over the years,” said Hamilton.
“It was a close battle with Ferraris, they were so quick, have been quick all year, I was gunning, was pushing, got great support and wanted to give them a great lap, luckily I got it
“It was a sexy lap! It was a great lap, I can’t believe it came together so well.
“The first sector was fantastic, managed to be just a little bit up.
“The team did a fantastic job to learn from our mistakes in the last race and really build up to this race, so I owe it all to them.”
Hamilton’s lap also drew him level with Ayrton Senna on 65 pole positions in Formula 1, and the Briton was presented with one of the Brazilian’s race-worn helmets, a gift from the Senna family.
“I’m shaking… I’m speechless,” he said.
“He was the one that inspired me to be where I am today, so to match him and receive this [helmet] is the greatest honour, so a big, big thank you to the Senna family.”
