Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal from pole position. In the closing seconds of Saturday's qualifying, Lewis set a time of 1m17.886 and was more than six tenths of a second faster than Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) in second place. It is Lewis's eighth Formula 1 pole position in his 24th Grand Prix and his second of the year; he achieved his first F1 pole exactly one year ago also here in Canada. Lewis's team mate Heikki Kovalainen set a time of 1m19.089 and will start from seventh place on the grid. For the McLaren Mercedes partnership it is the 56th pole position since 1997.
Qualifying Session One: 6 laps, 1:16.909 (1st)
Qualifying Session Two: 4 laps, 1:17.034 (1st)
Qualifying Session Three: 9 laps, 1:17.886 (1st)
LEWIS HAMILTON
To achieve pole position here in Canada at the same place where I took my first Formula 1 pole just one year ago is really awesome. Our car feels good and we’re really on top of our game - even though the track started breaking up in places. On my penultimate lap in the third part of qualifying I lost a bit of time when I ran wide and I knew that Robert and Kimi were chasing me so I was aware I had to give it my all. On my final lap, I found more than six tenths which was enough for pole position. Thank you to everybody in the team, I hope I will be able to reward them tomorrow with a similar result."
