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If you wish to object to the use of your data in this way, please tick here. ‘We’ includes The Week and other Dennis Group brands as detailed here<doc-sep>Any flying lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a crucible of speed encircled by the St Lawrence Seaway, demands that a driver must thread the needle, launching the car out of the gnarly corners like a slingshot and veering as close to the notorious ‘Wall of Champions’ as he dares. Sebastian Vettel offered a masterclass in the art on Saturday, tearing around this man-made island with a blistering intensity to record his 54th pole position. Any comfort that Lewis Hamilton felt at his 14-point championship lead vanished in a little under 71 seconds, as his Ferrari rival catapulted himself back to the front. In an auspicious sign of the battles to come, the top six drivers were separated by fewer than four tenths of a second as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all jostled for supremacy. Hamilton, who had been seeking to emulate Michael Schumacher’s record of seven poles in Montreal, could only manage fourth. He made his chagrin clear, too, snapping at Pete Bonnington when the race engineer had the temerity to suggest where he might find some precious extra time. “I know where it is,” he shot back, tersely. Hamilton locked up on both his runs in the final third of qualifying, flat-spotting his front tyres, which left him an awkward task to chase down Vettel in today’s race. “It was a difficult session,” he said. “They weren’t great laps.”<doc-sep>Max Verstappen entered the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with a vendetta after a tough round at Monaco in May. At last month's race around the principality, the 20-year-old Dutchman was forced to start from the back of the field after an incident in FP3 which eventually resulted in him narrowly squeezing into the points. Now, with a primed car and competition-ready attitude, Verstappen has swept every round of practice leading up to Saturday afternoon's qualifying session at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. With an upgraded Renault power unit, Max and his RB14 racer have consistently outpaced Ferrari and Mercedes with both Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton contesting him for the top spot. In the third practice run, Verstappen managed a best time of 1:11.599, which was 0.049 seconds ahead of Vettel. One-tenth of a second separated the top four drivers including Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and current points-leader Hamilton. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo fell to fifth during the a.m. session with a fastest lap of 1:12.153 while Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas filled in the P6 slot. Sergio Perez of Sahara Force India was best of the rest in P7 and held a 0.043-second lead over Renault's Nico Hulkenberg. Haas F1's Romain Grosjean and McLaren sophomore Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10.<doc-sep>Canadian GP, Practice Three: Max Verstappen fastest as tenth of a second covers top four Max Verstappen continued to set the pace at the Canadian GP, but only a tenth of a second covered the top four in final practice. The Dutchman followed up his Friday double to post a 1:11.599 on hypersoft tyres to just edge out Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari by 0.049s. Kimi Raikkonen was a further two thousandths of a second back in the sister Ferrari, while Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was just 0.107s off Verstappen's benchmark. "Max has topped every session. The building blocks are there but I think Ferrari and Mercedes have just got that little bit left in hand," said Sky F1's Paul di Resta. "He'll be close, he'll be pushing them and he will be making them think about it." Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told Sky F1: "It's going to be an interesting qualifying. There is some work to do, we didn't make the jump on the hypersofts that we were expecting. "The pace is there but equally Verstappen and Ferrari have the pace as well. We don't take anything for granted." Daniel Ricciardo was half a second off Verstappen's leading time but ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, with neither driver appearing as comfortable as their team-mates on Pirelli's quickest compound. Sergio Perez claimed the best of the rest tag for Force India, narrowly ahead of Nico Hulkenberg as Renault enjoyed a better session after their disrupted Friday running. Stoffel Vandoorne recovered from an early lock-up and trip to the run-off zone to post the 10th-fastest time, just behind Romain Grosjean's Haas. Fernando Alonso could only manage 13th in the sister McLaren and was two tenths off his team-mate's time. But William's miserable weekend continued as home favourite Lance Stroll was slowest and Sergey Sirotkin 18th, four tenths off Kevin Magnussen in 17th. Canadian GP Practice Three Timesheet Driver Team Time Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.599 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +0.049 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +0.051 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.107 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +0.554 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes +0.656 Sergio Perez Force India +1.304 Nico Hulkenberg Renault +1.347 Romain Grosjean Haas +1.415 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren +1.435 Esteban Ocon Force India +1.465 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso +1.477 Fernando Alonso McLaren +1.626 Carlos Sainz Renault +1.732 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso +1.735 Charles Leclerc Sauber +1.853 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.889 Sergey Sirotkin Williams +2.219 Marcus Ericsson Sauber +2.326 Lance Stroll Williams +2.369 *All times set on hypersoft tyres Get Sky Sports F1<doc-sep>
Charles Coates/Getty Images Sebastian Vettel secured his fourth pole position of the season on Saturday as he went fastest in qualifying ahead of the 2018 Canadian Formula One Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver set a track record with a time of one minute, 10.764 seconds, ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Here's a look at the classification: Recap Verstappen entered qualifying with an excellent chance of clinching pole, having gone fastest in all three practice sessions to continue Red Bull's impressive run: He would have to settle for third, however, after a frenetic Q3 saw Bottas set a track record only for Vettel to break it moments later, before improving on it again ahead of the chequered flag. Vettel was delighted with the pole: Video Play Button Videos you might like Lewis Hamilton has topped the grid on six occasions in Montreal, but he'll start from fourth place on Sunday. There's much more scope for overtaking in Canada than there is at most Grands Prix, so Hamilton could still get on the podium or better if he does well on Sunday, but he'll need to find the kind of pace his rivals displayed so readily here. Meanwhile, qualifying didn't start as planned for Romain Grosjean. In fact, it was over before it had even begun: Sauber's Marcus Ericsson fared little better after a run-in with a wall: The pair were eliminated in Q1, along with Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and Williams duo Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin. Fernando Alonso would have hoped to make Q3 in his 300th Grand Prix weekend, but he had to settle for P14 after finishing Q2 more than a second off the pace. His McLaren team-mate, Stoffel Vandoorne, will start a place behind him, and Kevin Magnussen, Brendon Hartley and Charles Leclerc also missed out on a top-10 berth on the grid. There was joy for both Force India drivers, though, as they both made it to Q3 for the second race running, so Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez will start either side of ninth-placed Carlos Sainz.