Sebastian Vettel produced a brilliant final lap in Q3 to snatch pole from Lewis Hamilton for the Canadian Grand Prix.
It appeared the world champion would be securing P1 for the second straight race after a strong first run. But the top speed of the Ferrari proved enough as the German posted a 1m10.240s to beat the Mercedes by 0.2s.
Charles Leclerc had a scruffy final part of qualifying but his time was still good enough for third on the grid.
Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed his best qualifying with Renault in fourth, as Pierre Gasly was left to carry the flag for Red Bull in fifth.
Valtteri Bottas spun on his first Q3 attempt exiting Turn 2, and a poor second lap would only leave the Finn sixth for Mercedes.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh ahead of the two McLarens as Lando Norris led Carlos Sainz.
Drama in the closing moments of Q2 saw Kevin Magnussen crash exiting the final chicane ironically confirming a 10th place start pending a possible grid penalty for a new gearbox.
What that would do, however, is see Max Verstappen miss out on Q3 in 11th after his attempts to get through on the Medium tyre were hampered by traffic.
Daniil Kvyat would be 12th with Alex Albon 14th in the two Toro Rossos, sandwiching Antonio Giovinazzi in 13th for Alfa Romeo.
Romain Grosjean was directly behind his teammate when he would crash, leaving him down in 15th on the grid.
The big surprise in Q1 was both Racing Points failing to make it into Q2, particularly Sergio Perez who had been threatening the top 10 in practice.
Teammate Lance Stroll failed to progress for the 11th straight race, having been set back by an engine issue keeping him in the garage in the morning.
Kimi Raikkonen was the other big name not to make the cut in 17th as his difficult weekend continued.
Both Williams’ would bring up the field as George Russell again held a significant seven-tenths advantage over Robert Kubica.
Full results:
- Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 1:10.240
- Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 1:10.446 0.206
- Charles Leclerc – Ferrari 1:10.920 0.680
- Daniel Ricciardo – Renault 1:11.071 0.831
- Pierre Gasly – Red Bull 1:11.079 0.839
- Valtteri Bottas – Mercedes 1:11.101 0.861
- Nico Hulkenberg – Renault 1:11.324 1.084
- Lando Norris – McLaren 1:11.863 1.623
- Carlos Sainz Jr. – McLaren 1:13.981 3.741
- Kevin Magnussen – Haas
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:11.800 1.560
- Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso 1:11.921 1.681
- Antonio Giovinazzi – Alfa Romeo 1:12.136 1.896
- Alex Albon – Toro Rosso 1:12.193 1.953
- Romain Grosjean – Haas
- Sergio Perez – Racing Point 1:12.197 1.957
- Kimi Raikkonen – Alfa Romeo 1:12.230 1.990
- Lance Stroll Racing – Point 1:12.266 2.026
- George Russell – Williams 1:13.617 3.377
- Robert Kubica – Williams
