Canadian Grand Prix 2016 qualifying results: Lewis Hamilton claims pole ahead of Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel

Another front row lockout has been secured by Mercedes thanks to a strong qualifying session from both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix. But it was Hamilton who set the fastest lap, beating his teammate by six one hundredths of a second. Rosberg abandoned his final lap and had to accept second place.

Early in the third qualifying session, Hamilton set the pace by being the first driver all weekend to go under 1:13 on his lap. Vettel came up short after brushing the Wall of Champions early on in the third qualifying session, but it seemed like his Ferrari was ultimately in good condition.

Vettel did creep closer to Mercedes near the end of the session, but before Hamilton and Rosberg set their final lap times, Vettel still came in at third place. The Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen both trailed Vettel, with Ricciardo edging out his young teammate.

Rain started to cause trouble near the end of the first qualifying session. Most of the leaders had already set strong laps, but the back of the pack was in disarray. With a did not start from Kevin Magnussen, the other five drivers to be eliminated in the first session were Rio Haryanto, Felipe Nasr, Marcus Ericsson, Pascal Wehrlein and Jolyon Palmer.

So once again it’s both Renaults, both Saubers and both Manor drivers.

Once the second qualifying got underway, it very quickly was delayed as Carlos Sainz wound up going off and into the wall, drawing red flags so the Torro Rosso car could be extricated from the track. Eventually, the session resumed with just under 12 minutes to go and only five drivers setting lap times.

Notably, Fernando Alonso took his McLaren into the third qualifying session, out-qualifying teammate Jenson Button, largely on the back of a lockup for Button in his final lap. Sergio Perez, who found himself on the podium in Monaco, was the most shocking Q2 elimination, but his teammate managed to make it through to the final.

The third free practice session was abandoned after Kevin Magnussen went into the wall at turn seven with a quarter of an hour still on the clock. Magnussen accelerated through the corner, but the rear of the car was whipped sideways and he went hard into the barrier. He got himself out of the car and was eventually treated by the medical team.

A piece of Magnussen’s car looked to be lodged into the wall from the impact.

Intermittent rain had already caused some delay in the session, with most drivers returning back to the garage as light showers were reported. One driver, Carlos Sainz, reported that the track seemed to be sufficiently dry before Magnussen’s crash called a halt to the session.

Officially, Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time in the final practice, and the quickest time of the weekend to that point with a 1:13:9.19 while sporting the ultra soft tires. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wound up second in the session.

Below are full results for the qualifying session: