07/06/2008
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has set pole position on Bridgestone's super soft compound Potenza at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the seventh round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Canadian Grand Prix.
Hamilton produced a blinding lap of 1min 17.886secs, over six tenths faster than the second fasest driver, Robert Kubica who achieved a 1min 18.498secs and will start from the front row tomorrow at the same track where he had his dramatic accident last season. Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso will start from the second row, with Raikkonen in third and Alonso in fourth. Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa will start from the third row, with Rosberg the faster.
Heikki Kovalainen and Nick Heidfeld will start from the fourth row, whilst Rubens Barrichello) and Mark Webber were the final two drivers to qualify in the top ten. In the morning practice session Rosberg went fastest, with a time of 1min 16.555secs set on the soft compound. Rosberg was just over three hundredths faster than Raikkonen, who set a time of 1min 16.589secs. Running in this session was interrupted when Sebastian Vettel made contact with the wall, damaging his car.
Track conditions are improved from yesterday as more rubber has been laid on the track in the dry conditions. The weather was considerably improved from Friday, with blue skies and high temperatures all day. The day's fastest lap, a 1min 16.909sec, was set by Hamilton in Q1 on the soft compound.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: Our super soft compound was working well today, and both compounds showed improved performance from the higher ambient and track temperatures we saw. In particular, the higher temperatures help lessen graining, as does the increased levels of rubber laid down on the track. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for driving a very fast lap to get pole position. The track surface did suffer from an amount of breaking-up and there were asphalt marbles which made things difficult for drivers as this is very slippery. Tomorrow, it will be very interesting to see what strategies teams use as different choices could be made.