Hamilton takes Canadian pole on fumes

F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Lewis Hamilton has secured his first pole position of 2010, topping Mark Webber in the final seconds of qualifying. Hamilton though didn't make it to the pit again as his car ran out of fuel on his outlap. Sebastian Vettel is third on the grid, ahead of Alonso.

With every F1 focused on the return to Canada, Timo Glock decides it is a good time to be the first to take the track. Moments later, the track is bubbling with action, and 8 minutes into the session Fernando Alonso is fastest with 1:17.255.

Contrary to other venues where one specific tyre compound is usually used during Q1, now apparently the Red Bulls are using the softer options whiles McLaren and Mercedes choose to compete in Q1 with the primes.

5 minutes later, Hamilton is topping the timesheets with a 1:15.889, the first man of the weekend to go faster than 1:16. Vettel at the time is second fastest, ahead of Alonso and Rosberg. These guys are certain to go through and are sitting in the pits already.

The fight in the back is more interesting though, as Kovalainen for a minute looked like being the first driver in a new team to beat an existing team, but just as the checkered flag fell, Kobayashi improved, albeit he's out of qualifying. Kamui will be 18th in tomorrow's grid, ahead of Kovalainen, Trulli, Glock, Senna, Di Grassi and Chandhok.

Petrov is the first then to set a time in Q2 in again a busy session as all contenders are on the track within the first 5 minutes. Hamilton is is gain quick, but so are Alonso and Kubica, topping the times at the 5 minute mark. Sebastian Vettel however improves as well, just as Lewis Hamilton.

Struggling at that time are Button and Schumacher. Mark Webber is not going great either, even on his attempts on a new set of options, making 2 braking errors in a single lap. His teammate Vettel has changed to primes and is weaving on the straight to attempt to heat the tyres.

One minute ahead of the session's closure, Liuzzi jumps into P9, topping Schumacher and Button. 55 seconds later Button improves to 7th, Sutil 9th. Others are also improving, leaving Michael Schumacher in 13th place after the German ruined his final laps of this session.

One again, Hamilton is fastest, ahead of Vettel and Kubica.

Out are Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Schumacher, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari and De La Rosa.

In Q3 Button sets the first time but is topped by nearly a full second by his teammate. Fernando Alonso is out a bit later, and his first full lap is actually a warmup lap, before starting a flying lap just 5 minutes from the end. Webber and Vettel also appear to use the same strategy. Red Bull is on primes while all others choose the super softs.

On his 4th lap, Alonso finally improves his pace and is close on Hamilton in S1 and S2. He goes one tenth slower than Hamilton at the finish line. Webber then moves into second with Button 4th and Kubica 5th. Sebastian Vettel is still 6th after going straight in the final chicane.

2 minutes ahead othe the end, Alonso goes quickest for just a few seconds until Webber makes his move and moves atop the timesheets. At the finish flag, Vettel has moved up to second after literally flying through the final chicane after being down for nearly all of the lap.

Hamilton meanwhile has taken his time in the pits and waited for the perfect moment to set a quick lap on the softer tyre. The tyres came to him at the right moment, topping everybody else. After scuring pole though, Hamilton switches off his engine due to not having enough fuel on board to make it to the pits. He actually let the car roll, until stepping out and pushing it several meters before marshalls stopped him and gave him a taxi in the medical car.