With pole in Montreal for so long his personal fiefdom, Lewis Hamilton was left simply unable to identify why he has finally been ousted from the top spot at the Canadian Grand Prix by his title rival Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton is ahead of the German by 14 points in the championship but, after struggling on Saturday, starting from fourth on the grid means he faces a stern test if he is not to see Vettel take a significant chunk out of his lead.

Hamilton has been on pole and won at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the last three years and has six poles and wins at Montreal, often looking imperious at the circuit. However, this time it was Vettel who swept all before him with a pair of consummate laps to which there was no answer.

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Ferrari had brought a new, upgraded engine to Canada that was expected to offer as much as two-tenths a lap advantage. Crucially, Mercedes had delayed bringing their new power unit because of a “quality issue” and their rivals made the most of it.

Hamilton had warned he expected Ferrari to be stronger in Montreal and he was indeed unable to match the German but the British driver appeared disappointed with his performance and did not apportion blame to a relative lack of power.

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“I couldn’t quite hit the potential we had shown,” he said. “I don’t think today’s performance has got anything to do with the older engine. Sebastian simply did a better job when it counted. I think it could be tricky to overtake tomorrow. It’ll be tough to win from fourth here, but nothing is impossible.”

He was two-tenths back on Vettel’s time but what will perhaps concern him most is that his team‑mate Valtteri Bottas in second was just nine-hundredths off the German. Further salt in the wound was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claiming third in a car that has a definitive pace deficit to the Mercedes in qualifying.

Vettel would have been hard to match regardless. He was quickest on his first hot run in Q3 and then went on to nail an almost perfect lap that improved on his time by two-thousandths of a second with a track record of 1min 10.764sec.

He showed an exceptional touch over the kerbs and on entry and exit and was rightly pleased with the performance. He felt it meant more for his team at the circuit named after the Canadian Gilles Villeneuve, a favourite of Enzo Ferrari. Villeneuve won his debut GP here for the Scuderia in 1978 and drove for them until his untimely death at Zolder in 1982.

“Being on pole here with Ferrari means something extra,” he said. “I think the meaning of Gilles for Ferrari is huge and I think motor sport in Canada is linked to that name. Obviously it’s a great result.” His 54th career pole is his first in Canada for Ferrari and the first for the team here since Michael Schumacher was quickest in 2001.

Quick guide Canadian F1 GP starting grid Show Hide 1 S Vettel (Ger) Ferrari 1:10.764; 2 V Bottas (Fin) Mercedes 1:10.857; 3 M Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull 1:10.937; 4 L Hamilton (GB) Mercedes 1:10.996; 5 K Räikkönen (Fin) Ferrari 1:11.095; 6 D Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull 1:11.116; 7 N Hülkenberg (Ger) Renault 1:11.973; 8 E Ocon (Fr) Force India 1:12.084; 9 C Sainz (Sp) Renault 1:12.168; 10 S Pérez (Mex) Force India 1:12.671; 11 K Magnussen (Den) Haas 1:12.606; 12 B Hartley (NZ) Toro Rosso 1:12.635; 13 C Leclerc (Mon) Sauber 1:12.661; 14 F Alonso (Sp) McLaren 1:12.856; 15 S Vandoorne (Bel) McLaren 1:12.865; 16 P Gasly (Fr) Toro Rosso 1:13.047; 17 L Stroll (Can) Williams 1:13.590; 18 S Sirotkin (Rus) Williams 1:13.643; 19 M Ericsson (Swe) Sauber 1:14.593; 20 R Grosjean (Fr) Haas n/t Leading drivers’ standings

1 L Hamilton 110pts; 2 S Vettel 96; 3 D Ricciardo 72; 4 V Bottas 68;

5 K Räikkönen 60; 6 M Verstappen 35

In contrast Hamilton had not looked entirely comfortable all weekend, especially on the hypersoft tyres, locking up at the hairpin on both his hot laps in Q3. His afternoon is likely to be one of damage limitation, not something he would have been expecting in Montreal, and against a resurgent Vettel who deservedly holds all the cards going into Sunday’s race.

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Kimi Räikkönen was in fifth after an error on his final hot lap with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in sixth. Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg was in seventh with his team-mate Carlos Sainz in ninth. Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez were in eighth and tenth place.

Fernando Alonso, at his 300th grand prix meeting, did not have a session to remember with McLaren unable to take either car out of Q2. He was in 14th in front of his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen was in 11th and Brendon Hartley in the Toro Rosso in 12th. Charles Leclerc once again did well to put his Sauber into Q2 in 13th place.

Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso was in 16th with the Two Williams of Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin were once again well off the pace and they finished in 17th and 18th. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson was in 19th. Romain Grosjean’s Haas suffered an engine failure before he could exit the pit lane in Q1 and did not set a time.