Sebastian Vettel secured yet another pole position this season after finishing on top in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday. It was the sixth pole in seven races for the Red Bull driver and also the 21st of his career.
Vettel's time of 1m13.014s put him in first place ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa, the Italian squad enjoying its strongest outing of the year so far. Mark Webber had to settle for a place on the second row of the grid after securing fourth.
Despite being tipped as one of the favourites to fight for pole and victory, the McLaren team endured a rather low-key day, as last year's winner Lewis Hamilton could only secure fifth position. Teammate Jenson Button was seventh, behind Mercedes's Nico Rosberg. Michael Schumacher was eighth.
Both Renaults made it into the top-10 shootout this time, with Nick Heidfeld qualifying in ninth position and Vitaly Petrov down in 10th.
Paul di Resta qualified in 11th position for Force India, the Scot enjoying another strong qualifying after finishing ahead of team-mate Adrian Sutil, 14th today.
Another rookie, Pastor Maldonado, also outqualified his more experienced team-mate Rubens Barrichello, the Venezuelan four places ahead of the Brazilian in 12th position. Kamui Kobayashi will start from 13th place, in front of Sutil and Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi.
Pedro de la Rosa, replacing the unwell Sergio Perez at Sauber, put on a decent performance despite his lack of running, making it to Q2 and finishing around three tenths of team-mate Kobayashi in 17th place.
The first qualifying segment began under very cloudy skies, but the rain held off for the whole hour despite that.
Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari endured a disappointing day after he was knocked out in Q1, being relegated to 18th position by a last-gasp effort from Kobayashi. The Spanish driver struggled for grip and with his brakes, although he admitted there was not a lot of time to be found.
Jarno Trulli outqualified Lotus team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, as both men were again out in the first qualifying segment. They were joined Tonio Liuzzi in the Hispania, who managed to outpace both Virgins, with Timo Glock in 22nd and Jerome D'Ambrosio last behind Narain Karthikeyan.
Belgian D'Ambrosio failed to qualify for the race after finishing nearly half a second off the 107 percent time.
He could still be allowed to race by the stewards, although the Virgin driver only ran within the 107 percent of the fastest time in the opening practice session on Friday.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m13.014s
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m13.199s + 0.185
3. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m13.217s + 0.203
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m13.429s + 0.415
5. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m13.565s + 0.551
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m13.814s + 0.800
7. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m13.838s + 0.824
8. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m13.864s + 0.850
9. Nick Heidfeld Renault 1m14.062s + 1.048
10. Vitaly Petrov Renault 1m14.085s + 1.071
Q3 cut-off time: 1m14.467s Gap **
11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m14.752s + 1.321
12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m15.043s + 1.612
13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.285s + 1.854
14. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m15.287s + 1.856
15. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.334s + 1.903
16. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m15.361s + 1.930
17. Pedro de la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 1m15.587s + 2.156
Q3 cut-off time: 1m16.229s Gap *
18. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.294s + 2.472
19. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m16.745s + 2.923
20. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1m16.786s + 2.964
21. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m18.424s + 4.602
22. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m18.537s + 4.715
23. Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m18.574s + 4.752
24. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m19.414s + 5.592
107% time: 1m18.989
* Gap to quickest in Q1
** Gap to quickest in Q2