Rosberg takes pole in Montreal
June 7, 2014
Rosberg won his third pole position of the season on Saturday in qualifying at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, with rival Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second. It's the seventh time in as many races that Mercedes has taken pole. Rosberg and Hamilton, meanwhile, have occupied first and second place in five races this season.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel will line up third for Sunday's race. The four-time world champion won last year's edition of the Canadian Grand Prix. It's been a difficult few weeks for the German, who was forced to retire from the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago due to mechanical problems.
Williams-Mercedes teammates Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will start fourth and fifth respectively, ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari.
Force India's Nico Hülkenberg came 11th in qualifying, while fellow German Adrian Sutil of Sauber came 16th.
The 28-year-old Rosberg's best lap time of 1 minute 14.874 seconds proved wrong pre-qualifying predictions that the Montreal circuit would heavily favor Hamilton. Nonetheless, his teammate, who had been faster than Rosberg all weekend, was just 0.079 seconds slower.
Until Rosberg's victory at Monte Carlo two weeks ago, Hamilton had won four races in a row. The two are the clear favorites to win the world championship, while the constructor's title is Mercedes' to lose just six races into the season.
dr/ (SID, dpa, Reuters, AFP, AP)