Vettel on pole for Canadian GP

Sebastian Vettel secured his second pole position of the season and 32nd of his career yesterday when he clocked the fastest time during qualifying for today’s Canadian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Red Bull driver, last year’s pole-winner, scorched to the front of the grid in dramatic style with a fastest lap of the Gilles Villenauve circuit in one minute 13.784 seconds. That meant he wound up a third of a second faster than second-placed Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren, closely followed by championship leader Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, who was third quickest. Australian Mark Webber was fourth fastest in the second Red Bull followed by German Nico Rosberg of Mercedes. Brazilian Felipe Massa followed in the second Ferrari ahead of Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus, Force India driver Briton Paul Di Resta and German Michael Schmacher in the second Mercedes. Briton Jenson Button’s qualifying problems continued as he struggled to keep pace with rival drivers and will start 10th on the grid in the second McLaren. Earlier Red Bull Racing were forced to make further changes to their car in the build-up to the final practice session. Following the controversy at the previous race in Monaco where the floor of the Red Bull car was judged to be illegal, world motorsport’s governing body the FIA have ruled that the front wheel hub did not comply with Formula 1 regulations despite the design having been on the car since the start of the season. Red Bull driver Mark Webber, who won in Monaco two weeks ago, was not happy with criticism he received regarding results achieved with an ‘illegal’ car. “I’m happy to be called lots of things and I’m happy to have criticism about my driving and lots of stuff, but I will not take criticism in that respect,” he said. “It completely pisses me off to be honest, because the car has passed every single technical regulation after the race.” Article 3.15 in the Formula 1 Technical Regulations states “any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance” must be “rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car” and must remain “immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car.” The Milton Keynes-based team were forced to cover holes in the wheel hub which were used for cooling, as they also aided aerodynamics.from gulf times.