Hamilton snatches Canadian GP pole

The McLaren driver - who claimed his first pole and win at the Montreal track a year ago - topped Q1 and Q2, and held a comfortable provisional pole after the first Q3 runs.

He was then briefly deposed by Robert Kubica, but improved further with his second lap to beat the BMW to pole by a commanding 0.6 seconds.

Kubica held on to the outside front row spot - a remarkable result after his horrifying crash at the track twelve months ago.

Ferrari could only manage third and sixth places. Kimi Raikkonen was nearly a second slower than Hamilton in third place, while Felipe Massa - who had taken pole for the last two GPs - was pushed back to the third row by Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg.

The Renault driver was rapid throughout qualifying, recovering from an early trip off the road in Q1 to easily reach the top ten and claim his second-best starting position of the year, ahead of the similarly-impressive Rosberg.

Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen could only manage seventh in the second McLaren, alongside Kubica's BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld.

Rubens Barrichello took an impressive ninth place for Honda after reaching Q3 for the first time this season.

The always-treacherous Montreal circuit was made even more challenging in qualifying as the track surface began to break up in several places, despite having been repaired in some areas prior to practice this morning. The marshals attempted to sweep the resultant debris off the racing line between each segment, but conditions remained difficult.

Having earned a top ten place by virtue of an excellent fourth place in Q2, Mark Webber then spun into the Turn 7 wall right at the end of the second segment, having fallen foul of the 'marbles' at the chicane where the track surface was breaking up.

The Red Bull was left with damaged right front suspension and had to sit out Q3, leaving Webber 10th on the grid, three places ahead of teammate David Coulthard.

For the first time this year, Jarno Trulli failed to reach Q3. The Italian spun once in Q1 and then twice in Q2 on the way to a frustrating 14th place. His tribulations meant that he ended up being outqualified by Toyota teammate Timo Glock for the first time, as the German took 11th place, having only been pushed out of the top ten by a last gasp Q2 effort from Nick Heidfeld.

Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) missed out on a top ten position by 0.042 seconds and had to settle for 12th on the grid, while Nelson Piquet struggled in qualifying again, only managing 15th after lapping 0.9 seconds slower than teammate Alonso in Q2.

Jenson Button's abject weekend continued as a gearbox problem developed on his first Q1 run and left him 19th, ahead of only Sebastian Vettel, who had to sit out qualifying due to the damage his Toro Rosso sustained in his practice crash.

Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais took 16th, while Button and Vettel's problems allowed the Force Indias to move up to the ninth row. Adrian Sutil outqualified teammate Giancarlo Fisichella for only the second time, taking 17th place.

Pos  Driver       Team                 Q1        Q2        Q3        Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes     1:16.909  1:17.034  1:17.886   19
 2.  Kubica       BMW Sauber           1:17.471  1:17.679  1:18.498   14
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari              1:17.301  1:17.364  1:18.735   23
 4.  Alonso       Renault              1:17.415  1:17.488  1:18.746   22
 5.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota      1:17.991  1:17.891  1:18.844   26
 6.  Massa        Ferrari              1:17.231  1:17.353  1:19.048   23
 7.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes     1:17.287  1:17.684  1:19.089   25
 8.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber           1:18.082  1:17.781  1:19.633   21
 9.  Barrichello  Honda                1:18.256  1:18.020  1:20.848   25
10.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault     1:17.582  1:17.523             15
11.  Glock        Toyota               1:18.321  1:18.031             19
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota      1:17.638  1:18.062             19
13.  Coulthard    Red Bull-Renault     1:18.168  1:18.238             19
14.  Trulli       Toyota               1:18.039  1:18.327             16
15.  Piquet       Renault              1:18.505  1:18.393             18
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1:18.916                       10
17.  Sutil        Force India-Ferrari  1:19.108                       12
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  1:19.165                       12
19.  Button       Honda                1:23.565                        3
20.  Vettel       Toro Rosso-Ferrari

All timing unofficial