Qualifying At le Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve

30 years ago, Canada saw the death of one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time, Gilles Villeneuve. Today, 24 drivers head out to race for pole at the 2012 Montreal Grand Prix. With 16 cars all within one second of each other, the door is wide open for anyone to take it.

On a track as unforgiving as Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, and the temperatures rising every minute, the drivers and teams have quite a weekend head of them. Running on not just asphalt but tarmac as well, the Pirelli tyres are going to be put to the test. Last year, we saw 4-5 pits stops averaging per driver, this year should be no difference.

Q1 starts and immediately you see the drivers testing the limits. Sauber's Sergio Perez over-steered on the exact same corner that Ferrari's Felipe Massa under-steered. And then we have turns 13 / 14 (Wall of Champions). On any map of the circuit, it seems like such a nonchalant corner. Appears to be very smooth and gentile but when you watch the cars take the corner, it appears that there are only millimeters separating the car from become part of the wall.

Q2 and we got to witness 'the wall' take its next victim. William's Pastor Maldonado was setting purple sectors in qualifier and within sight of the finish line, Maldonado lost it coming into turns 13/14 and fishtailed into the wall. Unable to cross the line, he was unable to enter Q3.

But the big disappointment to many fans was seeing Kimi Räikkönen not making it into Q3 while his teammate, Romain Grosjean did. Lotus had made a fantastic decision with bring in Romain Grosjean to partner Kimi Räikkönen. The young Frenchman has shown his worth during each race weekend and appears to have a very bright future in Formula One.

Top Ten shoot out was like most others. Except the drivers knew that they had to get out early and set a respectable time. On the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, the smallest amount of traffic can really disrupt your lap. The teams and drivers were setting superb times with minutes left. But when push cam to shove, the last seconds were where the positions were decided.

Can only imagine what the race will hold!

Sebastian Vettel	P1
Lewis Hamilton	P2
Fernando Alonso	P3
Mark Webber	P4
Nico Rosberg	P5
Felipe Massa	P6
Romain Grosjean	P7
Paul di Resta	P8
Michael Schumacher	P9
Jenson Button	P10
Kamui Kobayashi	P11
Kimi Räikkönen	P12
Nico Hulkenberg	P13
Daniel Ricciardo	P14
Sergio Perez	P15
Buno Senna	P16
Pastor Maldonado	P17
Heikki Kovalainen	P18
Vitaly Petrov	P19
Jean-Éric Vergne	P20
Pedro de la Rosa	P21
Timo Glock	P22
Charles Pic	P23
Narain Karthikeyan	P24