Rosberg snatches pole position from Hamilton

By Martin Moravec, dpa

Despite Hamilton having much more success on the track in the past, it was the world championship leader Rosberg who clocked the quickest time of 1 minute 14.874 seconds around the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles Villeneuve track.

"It's a fantastic day. I know that it's a track that Lewis is very strong at. But I feel great taking the pole. It's really cool and the best position for the start tomorrow," said Rosberg, who grabbed the third pole of the season and seventh of his career.

Hamilton, who has three pole positions and three victories in Canada, had been quicker than Rosberg all weekend but finished 0.079 seconds behind Rosberg.

"Nico did a fantastic job today. Congratulations to him. It's great for the team that we have one-two on Sunday," said Hamilton, who has won four races this season to two for Rosberg but trails the German 122 to 118 in the driver's standings.

Taking third in the heat in Canada was the world champion Vettel, who has just one podium finish this season but found the right set-up and pace to start third on Sunday.

"I tried to take more risks and it worked. All in all it's a very good result. It's the best we could do - just behind the two Mercedes and ahead of the others," said Vettel, who won last season in Montreal.

The Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

The race on Sunday starts at 1800 GMT.