By Bridgestone Motorsport
June 8 2008

Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) has set pole position on Bridgestone’s super soft compound Potenza at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the seventh round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton produced a blinding lap of 1min 17.886secs, over six tenths faster than the second fasest driver. That driver, Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team),achieved a 1min 18.498secs and will start from the front row tomorrow at the same track where he had his dramatic accident last season. Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) and Fernando Alonso (ING Renault F1 Team) will start from the second row, with Raikkonen in third and Alonso in fourth. Nico Rosberg (AT&T Williams) and Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) will start from the third row, with Rosberg the faster.

Heikki Kovalainen (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) and Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber F1 Team) will start from the fourth row, whilst Rubens Barrichello (Honda Racing F1 Team) and Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) were the final two drivers to qualify in the top ten. In the morning practice session Rosberg went fastest, with a time of 1min 16.555secs set on the soft compound. Rosberg was just over three hundredths faster than Raikkonen, who set a time of 1min 16.589secs. Running in this session was interrupted when Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Toro Rosso) made contact with the wall, damaging his car.

Track conditions are improved from yesterday as more rubber has been laid on the track in the dry conditions. The weather was considerably improved from Friday, with blue skies and high temperatures all day. The day’s fastest lap, a 1min 16.909sec, was set by Hamilton in Q1 on the soft compound.

Hirohide Hamashima

Director of Tyre Development

Bridgestone Motorsport

"Our super soft compound was working well today, and both compounds showed improved performance from the higher ambient and track temperatures we saw. In particular, the higher temperatures help lessen graining, as does the increased levels of rubber laid down on the track. Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for driving a very fast lap to get pole position. The track surface did suffer from an amount of breaking-up and there were asphalt marbles which made things difficult for drivers as this is very slippery. Tomorrow, it will be very interesting to see what strategies teams use as different choices could be made."