Lewis Hamilton takes Montreal pole with record-breaking lap

Hamilton, who did not look at his best during the free practice sessions, found himself behind Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen and team-mate Valtteri Bottas at various stages of qualifying.

However, he came up with the goods when it mattered, lapping a sensational time of 1:11:791, a new record for qualifying in Montreal, only to go even quicker later on with a 1:11.459.

It is Hamilton's 65th pole, which draws him level with Ayrton Senna.

Vettel responded to Hamilton's first effort with a 1:11:795, a time that prompted the Brit to go even quicker.

The German will start in P2 with Bottas, Raikkonen, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo making up the top six.

Felipe Massa, Sergio Perez, Esteban Occon and Nico Hulkenberg round-up the top ten.

Earlier, Fernando Alonso's return to the F1 circuit after taking part in the Indy 500 ended in yet another disappointment.

In Q1, Alonso briefly threatened that he might break with tradition as he posted times towards the top of the board but unfortunately that joy was to be briefly lived.

The Spaniard claimed of having less power in Q2 and eventually suffered elimination along with Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz, Romain Grosjean and Jolyon Palmer, who once again struggled to compete with his team-mate Hulkenberg.

This followed a crash for Pascal Wehrlein who was joined in exiting at the first stage by Kevin Magnussen, Marcus Ericsson, Stoffel Vandoorne and Lance Stroll. As with Palmer, the latter were really disappointing in comparison to their team-mates.

For Stroll in particular it was a big shame in his first qualifying session in front of his home crowd, with the pressure starting to mount on the rookie.