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Sebastian Vettel was pretty happy with his effort to take pole in Montreal - a lap record at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

German F1 driver Sebastian Vettel has claimed pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix with the fastest lap ever on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Vettel steered his Ferrari over the 4.36km track in 1 minute 10.764 seconds to deprive Briton Lewis Hamilton of a record seventh pole in Montreal. It's Vettel's fourth pole on the Ile Notre-Dame, and his first since 2013.

The Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas will also start in the front row. After leading all three practice sessions, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen will start third, alongside Hamilton.

RYAN REMIROZ/ AP

The Canadian Grand Prix top three in qualifying: Valteri Bottas (2nd), Sebastian Vettel (1st) and Max Verstappen (3rd).

Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari and Monaco winner Daniel Ricciardo are in the third row. New Zealander Brendon Hartley will start in 12th for Toro Rosso.

Hamilton tops the championship leaderboard as he pursues his fifth Formula One title. He has a 14-point lead over Vettel and a 38-point edge on Ricciardo.

 The race is Sunday (NZT early Monday)

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 - AP