The other unusual feature is that a Red Bull is not on pole for the first time this season. That honour went to Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren, after both he and Mark Webber knocked Sebastian Vettel down to third place, just ahead of Alonso. The third row sees Jenson Button fifth in the other McLaren, with Tonio Liuzzi sixth for Force India. Massa shares the next row with the Renault of Robert Kubica, the last man to win a Canadian Grand Prix back in 2008.

Right from the start of the weekend, this race was being billed as potentially one of the most exciting of the year, because the nature of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit usually provides plenty of action thanks to the unforgiving nature of the walls and the subsequent Safety Car periods as damaged cars are removed from the track. After Friday practice it became clear that another factor would add to the interest: the super soft tyre brought here by Bridgestone is struggling to survive many laps without losing performance, which was caused by the unknown factor that much of the track has been resurfaced since F1 last visited Canada in 2008. In qualifying, the ten drivers making it through to Q3 knew they would have to start the race on the tyres used at the end of the session: the Scuderia Ferrari drivers opted to use the Super-Soft, as did Hamilton, Button Liuzzi, Sutil and Rosberg, while Webber, Vettel and Kubica will start on the Medium. Therefore, contrary to past races, we have a mix of tyre strategies at the front of the grid. Clearly, those on the softer tyre will have to change tyres much earlier in what should in any case be a two stop race for most cars. Which will turn out to be the best strategy will only be known after today’s chequered flag, but certainly, an early Safety Car, which is always a possibility here, could play into the hands of those starting on the softer tyre.

It has been a very busy weekend of racing at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, as, not only is it hosting the eighth round of the Formula 1 World Championship, it is also the venue for the fourth round of the North American Ferrari Challenge Pirelli Trophy. Victory in yesterday's opening race in the "Stars and Stripes" one-make series went to Enzo Potolicchio, the standard bearer for The Collection dealership, who qualified on pole position during the qualifying session held on Friday. Behind him came Harry Cheung (Ferrari of Silicon Valley) and Francesco Piovanetti (The Collection.) The Ferrari Challenge drivers take to the track again today at 9.25 am, when the lights will go out for their second and final race on the Canadian track.

“We are reasonably pleased with this result, which maybe could even have been slightly better,” commented Stefano Domenicali. “Both yesterday and today we have proved capable of fighting for the top places, but we are well aware that it is the race that counts as this is when the points are given out. Traditionally, the Canadian Grand Prix is action packed and so tomorrow we must be ready to make the most of every opportunity. Compared to the earlier races in the season, there is also the variable of the different tyre choice strategies of the cars classified on the top three rows: we will see who has made the right decision. Reliability remains the crucial factor, especially on a track like Montreal which is tough on the mechanical components of the cars.”

Fernando Alonso: “So far this weekend, we have always been in the fight for the top places. We have a good grid position and now we must prepare ourselves as well as possible for a race, which for the first time this season will feature a confrontation between different strategy options, with two of the top five cars choosing to start on the hard tyres. It will be a very long and tough race and it will be vital to maintain concentration throughout, because on this track a moment’s distraction can carry a heavy penalty. Usually, our car is rather kind on the tyres which could be a decisive factor tomorrow, as will be the management of the brakes. Realistically, a podium finish is a possible goal, while it would take something special to get the win. In Q3, if I had been able to use another set of tyres, then maybe I could have cut my time down by a few hundredths, but the same applies to other drivers, therefore it’s hard to say how it would have gone if everyone had driven a perfect qualifying. All in all, we can be pleased with today’s performance.”

Felipe Massa: “It was a very tough and closely contested qualifying. In Q3, I was getting quicker with every lap to such an extent that my best time came on lap four. I definitely cannot be happy with seventh place, but at least our car is more competitive than it was in Turkey. It was a shame I didn’t manage to produce a perfect lap, otherwise I could have been higher up the order: at the end, as the track continued to improve, a few drivers went just a tiny bit quicker than me. Tomorrow, we must try and get a good start and on the back of that, build a good race. It will be important to get to the finish on a track which usually puts a high premium on reliability and one’s driving, given that there is little margin for error.”

Chris Dyer: “We are happy to have gone back to getting both cars through to Q3. Both Felipe and Fernando got the most out of the performance of the F10: a couple of tiny errors cost practically nothing in terms of lap times. It’s a shame that, right at the end, for just a few thousandths, Fernando found himself pushed back to fourth place and will therefore start from the dirtier side of the grid. From a purely technical point of view, it was a relatively quiet day, without any major problems and we believe we have a good potential to do well in tomorrow’s race.”

Qualifying details:

Chassis: F. Massa 284, F. Alonso 282.
Weather: air temperature 22 °C, track temperature 28/26 °C. Slightly cloudy.