Lewis Hamilton is a real threat again in Montreal

Mercedes GP driver Lewis Hamilton slipped back into the stream by grabbing the pole in Montreal after missing out on most of the practice time. Don Emmert / AFP

Lewis Hamilton has throughout his Formula One career demonstrated the ability to bounce back from setbacks.

After throwing away the 2007 drivers’ title with errors in the final two races, he returned to win the title in 2008.

Whenever he was at a low ebb in a fierce title tussle with Mercedes-GP teammate Nico Rosberg last season, be it making errors in qualifying or coming off worse in the pair’s infamous collision in Belgium last August, he found a positive response, which was why he was crowned champion at the end of the season.

Hamilton had dominated the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago for the opening 65 laps, but a safety car period led to a panicked call by the team to bring him in for an unnecessary pit stop, a move that cost him the win and left him in third place behind Rosberg and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton was understandably upset post race and not just as he had lost out on a victory.

His championship lead had shrunk from 20 points to 10 over Rosberg, when it really should have extended to 27.

The double world champion had put his best brave face on when he arrived in Montreal this week for today’s Canadian Grand Prix with words such as “fine” and “moving on” being regularly used to convey his emotions.

But it is actions in F1 that matter more than words and Hamilton demonstrated that he was truly fine by charging to pole position in yesterday's qualifying, his sixth of the season and the 44th of his career.

His lap of one minute, 14.393 seconds around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was three-10ths of a second quicker than teammate Rosberg as Mercedes claimed their fifth front row lockout of 2015.

It is the fourth time Hamilton has started at the front in Montreal, but his first time since 2010, and his preparations had been far from ideal.

He had spun and then crashed in Friday’s practice, then endured limited time on track in yesterday’s final practice.

“It wasn’t the easiest of days,” the 30-year-old Briton said. “The third free practice session was quite tough.

“I didn’t get any laps, mostly my fault but I got the set-up where I wanted it to be.

“I won my first grand prix here and to come back and finally get another pole is very special.”

Hamilton is targeting his fourth win of 2015 today at a track where he has won three times, but he has not had a victory since Bahrain in April as his teammate Rosberg won the past two races, albeit fortuitously in Monaco.

The German was disappointed with his efforts in qualifying yesterday, but was hopeful that he could go wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton in today’s race.

“I was on a roll, feeling good and in the end it didn’t come together at all,” he said.

“We need to analyse what it was. But anyway, fair play to Lewis. The race is tomorrow and there’s good chances to overtake. It’s not over yet.”

The Mercedes cars were dominant in last year’s race until brake problems slowed both cars.

With Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari the best of the rest in third – more than six-10ths off Hamilton’s pace – it will take more mechanical gremlins to hit the German marque’s machines for them not to triumph for the first time in Montreal.

Valtteri Bottas was fourth for Williams, with the two Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado on the third row of the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo, last year’s winner, is down in ninth in his Red Bull Racing car.

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