Sebastian Vettel ended Mercedes’ run of early-season qualifying supremacy on Saturday when he claimed a dramatic late pole position for Ferrari in a crash-hit showdown at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The four-time champion repeated his 2018 success, when he won from pole, by outpacing championship leader Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by two-tenths of a second at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

It was Vettel’s first pole position triumph of the season, his first pole in 17 races since last year’s German Grand Prix and a signal that Ferrari’s superior straight-line speed was well-suited to the track.

Vettel clocked a best lap of one minute and 10.240 seconds to beat Hamilton’s lap in 1:10.446. “He’s bloody good in qualifying,” said Vettel, pointing to Hamilton. “Hard to crack ... I really enjoyed it.”

Mercedes had been fastest in qualifying in all six races since the start of the year and will now face a battle to extend their record run of six season-opening wins in Sunday’s race.

It was the 56th pole position of Vettel’s career and came after Kevin Magnussen had crashed into the “wall of champions” in his Haas car at the end of Q2. He was unhurt.

“I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, I don’t feel disappointed,” said defending five-time champion Hamilton, who apologised to his team on radio. “This is good. This is how racing should be.”

Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc was third fastest ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, Pierre Gasly of Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes. The Finn spun in Q3 and was unable to recover and clock an improved lap.

Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the second Renault ahead of the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Magnussen qualified 10th.

In warm sunshine with a track temperature of 48 degrees Celsius (118.4 Fahrenheit), Mercedes were wary of the challenge from Ferrari.

‘Fight on our hands’

“We’ve got a fight on our hands,” warned Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff after final practice. “Their straight-line speed is enormous!” He suggested their advantage was 8km/h and was costing Mercedes six-tenths of a second per lap.

As Q1 ended, with Vettel on top ahead of Leclerc, Bottas and Hamilton, with Verstappen fifth, the top five were separated by only four-tenths.

To the dismay of local fans, out went both Racing Points, Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, 16th and 18th, together with Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo and the two Williams. “Very unfortunate for us,” said Stroll.

Mercedes and Ferrari switched to medium compound tyres for Q2 and, on first runs, it was Vettel ahead of Hamilton by 0.027, while Leclerc ran off and was only 10th before pushing to go top before his team-mate took over again.

Verstappen also struggled with traffic and grip. He was only 11th after his first run and switched to softs to salvage his place in the top-ten shootout, a decision that upset his race strategy.

On new mediums, Hamilton and Bottas were quickest and second ahead of the Ferraris when Magnussen crashed his Haas heavily, halting the session.

The Dane lost control and smacked the walls on both sides of the track, wrecking the right side and rear of his car.

This meant the luckless Verstappen, on track at the time, was eliminated in 11th along with Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, Antonio Giovinazzi in the second Alfa, Alex Albon in the second Toro Rosso and Romain Grosjean in the second Haas.

After a 20-minute delay, the session resumed with Gasly first out for Red Bull. His tepid lap was followed by sizzling speed from Leclerc, Vettel and then Hamilton as Bottas spun at T2, but avoided hitting the barriers.

The Englishman’s 1:10.493 put him on provisional pole ahead of the final runs when Vettel found the pace to seize pole from him.