After a quiet build up through practice, Sebastian Vettel was finally able to show his true potential in Montreal when it came to qualifying for the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix.
Vettel set a new lap record for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on his way to his 54th career pole in Formula 1. His Q3 time of 1:10.776s was almost a tenth of a second faster than Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas.
The Ferrari driver insisted that he hadn't been 'sandbagging' in the previous practice sessions, and said he was delighted that everything had suddenly clicked in qualifying.
"Yesterday I think we were a bit in trouble," he said. "I wasn't happy with the car, we had some problems. I just couldn't find the rhythm.
"Usually I like this track, but yesterday was very difficult."
Vettel revealed that he'd brushed the barriers on Friday and damaged the SF71H in the process, requiring overnight repairs.
"Thanks to the team, thanks for fixing the car yesterday after I hit the wall a little bit."
However when it came to Saturday, all such problems were behind him.
"Today I switched on - I guess I woke up the right way!" he agreed. "The car was incredible in qualie, just kept getting quicker.
"It was a very smooth session for us," he said. "It was pretty straightforward, and in terms of strategy we did what we wanted to do.
"My final lap I had a small mistake otherwise I think I had a little more.
"What a day," he added. "It was fantastic ... Really happy. Also a massive crowd - I think the hairpin is so cool, there are so many people waving every lap. A lot of Ferrari fans here. A very good day."
Kimi Raikkonen had also been looking fast, but he lost his chance to join his team mate on the front row when he got sideways in turn 2 on his final flying lap of the day.
"Obviously it was finished there at that point," said the Finn, who appeared perplexed by the incident. "I don't know, I got a lot of understeer suddenly entering [turn] 2.
"I had no choice but to just get out of it as quickly as I can. Then obviously I was off the line and just couldn't make it.
"It's a pity, but what can you do?"
Raikkonen will now start tomorrow's race from fifth place, putting him alongside Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
Raikkonen will be on the ultrasoft tyres while Ricciardo will start the race on Pirelli's latest hypersoft compound. That could give the Australian an initial speed advantage in the run down to turn 1.
However, Raikkonen was less convinced that would be the case, and felt that the Ferrari could still show its rival a clean pair of heels when the lights go out.
"It's a bit tricky to say. Obviously we don't really know. We'll see tomorrow. The car's been working well."
Vettel certainly wasn't convinced that Red Bull had made the right call starting tomorrow's race on the hypers.
"I don’t think the hypersoft is a good race tyre," the polesitter said. "I’m a bit surprised that both of the Red Bulls chose that. But I guess they have their reasons."
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