Motorsport: Hartley 12th and out-qualifies teammate

Brendon Hartley parked his Toro Rosso Honda on the 12th spot of the grind in Canada. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi Brendon Hartley has qualified an impressive 12th for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix but importantly out-did teammate Pierre Gasly.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time to claim pole position with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas second fastest and Red Bull's Max Verstappen third making it three different manufacturers on the first two rows.

World champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth while Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez completed the top 10.

Hartley got through Q1 in his Toro Rosso Honda and upstaged both McLaren cars having taken the upgraded engine package for this weekend.

"I was really happy with the job I did today, and how we've worked as a team throughout the weekend to get the car in the right place," he said.

"I think 12th was more or less where we've been this weekend, there was probably another tenth in the car on that last lap, but to move much further up the grid and into Q3 was a bit of a tall order today. I've really enjoyed driving the track here, it's got a lot of character, bumps, kerbs, you're close to the walls.

"I felt strong all weekend in Monaco as well but Q1 was a bit of a mess and we missed Q2, so it was nice to get a better result in Montreal.

"I'm quite optimistic for tomorrow. The upgrade performance in qualifying was good, and we think the bigger step is in the race trim which is where we have been struggling recently. Hopefully we can battle it out and try to muscle our way into the top 10 - everything has been really positive so far and we've seen races in the past here where a lot can happen, so I'll keep focussed and do my best to bring home some points."

It is a promising sign for the team, who have quite clearly lacked outright power compared to many of their rivals.

Hartley was eighth fastest after Q1.

The Kiwi also demonstrated more speed than Gasly in free practice 3 earlier in the day.