Sebastian Vettel will hope to make it third time lucky by taking the chequered flag in today's Canadian Grand Prix after ending Mercedes' recent domination of pole position.
In a manic, rain-hit qualifying session, reigning triple world champion Vettel will start on pole for the third successive year at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
However, the Red Bull driver has failed to win from the front in the past two years. After clinching his 39th pole, the German said: "It was very tricky to adapt as you didn't know what the conditions would be, and in the end very tight with Lewis [Hamilton].
"Looking forward to the race, we've shown good pace and we should be good in the race, no matter the conditions.
"The forecast for tomorrow looks a little more friendly than today, we're expecting dry conditions, but there are still a lot of things that can happen on every single lap."
Vettel will have Lewis Hamilton alongside him on the front row, with the Briton starting second for the third consecutive race in his Mercedes. He managed to out-pace team-mate Nico Rosberg as his run of three straight poles came to an end, with the 27-year-old lining up fourth.
Hamilton, a three-time winner of this race, said: "I was a few tenths up, and I don't know if I would have done it or not, but I made a mistake. I'm still happy to be starting from second."
Behind Rosberg will be Red Bull's Mark Webber, followed by Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.
The major surprise sees Valtteri Bottas in third, the first time this year a Williams has managed to make it into the top 10, with their highest previous grid slot from the first six races being 14th.
It was a qualifying session spiced up by the inclement conditions as drizzle struck just as the first session started.
Although a number of drivers chanced their arm by strapping on the supersofts to begin with, it became quickly apparent it was the wrong choice, forcing them back to the pits to switch to the intermediates more appropriate for the damp circuit.
It resulted in a hectic 20 minutes of track activity as every driver was in double digits with regard to number of laps covered.
In such circumstances Q1 produced a double surprise as Force India's Scottish driver Paul Di Resta and Romain Grosjean in his Lotus both failed to make into the second session.
For Di Resta, after failing to make it out of Q1 a fortnight ago in Monaco due to a team error, it is the first time in his F1 career he has suffered back-to-back exits from the opening stint and will line up 17th, as was the case two weeks ago.
Pointing an accusing finger at the Silverstone-based marque again, an angry Di Resta said: "We spent far too much time trying to fix a problem when the conditions were good when the car could have run. It's the fault of the team again. It's just not good enough."
Grosjean could only manage 19th, but he will start at the back of the grid – or more likely from the pit lane – given his 10-place penalty for running into the back of Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco.
Caterham's Charles Pic starts 18th, and will have behind him Marussia duo Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton as they move up a place courtesy of Grosjean, with Giedo van der Garde in his Caterham now 21st.
A sprinkling of rain in between the opening two qualifying sessions threw another spanner into the works for those remaining.
And for Alonso's team-mate Felipe Massa it was one to forget as he again hit a wall after twice crashing into a barrier in Monaco. The Brazilian will start in 16th.
McLaren duo Sergio Perez and Jenson Button finished 12th and 14th – the first time since 2003 McLaren, winners here for the last three years, have failed to get a car into the top 10.
Leading grid positions: 1 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1min 25.425secs, 2 L Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:25.512, 3 V Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:25.897, 4 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:26.008, 5 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:26.208, 6 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:26.504, 7 J-E Vergne (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:26.543, 8 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:27.348, 9 K Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:27.432, 10 D Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:27.946, 11 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari 1:29.435, 12 S Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:29.761, 13 P Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:29.917, 14 J Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:30.068, 15 E Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.315, 16 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:30.354, 17 P di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:24.908, 18 C Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:25.626, 19 J Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:26.508, 20 M Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:27.062, 21 G van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:27.110, 22 R Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:25.716.
Note: R Grosjean qualified 19th but due to a 10-place grid penalty for causing a collision at the Monaco Grand Prix, he will start 22nd
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