Hamilton hoping to ‘hold onto Alonso and give him hell’ in Canada

Hamilton is set to start Sunday’s race in Montreal from fourth on the grid after out-qualifying Mercedes teammate George Russell once again. 

Nico Hulkenberg splits Hamilton and Alonso on the grid, although Haas’ lack of race pace is likely to drop him down the order as the race progresses.

After struggling in the earlier parts of qualifying, Hamilton was happy with fourth, with his eyes set on Alonso ahead.

“Good result,” he said. “I think most people underestimate just how hard it was for everybody. It was very tricky to keep it on track and deliver when the time counts. 

“It was really hard to keep the car on track. It was really slippy, really difficult to generate temperature in the tyres but I am very grateful, a great result for George and I so hopefully we can move forwards.”

Hamilton added: “We should be in a much better position with race pace. Our race pace is often better. 

“It was difficult to gauge because we did our long run at the beginning of the session when the track was a lot slower and the others did it later so they were a second faster so it was difficult to extrapolate where we stand. 

“We’re ahead of the Ferraris and Max [Verstappen] will be gone most likely, but if I can hold onto Alonso and give him hell, that’s what I will do.”

Russell believes Mercedes “exceeded expectations” with two cars in the top five.

“I quite enjoyed it to be honest,” Russell said. “Changing every single lap, you’re driving on instinct. Didn’t quite get it together in Q3 but P5 probably exceeded our expectations going in the session. 

“Clearly as a team we’re quicker when the track was drying out and the inters were almost overheating. We were one of the most competitive cars out there. Had the track been like in Q3, for the whole session, perhaps we’d have struggled a bit more. 

“To be starting P4/P5, I think it’s the best qualifying since Australia so we can fight for a podium tomorrow.”