Lewis Hamilton’s pole position in Montreal has taken the Englishman level with Ayrton Senna’s career tally of 65 Formula 1 pole positions.
Having recorded the fastest time ever around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve mid-way through the final segment of qualifying, the Mercedes driver then put in one last lap to take himself 0.3s clear of the pack.
Following the session, Hamilton was chauffeured to turn one, where the top three performed the post-qualifying interviews in front of the live crowd and received one of Senna’s race-worn helmets from the late Brazilian’s family.
“Wow, I am shaking,” Hamilton said upon being presented with the helmet, which was worn by Senna during the 1987 season.
“Ayrton is the one who inspired me to be where I am. To match him and receive this is the greatest honour.
“For the Senna family to send me this, I don’t possess any of Ayrton’s artefacts, this is the most special thing I have above and beyond all my trophies and everything.”
“I am really pleased with that (pole), that and also I’ve equalled Ayrton in race wins so this had been my focus to,” he trailed off
“As a kid I would come home and I was like, ‘One day if I’m really lucky and I get to Formula 1, I’d want to emulate Ayrton,’ so the fact that I have now reached him in that area, I just can’t believe it.
“I remember coming home from school and putting on the video tape so it is really strange to think that now I’m here and I’ve had that many poles.
“Being that it is the most difficult season I would say of my career, racing against these two great drivers and Kimi, and having them so close, it really pushes us all to the limit and it relies on us all being perfect.
“Of course we can’t always be perfect but today I was as close as I could get.”
Hamilton’s pole position also saw the three-time world champion equal Michael Schumacher’s record of six pole positions in Canada and, with 68 career poles, the German still maintains the record most the most pole positions in F1 history.
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