An impressive lap from Sebastian Vettel, only a tenth shy of the Mercedes duo, sees the Ferrari driver line up in third on the grid with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo fourth.

It has been unseasonably cold in Montreal this weekend, but while qualifying took place under cloud cover, the threat of rain failed to materialise.

That is likely to have come as a relief to Rosberg, who struggled so badly in the inclement conditions at the last race in Monaco. Indeed in the dry, the championship leader provided Hamilton with the sternest of tests only for the Briton to display his prowess at the Gilles-Villeneuve Circuit with the quickest lap seen here since 2004.

Rosberg, who holds a 24-point lead over Hamilton courtesy of winning the opening four rounds, patted his team-mate on the back and offered him a congratulatory handshake which the Briton duly accepted.

But after claiming pole, Hamilton, who was also fastest in both practice sessions yesterday, will head into Sunday's race as the favourite to follow up his Monaco masterclass with his second victory of the campaign.

"It doesn't matter how far you are ahead as long as you are ahead," said Hamilton. "Today, I didn't have the pace I had yesterday, but it was enough.

"It was great to see how close we all were. That's great for the fans. It is going to be interesting tomorrow, but it is the best place to start."

Rosberg, who aborted his final lap after making a mistake at turn one, added: "The first lap was good but not enough to beat Lewis. The second lap I tried to pull one out of the bag, but it didn't work."

The second phase of qualifying was suspended for eight minutes after the so-called 'Wall of Champions' claimed its first victim of the weekend.

Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz mounted the kerbs at the final chicane before losing the rear of his car and crashing into the wall. His session was over, and he will line up in 16th on the grid.

Jenson Button, the McLaren driver who won so memorably here five years ago, failed to progress beyond Q2, and will start 12th. His McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso, who afforded himself a small "whoop" after sneaking into Q3, will line up in 10th.

Kevin Magnussen's Renault mechanics were unable to get the Dane's car ready for qualifying after he crashed out of practice, and there was little joy for his team-mate, too. Jolyon Palmer, the under-fire British rookie, was knocked out in Q1 and will start 17th. Elsewhere, Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen sixth.