(CNN) -- Lewis Hamilton produced a scintillating drive to secure pole position for Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal -- the first of the season for the 2008 world champion and his McLaren team.
Hamilton squeezed every inch of speed out of his Mercedez-powered car to record a time of one minute 15.105 seconds on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
Running on soft compound tires and so light of fuel his car had to be pushed back to the pits, the Briton edged out title leader Mark Webber and his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel, who will join him on the front row of the grid.
Hamilton admitted to being slightly "overwhelmed" after breaking Red Bull's dominance of qualifying this season, which had seen them claim all seven previous poles.
"I have so many memories that reminded me of my first pole position and first grand prix win here in 2007," said Hamilton, who always performs strongly in Canada.
