Hamilton heads McLaren 1-2 in Montreal thriller

Canadian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton leads early on

Jun.13 (YallaF1.com) Lewis Hamilton powered his McLaren Mercedes to victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to notch up his second win in a row and his team’s second 1-2 on the trot as Jenson Button finished second in the incident packed race watched by a sellout crowd in Montreal.

Race winner Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button (second) and Fernando Alonso (right) on the podium.

Hamilton shouted into his radio as he crossed the line, “Woohooh! Yes! Great job guys! Thank you so much for this weekend. There was a lot of pressure on our shoulders, but we stood up to it.”

Starting from pole position Hamilton, who won his first Formula 1 race in Montreal back in 2007, had to work hard for victory in a race which saw Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in the lead during various stages of the race.

Hamilton who now leads the World Championship points table, said afterwards, “It is one of the toughest races so far. It’s another one-two and Jenson did an incredible job. I am very happy and proud of the team.”

Lewis Hamilton celebrates two wins in a row

In the end McLaren held all the aces as both Hamilton and Button celebrated on the two top steps of the podium with third placed Alonso beside them while their main rivals Vettel and Webber were fourth and fifth respectively. A big day for McLaren on the Ile de Notre Dame.

Button was well pleased, “It was a very difficult race, the tyres are so important and you are never sure if you are looking after them enough. It was a great race, really enjoyable – you had to think about every situation.”

Drama started even before the Canadian Grand Prix began with Webber given a five place grid drop penalty for changing the gearbox on his RB6. The drop meant the Aussie  would start the Montreal the race from seventh, with team mate Sebastian Vettel promoted to the front row alongside Hamilton, with Alonso and Button up a place each on the second row.

Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi scrape paint on the opening lap

Although the front runners managed to get away pretty much unscathed behind them it was close to mayhem as Vitaly Petrov (Renault) t-boned Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) exiting turn one, while ahead of them Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) and Felipe Massa (Ferrari) traded paint and other expensive bits cars as they dueled side by side going into turn two and beyond. Liuzzi, who qualified impressively in sixth, was soon facing the wrong way before rejoining, while Massa continued but showing battle scars.

Thus the end of lap one was busy in the pit lane as wounded cars were wheeled in for repair work rendering Massa, Liuzzi and de la Rosa well down the order. Meanwhile on track, Kobayashi, who made a rocket start overdid it coming onto the straight and smacked the wall of champions, his race run.

Fernando Alonso leads the pack on the first lap

At the front Hamilton had Vettel big in his mirrors followed by Alonso, Button, Webber and Kubica. Hamilton, Button and Alonso on the soft option tyre were no doubt hoping for an early pace car situation which failed to materialize. But in the early laps the green band tyres were the ones to have. Make that the very early laps because by lap 5 Vettel was all over the back of Hamilton’s McLaren.

When Webber made his move on Button on lap 6 the reigning World Champion ducked into the pits to change to the harder compound Bridgestone. At the end of lap 7 Alonso and Hamilton decided to pit and left the pit lane side by side with Alonso squeezing ahead as they peeled onto the track. Phew! Close call.

Pitstop for Mark Webber

The Red Bull’s were now 1-2 with Vettel leading Webber, they remained that way until Webber pitted for new rubber on lap 13 with Vettel doing the same a lap later. But rejoined fourth and fifth behind Button. Clearly they has stayed out a few laps too long even with the harder rubber.

At the front Hamilton was pressuring Alonso and on lap 15 the Briton, taking advantage of the Spaniard’s fumble behind a back marker, got by going into turn 12 and took the lead of the race again. Credit to Alonso he fought back and kept up the pressure for several laps thereafter.

On lap 26 Hamilton dived in to the pits again for more new rubber, Button and Vettel followed on lap 27, Alonso going in on lap 28. Last man standing was Webber whose gamble began, the Australian would be stretching his second set of hard tyres as long as possible, followed by a stint on the softer option.

Fernando Alonso battles it out with Lewis Hamilton

Thus by mid-distance it was Webber increasingly being reeled in by Hamilton followed by Alonso, Button and Vettel. Soon Webber is starting to feel the ill effects of graining on his prime tyres with Hamilton closing the gap while his team mate Button started to  carve into Alonso’s in second place. Meanwhile Vettel started reeling off some quick laps.

On lap 50 Hamilton powers by Webber going into turn 1 to take the lead, at the end of the lap the Red Bull driver pulls in for his change to soft tyres, the gamble had failed. Alonso was now second but having little in store to challenge for the lead while Button behind him was coming on strong.

On lap 56 it is déjà vu for the Spaniard as again his Ferrari trips up in traffic and Button seizes the moment and it is a 1-2 for McLaren.

Sebastian Vettel on his way to fourth place

Vettel, though faster than Alonso in the dying stages of the race, ran out of laps to get himself past the Ferrari driver and on to the podium. Behind Vettel his team mate was quicker than anyone but for him too it was a bridge too far.

Thus they crossed the line, victory for Hamilton who nursed his second set of prime tyres for a whopping 44 laps followed by Button, Alonso, Vettel and Webber.

Although the battle for victory stole the limelight, there were massive contests throughout the field, throughout the race.

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) recovered from a bad start and stayed out of trouble to finish sixth albeit nearly a minute behind the winner. Late in the race he faced a challenge from Robert Kubica (Renault) who finished seventh after having to stop three times.

Sebastien Buemi battles with Michael Schumacher

Eighth place went to Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) who would probably qualify for the drive of the day award if there were one. The Swiss driver even spent a brief spell in the lead before having to pit for tyres. Nevertheless he battled way above his league to score a strong result on a track he had never raced on before.

Surviving the wars to take ninth place was Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) who battled it out for the entire 70 laps after his early coming together Felipe Massa (Ferrari) was also in the wars with his own team mate Adrian Sutil (Force India), Nico Hulkenberg (Williams), Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) and Michale Schumacher (Mercedes GP). Credit to Liuzzi he gave as good as he got and will have done his reputation the world of good with a strong weekend in Montreal. His team mate Sutil took the final point.

Michael Schumacher versus Adrian Sutil

Eleventh place went to seven times World Champion Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) who had a shocker of a race after an equally inexplicably bad qualifying that saw him start 13th on the grid.

The veteran German started strongly, making up five places in the first couple of laps and even running in the top five, but as the race progressed he got slower as his strategy was blatantly out of kilter. And alas the slower he got the “dirtier” he became – the cynical Schumacher was back and it was ugly.

With just over a dozen laps on the board Schumacher got side-by-side with Kubica through trun 3 and turn 4, with Schumacher short cutting over the grass to stay ahead of the Renault driver.

Michael Schumacher reports to the race stewards after the race

On lap 64 with his former protege Massa fast approaching and looking to overtake at the end of the back straight, Schumacher simply chopped the Brazilian who was forced on the grass and damaging his front wing. Sure points denied for the Brazilian who had to pit for a new nosecone/wing, finishing 15th.

Towards the end of the race Liuzzi was being chopped and blocked by Schumacher as if in a stock car race, finally the Italian muscled his way past the German who was at this stage six seconds off the pace on the green band option tyres.

But in a cruel twist of fate there was embarrassment for Schumacher as on the final lap both Force India drivers get by to squeeze the German out of the points.

Alguersuari was 12th ahead of fellow rookie Hulkenberg in 13th. The latter beating his veteran Williams team mate Rubens Barrichello who ended 14th.

Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) was best of the new team drivers, finishing 16th ahead of Vitaly Petrov (Renault) who had a torrid afternoon which included a drive through penalty for a jump start.

Karun Chandhok (Hispania Racing) finished 18th which he will put down as a good result albeit 4 laps adrift of race winner Hamilton. Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing) was the final finisher.

Race Result – 13 June