McLaren-Mercedes took its second successive one-two finish as Lewis Hamilton led home Jenson Button in an exciting Canadian Grand Prix, in which tyre wear played a major role on the race strategy.
Fernando Alonso put in a brave fight for the lead but traffic affected his progress and in the end, had to settle for third in the Ferrari. The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished fourth and fifth respectively, with the former nursing a car problem and the latter struggling with grip on graining Bridgestone.
This was a race of tyre strategy and it was fascinating to see the difference in grip and durability in running the super-soft compared to the medium. In the case of Lewis Hamilton, he started the race on the super-soft and after switching to the medium, had the speed advantage and desire to take the chequered flag in style.
As for the Red Bulls, both Webber and Vettel opted the medium compound in the first stint in a bid that this Bridgestone tyre will be more durable, but in the race that all-familiar problem of graining occurred and in Webber’s case, he was losing grip and time (not help by traffic as well) that cost him track position.
Nico Rosberg recovered from being pushed back into the mid-field during a chaotic first lap to take sixth for Mercedes GP, ahead of Renault’s Robert Kubica, who had a wheel-banging battle with Michael Schumacher in the early stages that saw both take to the grass.
Schumacher’s tyre troubles affected him the most compared to the others, with the Mercedes stopping three times in the pits and was still lapping four seconds off the pace in the final stint… Sebastien Buemi passed him for seventh, and he was then caught by Felipe Massa.
The Brazilian and Tonio Liuzzi managed to tangle twice during the first two corners of the race, damaging both cars. After pitting for repairs, they charged back towards the points, only for Massa to lose his front wing when Schumacher defended his position aggressively with six laps to the flag.
Liuzzi then took up the challenge of trying to overtake Schumacher, who slid over the final chicane and banged wheels with the Italian more than once as he fought to maintain his position in ninth. On the last lap, Schumacher tumbled down to P11 as the Force Indias forced by to take the remaining championship points.
Other drivers hitting trouble on the opening lap were both Saubers and Vitaly Petrov. The Renault took to the grass on the run towards the first corner and ended up spinning into Pedro de la Rosa, damaging both cars, with Petrov also receiving a jump-start penalty. The second Sauber was soon heading for the pits too – Kamui Kobayashi sliding into the wall at the final chicane as he jousted with Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams.
In the battle of the second division of Formula One, Heikki Kovalainen took the honours for Lotus with P16 but alas his team-mate Jarno Trulli had to retire with mechanical problems. Karun Chandhok and Lucas di Grassi were the remaining drivers to be classified while their respective team-mates Bruno Senna and Timo Glock were forced to pull out from the race.
By winning the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton now leads the drivers’ standings with 109 points, three ahead of Jenson Button and six over Mark Webber. In the constructors’ the McLaren team now heads the field with 215 over Red Bull’s 193 and the Scuderia on 161 points.
Race results from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 70 laps:
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:53.456
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes +2.254
3. Alonso Ferrari +9.214
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +37.817
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault +39.291
6. Rosberg Mercedes +56.084
7. Kubica Renault +57.300
8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
9. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
11. Schumacher Mercedes +1 lap
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
14. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +1 lap
15. Massa Ferrari +1 lap
16. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps
17. Petrov Renault +2 laps
18. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth +4 laps
19. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth +5 laps
Fastest lap: Kubica, 1:16.972
Not classified/retirements:
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 50 laps
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 43 laps
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 31 laps
Senna HRT-Cosworth 14 laps
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2 laps
World Championship standings, round 8:
Drivers:
1. Hamilton 109
2. Button 106
3. Webber 103
4. Alonso 94
5. Vettel 90
6. Rosberg 74
7. Kubica 73
8. Massa 67
9. Schumacher 34
10. Sutil 23
11. Liuzzi 12
12. Barrichello 7
13. Petrov 6
14. Buemi 5
15. Alguersuari 3
16. Hulkenberg 1
17. Kobayashi 1
Constructors:
1. McLaren-Mercedes 215
2. Red Bull-Renault 193
3. Ferrari 161
4. Mercedes 108
5. Renault 79
6. Force India-Mercedes 35
7. Williams-Cosworth 8
8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
9. Sauber-Ferrari 1
Next race: European Grand Prix, Valencia. June 25-27.
Race winner Lewis Hamilton’s view on the Canadian Grand Prix as taken from Autosport.com.
Lewis Hamilton was elated after what he labelled as a fantastic weekend following his second consecutive win in a row.
The McLaren driver moved to the top of the championship standings after scoring his second win in three races in Canada, leading team-mate Jenson Button to the second consecutive 1-2 for the British squad.
A delighted Hamilton, starting from pole, admitted things could not have been better for him in Montreal.
“It has been a tremendous weekend, it has been fantastic,” said Hamilton.
“I got here on Wednesday and things have gone so well. I’ve had incredible support from the fans, with so many Brits out here, which is great to see.
“The team did an exceptional job – it was one of the toughest races so far but that is what you want. I am very happy and proud of the team.”
The Briton conceded rival Red Bull may still have the quickest car on more demanding circuits, but he is convinced McLaren will end up as the team to beat.
“We are doing everything we can to close gap to them,” he added. “On other circuits where downforce is a bit higher they may be a bit ahead still, but I have no doubts we will close the gap.
“Clearly on race weekends we are doing a better job, but hopefully we can continue with that. This is a special day for me. I won my first grand prix here and to repeat it after three years is a real pleasure.”
Hamilton, now three points ahead of team-mate Button, had to pass Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso after the Spaniard emerged ahead following their first pitstop.
The duo nearly made contact as Hamilton was released when Alonso was in the pitlane, but the incident was not investigated.
“I think I came in quite a bit ahead of him, but clearly did not have the best pitstop,” Hamilton said.
“I saw him being released and as he pulled away I saw him in my blind spot. All of sudden he was there with me, so we raced to the first corner and he got ahead. He had a great pace.”
Jenson Button was very happy with his second-place finish in the Canadian Grand Prix, in what he said was a very fun race.
“It was a great race, very enjoyable and pretty tough,” said Button, who finished second behind McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton after having started from fourth position.
“It was a really fun race and it is very difficult to judge when to push on the tyres. I think I probably kicked in a bit early in the last stint, but it got me P2, so a big thank you to the whole team.
“This guy [Hamilton] was phenomenal. It is good to finish close to the race and good to get some points.”
The result allowed the McLaren duo to move into the top of the standings, with Hamilton two points ahead of Button.
Button admitted the tyre problems made for a very interesting race.
“It was an exciting race from that point of view,” he added. “It’s great to be up at the front watching the fight between these two. It was fun, and for the viewers it was a great race, down to the tyres being a bit more different than normal. It has made for a hell of a race.”
The Briton also wished a quick recovery to race engineer Jakob Andreasen, who was forced to return home before qualifying.
“Jakob is poorly this weekend. He did the set-up work initially so some of this result is down to him. So I had Phil Prew who is chief engineer who has worked with Lewis over the last few years.
“It’s always interesting working with new people and new ideas. I hope Jakob is well and hopefully see him back at the circuit.”
Source: Autosport.com
Even though he missed out on the chance to win the race at Montreal, Fernando Alonso was still encouraged by Ferrari’s performance. Autosport.com has the details.
Fernando Alonso insisted the Canadian Grand Prix was still an encouraging race for Ferrari, even though he missed out on opportunities to win.
The Spaniard finished third behind the two McLarens, but had been ahead of both at different stages, only for Lewis Hamilton to slip through when both were trying to pass the yet-to-pit Sebastien Buemi, and Jenson Button to pounce when Alonso was caught behind Karun Chandhok’s Hispania.
However Alonso said he was still buoyed by the fact that Ferrari was back on the pace following its poor performance in Turkey, and took that as a sign that he could now be a bigger factor in the title battle even though he lost out in Montreal.
“I think it was a good day for us, the car was very competitive here in Canada,” said Alonso. “I had a good opportunity to win today, fighting with Lewis, we overtook him with a fantastic job in the pitlane.
“We lost position with traffic and then lost another position – we lost 10 points with those from 25 to 15. But it was a great recovery for the championship, we were 50 seconds behind McLaren in Turkey and fighting for the win here. We are moving in right direction here and I think we are back in the fight.
“We were really close, we had some good fights and it was a good feeling for me to come back in a position to win the race, and being on the podium.”
Mark Webber said he was left with mixed emotions following his fifth-place finish in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Australian had qualified in second position but was dropped to seventh following a penalty for replacing his car’s gearbox ahead of the race.
In the end Webber finished a distant fifth which was not enough to keep him in the championship lead following McLaren’s 1-2.
Having recovered two places after his penalty, Webber welcomed the points, but admitted he was hoping for a podium.
“We knew it was going to be a bit like that here today,” Webber told the BBC. “Tyres playing a huge role in the race, also, when you’ve obviously made the pit strategies that we did and I think in the end we did the best that we could do.
“Obviously, they split the cars with Seb [Vettel] on the option in the middle. I stayed on the Prime and was going to finish the race on the Option. Obviously it’s dangerous waiting for a safety car as well in terms of because, if that happens, your race is pretty much over as well in the front as the race is neutralised.
“So mixed emotions. I mean, after the penalty this morning – seventh – but then I had a good first few laps. I managed to get into a few people. That took its toll a little bit on the first set of tyres so I was in trouble a little bit earlier than I would have liked.”
Webber, who had opted to start the race on the harder tyre compound and finish on softs, denied the strategy had backfired.
“Not really,” he said. “I knew everyone was pretty close together. I was obviously monitoring the gaps to Lewis. It was going away a bit obviously at the start because he was pacing to get to the end. I was just trying to hold my pace constant. In the end, the tyres didn’t want that pace so in the end they go away.
“It’s virtually impossible to keep them happy – the tyres – degrading no matter really how slow you drive.
“It wasn’t really a surprise – because I knew people were backed up behind Lewis – to come back out fifth. It would have been nice to get a few more places. I wanted some champagne today but in the end it didn’t happen.”
Source: Autosport.com
By finishing in eigthth position, Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi was ‘super happy’ in getting a good result at Montreal. Autosport.com has the details.
Sebastien Buemi declared himself ‘super happy’ following his best result of the season in the Canadian Grand Prix.
“I am super happy to have scored four points because we did not expect that much,” said Buemi after finishing in eighth position in the Toro Rosso.
The Swiss driver admitted he was also delighted to have passed Michael Schumacher on track when fighting for position.
“The team did an excellent job, especially during the pitstops and also the strategy was spot on,” he added. “I enjoyed some fights, including passing Schumacher which was difficult because, even though we were on the same tyres, with his being older than mine, he is a real fighter.
“I also enjoyed leading the race for a lap, which was a nice feeling. I hope this means my season will really kick off now, because I have not had much luck and the team has been working really hard.
“It feels so much better to have had a ‘normal’ race today. Eighth place, leading the race and passing Michael. What a day!”
Team-mate Jaime Alguersuari finished down in 12th position and the Spaniard conceded the most positive thing was seeing the chequered flag once again.
“On the positive side, I finished the race,” he said. “It was a tough afternoon which did not go so well for me, even if I was involved in a lot of exciting incidents and moves.
“The best point for me is that the team once again gave me a reliable car with which I could finish the race and gain more valuable experience. So now, I’m already looking forward to Valencia, another race on Spanish soil.”
UPDATE: Felipe Massa has had 20 seconds added to his race time at the Canadian Grand Prix for a pitlane speeding offence.
The Brazilian pitted in the closing stages of the Montreal event after damaging his front wing in a collision with Michael Schumacher at the final chicane.
He broke the speed limit during that late stop but, because it came in the closing stages of the event, there was not enough time to give him a drive-through penalty.
In lieu of that penalty, Massa had 20 seconds added to his race time, although it will not affect his 15th position finish because he was a lap clear of the next car – Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen.
Source: Autosport.com
Mercedes boss Ross Brawn said the team was over-ambitious in trying to get the softer tyres to last for too long in Michael Schumacher’s car during the Canadian Grand Prix.
Schumacher looked set for an eighth-place finish before he started to struggle with his tyres.
Although the German tried hard not to lose places, he was eventually passed by three drivers, dropping outside of the points.
Brawn admitted the strategy had probably been wrong.
“Michael was looking strong in the first phase of the race and was very well-placed,” said Brawn. “Unfortunately the incident with Kubica punctured the right front tyre and coming in for the extra stop meant we were out of phase with where we wanted to be with the tyres.
“With hindsight, it was over-ambitious to try and get the Option to last as long as we did and Michael really struggled towards the end. We’ve come away with some points from the weekend but not as many as we would have hoped.”
Schumacher, who finished 11th, was at least encouraged by the pace of his car.
“Towards the end, I was trying as hard as I could to defend myself but it was only possible to a certain degree and my tyres were just ruined after having done more than half the race distance. I was fighting cars with a good top speed which was quite tough.
“Otherwise I would have been in a good position I think so we have something to take away to the next races.”
Team-mate Nico Rosberg finished in sixth position.
In addition, Schumacher has been cleared off any punishment regarding that collision with Massa during the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details:
Michael Schumacher has escaped a penalty for his part in a collision with Felipe Massa during the Canadian Grand Prix.
The two drivers were battling for position in the closing stages of the race when Schumacher moved across on Massa to retake the racing line for the final corner.
Massa ran into the back of Schumacher, damaging his front wing and briefly running off the track.
The race stewards were asked to look into the matter but, after speaking to both drivers, they decided that no action needed to be taken.
Jaime Alguersuari was reprimanded following a collision with Rubens Barrichello in the early stages of the race.
Robert Kubica was reprimanded for a dangerous entry to the pitlane following his near coming together with Adrian Sutil in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Renault driver was battling for position with his Force India rival shortly before he was due into the pits when he found himself right behind the German on the run to the final corner.
As Sutil hit the brakes for the last corner, Kubica decided to dive inside and straight into the pits – narrowly avoiding a collision.
The stewards looked into the matter and decided to reprimand Kubica for what happened.
Renault was surprised that it suffered high tyre wear in the Canadian Grand Prix despite Robert Kubica starting on the harder medium tyres.
The Pole had hoped that his tyre strategy would give him the edge over the drivers around him who were using super softs for the first stint, but he was affected by severe degradation as well, and could not stay with the leaders – eventually finishing seventh.
“The six points I got this afternoon were my toughest points of the year,” he said.
“We chose to qualify on the prime tyre yesterday and hoped it would be an advantage in the first part of the race, but unfortunately it didn’t work out. I had a lot of rear degradation in the first stint, which meant I pitted early, then the rear tyres went off in the second stint as well.”
Renault’s chief race engineer Alan Permane agreed that the high tyre wear had come as a surprise.
“This afternoon’s race was all about tyre degradation,” he said. “We had hoped that our decision to qualify on the prime tyre with Robert would pay off, but we saw more degradation than expected in the first two stints, and that ultimately cost him position to [Nico] Rosberg – even though we ran in front of him for much of the race.”
Kubica’s battling race was also enlivened by a physical dice with Michael Schumacher that saw both take to the grass, and a close call with Adrian Sutil as he dived into the pits across the front of the Force India.
“I was racing him on my in-lap and we were side by side before the last corner, I was on the right, so I backed off and pulled behind him to take my line for the pits, but he braked very early and hard,” said Kubica. “I had to go round him to avoid causing an accident.”
Source: Autosport.com
Even though both cars finished in the points, Force India team boss was hoping more success following the race in Montreal. Read the full story as taken from Autosport.com.
Force India boss Vijay Mallya says he was hoping for more despite a double points finish in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Tonio Liuzzi finished the Montreal race in ninth position, with team-mate Adrian Sutil in tenth as the Silverstone-based squad continued with its streak of grands prix in the points.
Both drivers, however, were hampered by accidents early in the race.
Mallya welcomed the points but admitted he would have hoped for a better result.
“Another double points finish for the team is a very positive result, but given our outstanding qualifying performance yesterday I think in my heart of hearts I would have hoped for more,” said Mallya.
“Both drivers got caught in unfortunate accidents and dropped back but they drove excellently to salvage three points, which, given the circumstances of the race, is very good. We also picked up significant damage on both cars in the incidents and to still show that level of performance is very encouraging.
“What we have learnt this weekend is that we’ve got a very strong car that’s capable of fighting with the top four teams entirely on merit and we have two top line drivers who are functioning at their best. We’re really looking forward to Valencia now.”
Williams drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello were left frustrated to have missed out on points in Canada, having been confident they were fast enough to have scored had they stayed out of trouble.
The duo qualified on row six but finished 14th and 15th, with Hulkenberg having lost his front wing running into Adrian Sutil, and Barrichello suffered damage in an incident with Jaime Alguersuari.
“We were there today with our pace to bank some points, but it became a very busy race,” said Barrichello, who also lost ground off the line with anti-stall issue.
“I had a problem on the grid, so I had to make up some places. I passed Alguersuari, but he came across me to cover his line too late as I was already there. He hit me with a big, 2g impact.
“The damage blocked my front left brake duct and when the temperatures climbed, I lost the pedal and had to let cars by until I could pit. Even after the stop, it took three laps for the brake pedal to come back, so the incident really destroyed our race and it is frustrating for the whole team as we certainly had a car capable of a good finish today.”
Hulkenberg got into the top ten at the start, but as well as being delayed in the Sutil tangle, he was also penalised for pitlane speeding.
“The first problem occurred when I was fighting with Sutil and I damaged my front wing, which meant that I had to make an unscheduled stop on lap six,” he said.
“Then unfortunately on my second stop I broke the speed limit, which meant a drivethrough penalty.
“All of these incidents cost a lot of time and we didn’t achieve a points finish which was clearly possible today. In summary, I think we had a much-improved car here and I am sorry that I did not manage to capitalise on all the hard work the team put in this weekend.”
Source: Autosport.com
Well, what a great race! OK so it was only so given the extreme tyre wearing track surface, but still who cares when we get racing like we did.
While we didn’t get the traditional BIG crash at the first corner,but we did get plenty of fender benders inc Massa I think and someone else, who decided they had enough of F1 racing and thought they’d give bumper car racing a go! It was like watching two Italian car drivers fighting in a traffic queue. I say this since I have witnessed such an event years ago.
I just love this track and the huge hairpin always makes for incredible chances and watching cars ‘concertina’ effect is amazing as the car behind almost drive up the arse of the car in front. In the wet, they pretty much do!
The expected rain predicted on Saturday didn’t happen, but yet again it didnt matter a jot. That’s 2 races on the trot where by weather could have actually made the race worse!
Shame Webber had to have his gearbox changed and yet again the conspiracy theorist decided this was done on purpose by Red Bull to favour Seb Vettel. Yeah right! While I thought their treatment of the Turkey incident was despicable (still cannot get over them patting and hugging Seb after the collision) and frankly insulting for Webber, putting one of their drivers back those places is just not something any team wants to do. Remember, they are in it for the team and risking points is something in this day and age, is never kindly thought of.
Anyways, it turns out neither of them had the speed or in fact the tyres to compete with the Mclarens. In fact at the time, Mark staying out so long may have cost him a place but in the end I don’t think it made much difference. Yet again, this race showed that Vettel, imo still isn’t the potential new Schumacher everyone thinks he is. Unless he’s in pole with the perfect car, I’ve yet to see him do anything! Wet race? Yeah not bad, but how often do we get wet races? Sorry but I just think he’s too mardy and just doesn’t have the skill yet to overcome a bad car or set of tyres etc.
The only other driver to come close the Mclarens was Alonso who i do think at a flip of a coin could have got second but think1st would be a touch too far despite how he lost his lead to Lewis and Jenson. He drove a brilliant drive and can be very happy at how the Ferrari is improving.
Congrats has to go to Force India also. Though no-one thought Liuzzi could stay with the leaders despite the great qualifying position. They’ll tell you they did, but no-one else did, that’s for sure. I only hope they can keep it up and not devote too much time to next years car already.
Despite no safety car this year ( only what twice in 8 years or something? )., there were plenty of incidents to hand penalties to people, though incredibly none were given to Shuey. he did have quite frankly one of his worst race ever I think. Not only was he slow anyways, but his tyres performed just horribly. This made the Shuey very angry and easy to overtake, except it actually didn’t make it easy for others to overtake, ‘cos Shuey decided, since he was back racing, then he should also bring back his ‘racing’ tactics by running people off the road or driving into them! But hey, he was miles back so gave a f**k? As it was mentioned, it’s all 2011 for him now, which btw, is something that was ALWAYS on the cards. It’s only the press who put all this expectation on him and Mercedes. At no point in him possibly joining the team was the discussion ” go out there and just win for gods sake “. There was always talk of 2010 get your feet in. 2011 do something with them!
So Mclaren get another 1-2 as Lewis got seriously ‘at one’ with his race car. even despite the tyre choices which most said was strange did I think it was a big mistake. I just think Lewis was destined to win this one again. Their car seems to have found another gear or air hole at least, and there is more to come when we get to Silverstone. If it’s faster cornering, then it’s game over Red Bull. Sorry I know Mclaren has it’s haters, even at this ( early ) stage, I find it hard they’ll grab this season by the horns ( get it? Christian HORNER?…….oh never mind lol ). I think they’ve cut corners ie cost on some parts and are only now changing that, and this year, there’s something about Christian, I dont like this year. I cannot quite put my finger on it, and I could be very wrong, but with Turkey and broken cars, I just get the feeling, there’s ‘trouble at mill’. His handling of Turkey was bad as I mentioned, but his speech afterwards this weekend was not in the least bit convincing that all is well that RB.
Anyways, I’ve babbled on long enough. Thanks for the write-up Elton, Valencia next, so hmmmm bring on an new Silverstone and torrential rain! 😀