Seventh Heaven for Hamilton

Hamilton beams as he sprays his mechanics with champagne.

Lewis Hamilton became the seventh different winner of what is turning out to be a vintage Formula 1 World Championship after his victory in the Canadian Grand Prix. He overhauled the one-stoppers Alonso and Vettel in the closing laps as his McLaren team benefited from a perfectly judged two-stop strategy. Alonso and Vettel fell down the order as Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean, both on two stops, grabbed the final podium places.

In contrast to last year’s washout, the race was played out in glorious Montreal sunshine and the warm weather meant that the chances of a one-stop strategy working were always slim. From the start, Vettel got away well and led out of turn one as the field meandered their way behind him. Felipe Massa was making good progress before a spin on lap 5 cost him a few places. Massa was also the first to stop on lap 13 with Schumacher and di Resta joining him on the softer tyres.

At the head of the field, Vettel and Hamilton were closely matched but Vettel was the first to blink. Hamilton stayed out longer and, even with a typical McLaren error during his pit-stop, was able to rejoin ahead of the reigning World Champion. Fernando Alonso stayed out longest as Ferrari seemed to combat their high tyre degradation and rejoined ahead of Hamilton after his stop. Hamilton though was a man on a mission and passed Alonso down the long Droit du Casino straight to take the lead of the Grand Prix. Hamilton led from Alonso and Vettel with the top three drivers in the world building up a substantial lead over the rest of the field.

Behind them, Raikkonen and Perez were clearly on a one-stop strategy but sitting comfortably in 4th and 5th. They eventually pitted on lap 41 and continued their battle in 8th and 9th place. Michael Schumacher continued to suffer horrendous bad luck this season (some sections of the F1 fanbase claim that is karma for earlier discrepancies) as his DRS was stuck open and despite the panicked actions of the Mercedes mechanics, the flap just simply would not close and so Schumacher was again forced into retirement. Another former World Champion suffering in Montreal was Jenson Button. Having won so brilliantly last season, Button was languishing down the field for most of the race, struggling with tyre wear even with his silky smooth driving style. He would finish a disappointing 16th having suffered the ignominy of being lapped by his team-mate and demanded answers as to why he was so off the pace.

The closing of stages of the Grand Prix saw the race come alive. Hamilton stopped again of lap 50 while Alonso and Vettel tried to see the race out on their worn rubber. Hamilton, with the advantage of fresh tyres under him, pumped in a series of blistering laps to cut the deficit to the top two and he muscled past Vettel on lap 62 before Vettel pitted two laps later. Hamilton closed on Alonso and passed the Spaniard for the second time as Alonso’s tyres fell of the proverbial cliff.

Romain Grosjean has impressed this season and took a deserved second place.

Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez had benefited from the chaos ahead and passed Alonso before Vettel too overtook him on the last lap. Hamilton took the chequered flag while Grosjean and Perez couldn’t believe their luck.

Provisional Classification:

1. Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) 1hr32:29.586
2. Romain Grosjean (Lotus F1) + 2.513
3. Sergio Perez (Sauber F1) + 5.260
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) + 7.295
5. Fernando Alonso (Scuderia Ferrari) + 13.411
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes AMG Petronas) + 13.842
7. Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)  + 15.085
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus F1) + 15.567
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber F1) + 24.432
10. Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari) + 25.272
11. Paul di Resta (Sahara Force India) + 37.693
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Sahara Force India) + 46.236
13. Pastor Maldonado (Williams F1) + 47.052
14. Daniel Ricciardo (Scuderia Toro Rosso) + 1:04.475
15. Jean-Eric Vergne (Scuderia Toro Rosso) + 1 Lap
16. Jenson Button (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) + 1 Lap
17. Bruno Senna (Williams F1) + 1 Lap
18. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham F1) + 1 Lap
19. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham F1) + 1 Lap
20. Charles Pic (Marussia F1) + 3 Laps

Not Classified:

• Timo Glock (Marussia F1) – Brakes, Lap 57
• Michael Schumacher (Mercedes AMG Petronas) – DRS, Lap 44
• Pedro de la Rosa (HRT F1) – Brakes, Lap 25
• Narain Karthikeyan (HRT F1) – Brakes, Lap 23

Drivers’ Championship Standings:

1. Lewis Hamilton – 88 Points
2. Fernando Alonso – 86 Points
3. Sebastian Vettel – 85 Points
4. Mark Webber – 79 Points
5. Nico Rosberg – 67 Points
6. Kimi Raikkonen – 55 Points
7. Romain Grosjean – 53 Points
8. Jenson Button – 45 Points
9. Sergio Perez – 37 Points
10. Pastor Maldonado – 29 Points
11. Kamui Kobayashi – 21 Points
12. Paul di Resta – 21 Points
13. Bruno Senna – 15 Points
14. Felipe Massa – 11 Points
15. Nico Hulkenberg – 7 Points
16. Jean-Eric Vergne – 4 Points
17. Daniel Ricciardo – 2 Points
18. Michael Schumacher – 2 Points

Constructors’ Championship Standings:

1. Red Bull Racing – 164 Points
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes – 133 Points
3. Lotus F1 – 108 Points
4. Scuderia Ferrari – 97 Points
5. Mercedes AMG Petronas – 69 Points
6. Sauber F1 – 58 Points
7. Williams F1 – 44 Points
8. Sahara Force India – 28 Points
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso – 6 Points