The Canadian Grand Prix was one of the best all season. Click to enlarge.
Six races in and the world championship is wide open, and Montreal always holds surprises.
Qualifying
It was Sebastien Vettel topping the grid this week, with Hamilton finishing off the front row in second place. Alonso was in third, meaning the front runners were in my opinion the 3 most competitive on the grid (but not in that order).
Meanwhile Di Resta showed his credentials again by qualifying eighth in front of a disappointing Jenson Button. Massa got a seasons best sixth place on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen failed to impress too, qualifying 12th. Maldonado picked up a five place penalty after crashing in practice causing a gearbox change.
Grid positions (after penalties)
- Vettel
- Hamilton
- Alonso
- Webber
- Rosberg
- Massa
- Grosjean
- Di Resta
The race was won by strategy and brilliant driving. Click to enlarge.
- Schumacher
- Button
- Kobayashi
- Raikkonen
- Hulkenburg
- Ricciardo
- Perez
- Senna
- Kovalainen
- Petrov
- Vergne
- de la Rosa
- Glock
- Maldonado
- Pic
- Karthikeyan
The race
The race started off with no incident, but Vettel got right out in front immediately, with Hamilton and Alonso chasing. This was the story for the rest of the race, but it was by no means boring- the midfield produced a number of overtakes, albeit unfortunately not from Jenson Button who was looking to replicate his victory in Montreal from last year.
The story was of pit-stop strategy though, as before his first stop Hamilton pushed hard and managed to undercut Vettel and gain the lead- Alonso came out between the two. Most teams were going with a two stop strategy, but Vettel and Alonso did not what to settle for second place behind a flying Hamilton. This meant the two teams took the risk and stayed out on degrading tyres. Hamilton came out of the pits about twenty seconds behind the top two, but pushed so hard by the end he was making three seconds a lap- a brilliant drive that got him a brilliant win.
That’s right: seven different winners in seven different races. This really is a “golden era” of Formula 1, as the pundits have said. So many world champions, so many future world champions and so many brilliant cars mean races are (almost) always exciting and unpredictable.
Back to the race, however, and it really was a bad choice for Vettel and Alonso. Vettel eventually did pit, finishing fourth, whilst Alonso stayed out and got fifth. Second and third don’t sound so bad now. It was Grosjean and Perez on the charge, who finished behind Hamilton. Rosberg was flying too- Alonso would have been sixth behind him if there were a few more laps. Really impressive stuff from Grosjean and Perez once again, who will surely be there or there abouts world champions in the future.
Massa picked up a point too, finishing 10th. I still don’t think he’s any good- would like to see Perez or even better Di Resta in his place at Ferrari. Schumacher also retired (again) due to his DRS failing to close.
Final positions
- Hamilton
- Grosjean
- Perez
- Vettel
- Alonso
- Rosberg
- Webber
- Raikkonen
- Kobayashi
- Massa
- Di Resta
It looked as if the win really meant something to Hamilton. Click to enlarge.
- Hulkenburg
- Maldonado
- Ricciardo
- Vergne
- Button
- Senna
- Kovalainen
- Petrov
- Pic
- Glock
- Schumacher
- de la Rosa
- Karthikeyan
Overall it was a fantastic race. Lots of overtakes, very unpredictable, and a great win for Hamilton who now narrowly leads the world championship. Any more different winners seems unlikely, but if you look at the stats we could easily see an eighth- Raikkonen, Perez and Grosjean are still possible contenders. Here’s hoping they make it at some point in the season, even if it’s not in Europe next time.
Next time it's Europe. Click to enlarge.
