Vettel cruises to Canadian GP win

Sebastian Vettel has won his first career Canadian Grand Prix, dominating the race from start to finish without surrendering the lead once. Fernando Alonso, who started from sixth on the grid, finished in second place whilst Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was third.

Starting from pole position, Vettel got off to a fast start, quickly establishing himself as the leader by almost two full seconds over second placed Lewis Hamilton. Setting the tone for the race early, Vettel would continue to pull off into the distance, leaving the cars behind to battle for the remaining positions. Lewis Hamilton, who stayed firmly in second place for almost the entire duration of the race, lost his second place to Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso on lap 63, just seven away from the race end.

Alonso drove a spectacular race; fighting his way from a sixth place start through the crowd in front to overpower Hamilton in the final stages of the race, demonstrating again the fight and determination Alonso so often talks about. Alonso spent the first half of the race battling for third place with Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber having passed third placed Valtteri Bottas early in the race. Bottas, who impressed with his pace in qualifying, dropped from third to fifth off the line as the race started.

Unable to keep his quickly deteriorating tyres alive, Rosberg was passed by Webber on lap 30, with Alonso following shortly after. Webber seemed to be in control of Fernando Alonso for much of the race until Giedo van der Garde turned into Webber’s front wing going through the hairpin. Can der Garde was penalised for ignoring blue flags and causing a collision, but having taken a chunk off of Webber’s front wing, Alonso was able to chase down, and ultimately pass Webber for third, before going after Lewis Hamilton. Webber finished the race in fourth place, ten seconds away from Lewis Hamilton who, after having been passed by Alonso under DRS with just 7 laps to go, had to settle for third.

Nico Rosberg was fifth in a somewhat quiet race from the Monaco Grand Prix Winner just two weeks ago, whilst the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne placed sixth. It was a career best finished for the Toro Rosso outfit.

Not making a pitstop for a full 57 laps, Paul di Resta converted a 17th place start on the grid to a seventh place finish, scoring some much needed points for himself and Force India after blaming team mistakes for a poor qualifying session yesterday.

Surviving an eventful race which included a spin whilst trying to overtake Bottas, a minor shunt from Pastor Maldonado, and a penalty for ignoring blue waved flags, Adrian Sutil brought the second Force India car home in tenth place, whilst Felipe Massa was eight and Kimi Raikkonen ninth, continuing his points scoring run.

Further down the field, McLaren had a severe lack of pace which resulted in both cars finishing outside the Top Ten. Bottas, who started from his career high third on the grid, finished in fourteenth overall.

Having received a ten second stop/go penalty for ignoring blue flags and then causing a collision with Mark Webber, Giedo van der Garde’s disappointing weekend came to an early end on lap 48 when his front wing came off and got stuck underneath his car. Caterham instructed that he stop the car and cut the engine immediately. He was already two laps down when he retired from the race. Van der Garde was the first of three retirements this weekend; neither Sauber cars made it to the end when Hulkenberg retired with a suspension failure, whilst Gutierrez stopped on track late in the race.

Sebastian Vettel has increased his lead the Drivers’ World Championship with a total of 132 points, Fernando Alonso is in second 36 points behind. Red Bull Racing lead the Constructors’ World Championship with 201 points, 56 points ahead of second placed Ferrari.

The Formula 1 calendar resumes two weeks from now on the weekend of June 28 – 30, for the 2013 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix.