Lewis Hamilton secures victory in Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has finally secured his first Grand Prix victory of the 2012 season at the Canadian Grand Prix, after a late surge from 3rd saw the Brit overtake both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso who suffered from tyre degradation towards the end of the race. With Alonso and Vettel falling away, this allowed Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.

At the start Sebastian Vettel stormed away at the front after a superlative getaway, as Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg became locked in a grueling battle for 5th. However, Rosberg soon began to fall away as Paul di Resta made this way around the German. Felipe Massa made a huge error heading into turn 2, and spun his Ferrari which saw him loose several places.

On lap 13, Felipe Massa became the first driver to pit before di Resta and Schumacher followed suit a lap later. Whilst other drivers also began making their pit-stops, Lewis Hamilton began reeling in leader Vettel. By lap 16, Vettel pitted handing the lead down to Hamilton. His lead was short lived as the Brit also pitted a lap later, as Fernando Alonso assumed the lead. The Spaniard remained in the lead for several laps, until he too eventually pitted on lap 19 handing the lead down Grosjean. Upon exiting the pit-lane, Alonso rejoined just in front of Lewis Hamilton.

However, Alonso failed to keep the faster Hamilton behind him for too long as Hamilton stormed past the Spaniard with the assistance of the DRS. Whilst all this excitement was going on at the front, both HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan retired with separate issues.

Jenson Button’s torrid race weekend continued during the race, as the Brit soon found himself dropping back amongst the midfield teams. Sergio Perez and Kimi Raikkonen stayed out through the first round of pit-stops, the two obviously attempting a one-stop strategy. It wasn’t until lap 41 and 42 respectively that both Raikkonen and Perez finally made their one and only stops of the race.

Michael Schumacher’s bad luck continued during the race, when the 7-time World Champion was forced to retire after his DRS-flap stuck open. To avoid being issued the black and orange flag, the Mercedes driver eventually took to the pits only to retire for the fifth time this season. With only two points scored so far, this has been the German’s most uncompetitive start to a Formula 1 season.

By lap 50, Lewis Hamilton was forced to pit from the lead as the Brit’s tyres began to wear. This handed the lead back to Fernando Alonso, as Hamilton dropped back down to 3rd place. After initially thinking both Alonso and Vettel would also pit a second time, McLaren began urging Hamilton forward after it became apparent the leading duo of would not pit again.

This meant Lewis Hamilton would have to pass both Vettel and Alonso if he was to have any hope of winning his first race in 2012. With Hamilton on much newer tyres in comparison to the leaders, it was no surprise that the Brit stormed past first Vettel and then Alonso with ease with the assistance of DRS down the back straight.

As Lewis Hamilton stormed into the lead, leaving Alonso trailing in his wake, Sebastian Vettel opted to pit for some fresh tyres. With Alonso stubbornly staying out on track with badly worn tyres, Romain Grosjean and then Sergio Perez quickly caught up with the Ferrari driver and subsequently found their way past. Sebastian Vettel, now on fresher rubber, also made his way past the Spaniard whose hopes of a second victory faded away in the closing laps of the race.

After their recent run of bad luck, McLaren finally returned to the top step of the podium as Lewis Hamilton stormed across the line to become the record breaking seventh different winner in the opening seven races of 2012. Behind the British star Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez completed the podium after a magnificent performance by the Lotus and Sauber drivers.

With Lewis Hamilton taking victory in Canada, this now means the British driver has taken the lead in the Drivers’ Championship as the F1 fraternity now pack up and head back to Europe for the European Grand Prix around the Valencia Street Circuit.

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