Canada – Race: Vettel’s Dominant First in Montreal

Unlike the last two race days in Montreal, rain is not present at the start of the race, but a shower is still possible during the Grand Prix – with a 20% chance of rain – which promises to be exciting.

On the starting grid, following the qualifying rounds held in the rain, the drivers have a choice of their tires, and everyone starts on super softs except di Resta, Bianchi, Chilton, and Grosjean.

At the start, Sebastian Vettel takes off well and finds Hamilton behind him along with Nico Rosberg, who managed to overtake Valtteri Bottas, just like Mark Webber in the first few hundred meters. At the back of the grid, a good start from Giedo van der Garde, who was 21st on the grid and ends up 17th by the end of the last lap.

At the end of the first lap, Fernando Alonso manages to pass Bottas’s Williams for 5th place. At the end of the next lap, a repeat of a Ferrari overtaking a Williams with Massa passing Maldonado.

After three laps, Sebastian Vettel has already built a substantial lead, he is ahead of Lewis Hamilton by 3.2 seconds. At the back of the grid, Romain Grosjean is making slow progress, the Frenchman is only in 20th position, while di Resta, also on mediums, isn’t doing much better with only 16th place.

At the beginning of the 6th lap, Bottas, in 6th place, acts as a roadblock, but Vergne manages to pass him. Subsequently, Sutil tries to overtake the Finn as well, but Sutil loses control of his Force India and spins. At the end of the same lap, there’s another incident involving the German and a Williams, but this time it’s between Sutil and Maldonado; the Venezuelan misses his braking at the hairpin and hits Sutil.

At the end of the 8th lap, Giedo van der Garde is the first to pit. At the same time, di Resta says that his DRS problem is resolved. The Scotsman is still 16th. The following lap, it’s Adrian Sutil’s turn to pit from 13th place. He returns to the track in 20th position.

On the 10th lap, Vettel increased his lead to 5.5 seconds over Hamilton, 10 over Rosberg, and 11 over Webber. The German driver is pushing hard and slightly touches the wall at turn 5. Meanwhile, Räikkönen (9th) has to defend against Massa, and the Finn stays ahead of the Ferrari.

At the beginning of the 12th lap, Räikkönen passes Ricciardo in a three-way battle with Massa. Charles Pic is the 3rd driver to pit early in the race. At the front, Vettel pushes hard and at the end of this 12th lap, he now has a 7.4-second lead over Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, and Maldonado also make their pit stops.

At the end of the 13th lap, it was Mark Webber in 4th place who stopped at the pits. The Red Bull driver was followed by Vergne, who was in 6th place. After his first stint on super softs, Webber decided to do his second stint on Mediums. At the end of the next lap, it was Nico Rosberg who decided to stop. Unlike Webber, he went back out on super softs. Bottas also stopped and rejoined in 13th position.

The stewards decide to study the accident between Sutil and Maldonado, and the Williams driver is penalized with a drive-through for causing a collision.

At the end of the 15th lap, Vettel stops, swapping the super softs for Mediums. He is mimicked by Fernando Alonso. This puts Lewis Hamilton in the lead of the race at the wheel of his Mercedes. Further back in the pack, Paul di Resta is in 9th position just ahead of Romain Grosjean, both having started on Mediums and benefiting from these first pit stops. Hamilton continues for another lap in the lead while Massa pits from the top 10. Maldonado is also in the pits to serve his penalty.

On the 18th lap, Hamilton still doesn’t stop and the Mercedes driver continues to lead with only a 6-second advantage over Vettel, who is in 2nd and has already stopped. At the end of this same lap, Hamilton, who was losing a lot of time to Vettel, also goes through the pits, handing the lead of the race back to the German.

On the 20th lap, Vettel has a 10.9 second lead over Hamilton. In the top 10, several drivers have yet to pit, including Räikkönen, di Resta, Grosjean, and Button. Not everyone is on the same strategy, which promises exciting battles and uncertainties.

**After 22 laps** only, there are already three drivers a lap down: Chilton, Pic, and Van der Garde, while Jules Bianchi is 17th ahead of Gutiérrez and Maldonado. At the end of the lap, Kimi Räikkönen is the second-last driver who started on super-softs to stop, with Button continuing on the track. The Finnish driver loses some time in the pits due to a problem at the right rear, having been informed before his stop that he was consuming more than expected.

**After 25 laps**, Button starts to lap much slower than his rivals. The McLaren driver seems to be attempting a one-stop strategy. At the front, Vettel is running his own race with a 15-second lead over Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

On the 26th lap, Button stops for the first time in the race. He switches from super softs to mediums, to make it to the finish? During his stop, Button saw Sebastian Vettel lap him already.

At the 27th lap, we have a trio of drivers fighting for 3rd place, Rosberg is just ahead of Webber and Alonso. With the help of DRS, Webber takes his chance but it doesn’t work out for the Australian. However, the Red Bull is clearly faster than the Mercedes even though the latter is on super softs while Webber is on mediums.

On the 30th lap, Rosberg finally sees Webber pass in the first DRS zone and Alonso in the second. The German driver loses two places in quick succession and is now in 5th position. Webber now has a clear track ahead with Hamilton 10 seconds in front of him. In the following lap, Rosberg goes back to the pits, indicating he was struggling with his tires. He switches to mediums unsurprisingly and maintains his position despite the stop.

On the 32nd lap, with a clear track ahead of him, Mark Webber stands out by setting the fastest lap. Behind Vettel, still in the lead, we have Hamilton, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Vergne, di Resta, Grosjean (both of whom have not yet pitted), Sutil, and Massa who is in 10th place.

On the 34th lap, Kimi Räikkönen sees Sebastian Vettel lap him; a bad operation for the 2nd in the drivers’ championship against the leader. Meanwhile, Giedo Van der Garde makes his second pit stop.

After 36 laps, Vettel dominates this 2013 Canadian Grand Prix with ease, the German driver has a 16-second lead over Hamilton, in 2nd place. He has already lapped 10 out of the 22 drivers. His teammate, Mark Webber, was hit by Giedo van der Garde while the Australian was lapping the Dutchman. The front wing of the Red Bull was damaged in the maneuver, and part of the wing detached while passing the chicane before the finish line.

Meanwhile, Alonso strings together two fastest laps in the race. The double world champion is on the attack. Following the incident with Webber, unsurprisingly, van der Garde is under investigation by the track stewards.

After 38 laps, Vettel continues his solo run and laps Pérez, who is in 10th position and therefore in the points! As for Alonso, he continues to be the fastest on the track. Still no sign of a pit stop from di Resta, Grosjean, Bianchi, and Chilton – the 4 drivers who started on mediums on the grid. Vettel sets the fastest lap of the race at the end of the lap but not for long as Alonso does better.

At the 39th lap, the race direction announces a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for Giedo van der Garde for ignoring blue flags and causing a collision with Mark Webber. Meanwhile, Max Chilton is the first of the drivers who started on mediums to pit.

At the beginning of the 42nd lap, following an error by Webber at the hairpin in the previous lap, Alonso manages to pass the Australian with the help of DRS.

In the 43rd lap, it is Grosjean and di Resta’s turn to see Sebastian Vettel looming in their rearview mirrors. Despite a pit stop, the German driver has already lapped the two men. Shortly after, Romain Grosjean goes through the pits for the first time, as does Jules Bianchi driving the Marussia. Grosjean puts on the super softs. Paul di Resta is thus the only driver on the track who hasn’t pitted, and the Scotsman continues onto the next lap.

At the 44th lap, di Resta is 7th ahead of Sutil, with two stops to none for the German driver, who has been dragging a damaged rear wing since his collision with Maldonado.

At the beginning of the 46th lap, Vettel lapped all the drivers beyond and including 8th place. The order of the drivers on the track is therefore sparse compared to the actual race standings. Vettel resumes his forward march by clocking two fastest laps while Webber heads into the pits. Upon exiting the pits, Webber faces Giedo van der Garde and Hülkenberg’s Sauber, which is moving slowly.

In the process, the Caterham loses its front wing, which gets stuck under the car, but van der Garde continues on the track while Alonso stops at the pits to change tires. Yellow flag waved following van der Garde’s stop at the side of the track after being hit by Hülkenberg at the end of the straight before the chicane. Both drivers retire one after the other.

Hamilton takes advantage to refuel on the 48th lap while di Resta is still on the mediums he’s had since the start in 7th position. Vettel also enters the pits from the lead of the race.

On the 50th lap, following the collision between van der Garde and Hülkenberg, the stewards are investigating the incident that forced both men to retire. Mark Webber stands out by setting the fastest lap of the race. With 19 laps to go, still no sign of di Resta in the pits.

On the 51st lap, Vettel makes a mistake while braking in the first corner and has to cut the second due to his error. The incident between van der Garde and Hülkenberg will ultimately be subject to an investigation after the race, which is not illogical since neither driver is still present in this Grand Prix.

On the 53rd lap, Alonso sets the fastest lap and closes in on Hamilton. At the same time, Grosjean – who is on super softs – is overtaken by Massa – who is on softs. The Ferrari driver thus takes 10th place from the Frenchman. The medium tires seem to be the best option at the moment, which explains why Paul di Resta continues on track and delays his first pit stop as much as possible to do few laps on super softs. Romain Grosjean pits at the end of the lap to put on medium tires.

On lap 55, Rosberg is asked to widen the gap with Vergne to allow for a stop since a flat spot has been detected on his tires and a pit stop is possible if needed. Alonso laps Massa and is closing in on Hamilton, less than 2 seconds behind, while Webber is instructed to keep pushing as he has a chance to catch up to Hamilton as well before the checkered flag.

Paul di Resta goes through the pits for the first time at the end of this 55th lap. He obviously puts on the super softs to go to the end of the race with a single stop.

On the 56th lap, Lewis Hamilton’s engineer informs him that the temperatures are fine, and in a manner reminiscent of Kimi Räikkönen in Abu Dhabi, the Briton asks to be left to drive now. Nico Rosberg has managed to create a sufficient gap over Vergne to make a pit stop. The Frenchman follows the German by making another stop; he is 6th.

On the 59th lap, Sutil acts as a roadblock in front of Hamilton and Alonso. He finally moves aside in the DRS zone, but the German is under investigation by the stewards for not respecting the blue flags waved by the trackside marshals. The decision is swift and the Sahara Force India driver receives a drive-through penalty for ignoring those blue flags.

After 61 laps out of 70, Vettel is still leading ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Vergne, di Resta, Sutil, Räikkönen, and Felipe Massa, who currently holds the last point. He is ahead of both McLaren drivers. At the chicane braking, Alonso tries his luck against Hamilton, but the Mercedes driver manages to hold his position. In the second DRS zone, the Ferrari driver manages to overtake, but the two men slightly touch.

On the 62nd lap, Sutil serves his penalty and the Force India driver comes out in 10th position, 2 seconds ahead of Sergio Pérez’s McLaren.

On the 65th lap, Alonso manages to stay ahead of Hamilton, meanwhile, Vettel continues his domination and laps Jean-Eric Vergne who is nonetheless in 6th. Yellow flag at the first corner following Esteban Gutiérrez’s exit, who has a damaged front wing and hit a tire wall. The Mexican exits his car on his own, seemingly more scared than hurt.

On the 68th lap, and therefore two laps from the checkered flag, Vettel is still comfortably leading the race with a 16-second advantage over his runner-up, Fernando Alonso. Behind, the gaps are quite significant, except for Räikkönen, who is under threat from Felipe Massa. Meanwhile, Alonso sets the fastest lap and, in the process, his teammate Massa overtakes Räikkönen’s Lotus. Webber then takes the fastest lap from the Spaniard.

In the final lap, Vettel sets the best first sector but after encountering some traffic with Pic’s Caterham, he can’t achieve the fastest lap but secures his first victory in Canada, his third win of the season, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton who complete the podium.

Then follow Webber, Rosberg, Vergne who achieved a nice 6th place with his Toro Rosso, di Resta who only made one stop, Massa, Räikkönen also with a single stop, and Adrian Sutil. Both McLaren drivers finish outside the points ahead of Grosjean (13th) and Bottas (14th) who could not capitalize on his good qualifying in the dry today. Ricciardo finishes in 15th place ahead of Maldonado, Bianchi, Pic, and Chilton.

With his second place combined with Räikkönen’s 9th, Alonso takes the second place in the drivers’ championship ahead of the Finn and behind Sebastian Vettel. Also noteworthy is that only Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, and Rosberg finished on the same lap as the winner, Sebastian Vettel, while Mark Webber clocked the fastest lap in the race.

2013 Canadian Grand Prix Formula 1 Standings: