Course: New McLaren Double

McLaren has just made a big impact after achieving a second consecutive one-two finish with Lewis Hamilton’s victory and Jenson Button’s second place in this Canadian Grand Prix, paced by numerous pit stops resulting from premature tire wear.

Fernando Alonso completes the podium by finishing third, the victory could have been his if caught in traffic, the two McLarens had not overtaken him.

Red Bull had to settle for fourth and fifth place, with Sebastian Vettel facing problems with his car for much of the race, while Mark Webber lost any chance of finishing well with an approximate tire strategy, leaving him on super-soft tires for too long to finish the race.

It quickly became evident that the soft tires would be too fragile, because while Hamilton held the lead at the start of the race, a few laps later Vettel, who had started on hard tires, was already closing in on him. Alonso was right behind them in fourth place, and Button had to fend off the equally threatening Webber. On the 5th lap, the Australian’s RBR took over in turn 8, just before Button already pitted for his first stop.

Quickly, Webber stormed past the small train of 3 drivers, Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso. Then in the lead, Hamilton and his soft tires pitted, rejoining he had to face Alonso’s Ferrari, the two cars side by side in the pit lane brushed against each other, and as soon as the limiter was deactivated, the Spanish driver had taken the upper hand over the young English prodigy.

Red Bull then found itself in the lead with a potential one-two finish, but it was clear that even the harder tire was degrading faster than usual, as Alonso, Hamilton, and Button were already catching up to the Australian-German duo, gaining up to a second per lap with their new tires.

At laps 12 and 13, Red Bull decided to split their strategy, with Vettel taking the super-soft tires, while Webber postponed this choice and went back out with the harder tires.

Through the pit stops, Sebastien Buemi, the Swiss driver from the Toro Rosso team, found himself leading the race for one lap, with Alonso and Hamilton battling in his wake.

It was precisely during this lap that Alonso’s attempt to overtake Buemi failed, which gave Hamilton a chance to pass the Ferrari. Thus, in a few meters, the McLaren went from third to first place since Buemi immediately pitted.

Alonso was becoming increasingly threatening behind Hamilton, as the latter was already seeing his tires degrade. On the 23rd lap, as the Ferrari attempted to take the lead, Hamilton decided to pit again to put on another set of hard tires. Alonso, Vettel, and Button quickly did the same, while Webber stayed on track and took the lead, trying to keep his hard tires intact for as long as possible, with the aim of minimizing his mandatory stint on super softs.

At the beginning, the plan worked well, with Webber managing to take a 10-second lead over Hamilton, Alonso, Button, and Vettel, who were in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th positions, respectively. But by the 39th lap, Webber’s tires showed obvious signs of wear, and the heavy traffic did not help the Australian driver’s situation. Hamilton, having closed in on his diffuser, took the lead on the 49th lap, prompting Webber to pit for super-soft tires. He then dropped to 5th place.

Vettel couldn’t keep up with the pace of the McLarens and Alonso, with the RBR team mentioning a problem to manage on the radio. The final battle was going to be between three, as the track was finally stabilizing, ensuring better tire durability for the drivers.

Fifteen laps from the finish, Button succeeded in overtaking Alonso, who had just lost his momentum behind Hispania driver, Karun Chandhok. The reigning world champion then found himself behind his teammate Hamilton. He began to make up ground on the leader, but by setting the fastest lap, Hamilton, nine laps from the end, decided to send a clear message to his compatriot. The positions then stabilized, the McLarens switched to cruising mode, while for Alonso, this third place marked a return to the podium after two difficult races.

Nico Rosberg, a victim of a very tight first lap, managed to come back from his mid-pack position to finish 6th. He was ahead of Robert Kubica’s Renault, who was seen fiercely battling with Michael Schumacher, even going so far as to fight it out on the grass.

Schumacher’s tire problems were even more apparent than for the other drivers. The Mercedes, having made three pit stops, was nearly 4 seconds off the pace of the leaders in the final stint. Buemi himself managed to overtake him for 7th place, as did Massa. The Brazilian and Tonio Liuzzi clashed from the start of the race, even making contact. After going to the pits for repairs, they returned to make up for lost positions. However, for Massa, another incident forced him to change a new body part, as Schumacher vigorously defended his position with 6 laps remaining, and the Brazilian’s front wing didn’t withstand the contact.

Liuzzi also decided to take on the challenge of overtaking Schumacher. The German driver defended vigorously to maintain 9th place. This proved impossible as, in a very competitive final lap, he was overtaken by both Force Indias of Liuzzi and Sutil, having to settle for 11th place, out of the points.

For the other drivers struggling during the first lap, the race was challenging. Petrov’s Renault, sliding onto the grass on the first lap, collided with de la Rosa’s Sauber, damaging both cars. The young Russian driver was also penalized for a false start. De la Rosa later stopped his car on the 31st lap in a cloud of white smoke. The second Sauber also had to pit very early, but in a duel with Hülkenberg, Kamui Kobayashi hit the wall at the last chicane.

Hamilton climbing to the top step of the Canadian podium symbolizes his takeover at the top of the driver standings, just as Button’s second place confirms his second position in the same standings. The McLaren drivers proudly uphold the colors of the English team, which is also leading the constructor standings.

As the F1 Circus returns to Europe, the question of English dominance arises:

Can McLaren achieve two doubles this season: Driver double (1st, 2nd) and Driver-Constructor double?

Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal, Canada.

70 laps. 309.396 km.

Weather: Sunny.

Ranking:

Not Classified/Withdrawals: