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Reigning champion Sebastian Vettel led 99.3% of Sunday’s 70-lap Canadian Formula 1 GP at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit on Notre-Dame Island in the St Lawrence Seaway. Unfortunately for the Red Bull driver the missing 0.7% was between the back chicane and the flag and it was there that Jenson Button zapped the 23-year-old German as he out-braked himself and slid wide.
It was an incredible reversal for 2009 champion Button who took his 10th career win despite at one stage running last, being involved in two accidents – each with former World champions (one of them his team mate) – a drive-through for not respecting the “delta” (minimum time gap between cars) during one of five pace-car phases, a race suspension due to heavy rain that took the total event time to four hours, and five pit-stops for new tyres.
ONE WET, ONE DRY
It was the ultra-smooth Button at his best; a performance he rightly described as “my best career win”.
He set up the victory during (dry) Saturday qualifying by taking more wing in a gamble that heavy rain would fall on the race. Almost the whole field took similar precautions, though some teams – Renault, for example - elected to run one car in full wet specification and the other on dry. Button and his engineers found just the right mix.
The negative was that downforce and gear ratios were far from perfect during qualifying – explaining his lowly seventh on the grid – and Button knew Sunday would be a case of hero or zero.
Still, there’s no denying Vettel dominated the race from the pace car-controlled start as the drivers had their first real taste of Pirelli’s wet rubber; the pre-season period was mainly dry, as were all 2011 races until Canada.
FIGHTER WEBBER
Combine talent levels many believe are superior to those of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher and a car undoubtedly the class of the field and added an incredibly astute racing brain and it should have ended in a walkover for the current championship leader but under pressure from Button Vettel put a wheel on a wet patch under braking and, quick as a flash, his sixth 2011 victory (from seven races) was history.
At the finish the gap between them was 2.7sec.
RBR team mate Mark Webber, a fighter if ever there was one, was third after a race within a race. He qualified fourth so Hamilton, driving as aggressively as always from fifth, was right up his tail as they entered Turn 1. They touched, Webber spun, then rejoined 16th. A remarkable fight-back saw him get the better of all but two drivers and keep himself in the title hunt.
Hamilton, who later retired after his (innocent) contretemps with Button – when the latter, unsighted, moved across on his team mate (and brought the pace car out again) attracted widespread criticism in the wake of his Monaco performance and outburst. He seemed set on behaving himself but two incidents, albeit judged “racing incidents”, show he has some way to go before he consistently stays out of trouble.
FIFTH FOR PETROV
Fourth went to Michael Schumacher, enjoying his best race since returning to the sport 18 months ago. At one stage he had his Mercedes up in second but his first podium for the silver team was not to be and he found himself slowly but firmly demoted thanks to the new rear-wing rules.
Still, in his own words, he was “laughing with one eye and crying from the other” after a convincing performance.
Vitaly Petrov brought a smile to the faces of Renault’s technicians with a fine drive to fifth. Team mate Nick Heidfeld had been there or thereabouts but hit the rear of Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber and lost his front wing. The car went off and into a wall, ending an otherwise impressive drive.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa started third but came sixth after a spell in second. In fact the Brazilian could have won the race - he was third behind Vettel and Kobayashi after the red flag restart – but was boxed-in when the Japanese went wide and let Schumacher through.
And his team mate Fernando Alonso beached on a high kerb and ended his race.
TALES OF JOY AND WOE
Alonso was right there with Vettel when he and Button clashed, spinning him out. “Everything went wrong, right from this morning when we saw it was raining,” the 2006/6 champion said afterwards.
Seventh and eighth went to Kobayashi and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari respectively, the latter for once out-driving team mate Sebastien Buemi who was 10th ahead of Williams’ Rubens Barrichello who took his second consecutive points finish for Sir Frank’s beleaguered team.
For every tale of joy there was a story of woe but Pirelli’s rain tyres did a fine job at the first time of asking and the other three compounds used – supersoft, soft and intermediate – each proved themselves under exceptionally trying conditions.
The man who used the full range to best effect was Button and he was a deserving winner despite spending less than two kilometres (out of 305) in the lead.
RACE RESULTS
1 Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes 4hrs04mins39.537
2 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull-Renault at +2.709
3 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull-Renault +13.828
4 Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes +14.219
5 Vitaly Petrov (RUS) Lotus-Renault +20.395
6 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari +33.225
7 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) Sauber-Ferrari +33.270
8 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +35.964
9 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Williams-Cosworth +45.117
10 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +47.056
11 Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes +50.454
12 Pedro de la Rosa (ESP) Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Hispania-Cosworth +1 lap
14 Narain Karthikeyan (IND) Hispania-Cosworth +1 lap
15 Jerome d'Ambrosio (BEL) Virgin-Cosworth +1 lap
16 Timo Glock (GER) Virgin-Cosworth +1 lap
17 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Team Lotus +1 lap
18 Paul di Resta (GBR) Force India-Mercedes +3 laps
Retired:
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes: spin 8th lap,
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Team Lotus: gearbox 29th lap;
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari: accident 37th lap,
Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India: mechanical problem 50th lap,
Nick Heidfeld (GER) Lotus-Renault: accident 56th lap,
Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Williams F1: mechanical problem 62th lap
It was an incredible reversal for 2009 champion Button who took his 10th career win despite at one stage running last, being involved in two accidents – each with former World champions (one of them his team mate) – a drive-through for not respecting the “delta” (minimum time gap between cars) during one of five pace-car phases, a race suspension due to heavy rain that took the total event time to four hours, and five pit-stops for new tyres.
ONE WET, ONE DRY
It was the ultra-smooth Button at his best; a performance he rightly described as “my best career win”.
He set up the victory during (dry) Saturday qualifying by taking more wing in a gamble that heavy rain would fall on the race. Almost the whole field took similar precautions, though some teams – Renault, for example - elected to run one car in full wet specification and the other on dry. Button and his engineers found just the right mix.
The negative was that downforce and gear ratios were far from perfect during qualifying – explaining his lowly seventh on the grid – and Button knew Sunday would be a case of hero or zero.
Still, there’s no denying Vettel dominated the race from the pace car-controlled start as the drivers had their first real taste of Pirelli’s wet rubber; the pre-season period was mainly dry, as were all 2011 races until Canada.
FIGHTER WEBBER
Combine talent levels many believe are superior to those of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher and a car undoubtedly the class of the field and added an incredibly astute racing brain and it should have ended in a walkover for the current championship leader but under pressure from Button Vettel put a wheel on a wet patch under braking and, quick as a flash, his sixth 2011 victory (from seven races) was history.
At the finish the gap between them was 2.7sec.
RBR team mate Mark Webber, a fighter if ever there was one, was third after a race within a race. He qualified fourth so Hamilton, driving as aggressively as always from fifth, was right up his tail as they entered Turn 1. They touched, Webber spun, then rejoined 16th. A remarkable fight-back saw him get the better of all but two drivers and keep himself in the title hunt.
Hamilton, who later retired after his (innocent) contretemps with Button – when the latter, unsighted, moved across on his team mate (and brought the pace car out again) attracted widespread criticism in the wake of his Monaco performance and outburst. He seemed set on behaving himself but two incidents, albeit judged “racing incidents”, show he has some way to go before he consistently stays out of trouble.
FIFTH FOR PETROV
Fourth went to Michael Schumacher, enjoying his best race since returning to the sport 18 months ago. At one stage he had his Mercedes up in second but his first podium for the silver team was not to be and he found himself slowly but firmly demoted thanks to the new rear-wing rules.
Still, in his own words, he was “laughing with one eye and crying from the other” after a convincing performance.
Vitaly Petrov brought a smile to the faces of Renault’s technicians with a fine drive to fifth. Team mate Nick Heidfeld had been there or thereabouts but hit the rear of Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber and lost his front wing. The car went off and into a wall, ending an otherwise impressive drive.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa started third but came sixth after a spell in second. In fact the Brazilian could have won the race - he was third behind Vettel and Kobayashi after the red flag restart – but was boxed-in when the Japanese went wide and let Schumacher through.
And his team mate Fernando Alonso beached on a high kerb and ended his race.
TALES OF JOY AND WOE
Alonso was right there with Vettel when he and Button clashed, spinning him out. “Everything went wrong, right from this morning when we saw it was raining,” the 2006/6 champion said afterwards.
Seventh and eighth went to Kobayashi and Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari respectively, the latter for once out-driving team mate Sebastien Buemi who was 10th ahead of Williams’ Rubens Barrichello who took his second consecutive points finish for Sir Frank’s beleaguered team.
For every tale of joy there was a story of woe but Pirelli’s rain tyres did a fine job at the first time of asking and the other three compounds used – supersoft, soft and intermediate – each proved themselves under exceptionally trying conditions.
The man who used the full range to best effect was Button and he was a deserving winner despite spending less than two kilometres (out of 305) in the lead.
RACE RESULTS
1 Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes 4hrs04mins39.537
2 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull-Renault at +2.709
3 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull-Renault +13.828
4 Michael Schumacher (GER) Mercedes +14.219
5 Vitaly Petrov (RUS) Lotus-Renault +20.395
6 Felipe Massa (BRA) Ferrari +33.225
7 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) Sauber-Ferrari +33.270
8 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +35.964
9 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Williams-Cosworth +45.117
10 Sebastien Buemi (SUI) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +47.056
11 Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes +50.454
12 Pedro de la Rosa (ESP) Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA) Hispania-Cosworth +1 lap
14 Narain Karthikeyan (IND) Hispania-Cosworth +1 lap
15 Jerome d'Ambrosio (BEL) Virgin-Cosworth +1 lap
16 Timo Glock (GER) Virgin-Cosworth +1 lap
17 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Team Lotus +1 lap
18 Paul di Resta (GBR) Force India-Mercedes +3 laps
Retired:
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren-Mercedes: spin 8th lap,
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) Team Lotus: gearbox 29th lap;
Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari: accident 37th lap,
Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India: mechanical problem 50th lap,
Nick Heidfeld (GER) Lotus-Renault: accident 56th lap,
Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Williams F1: mechanical problem 62th lap