Canada analysis - triumphant Hamilton leads once more 11 Jun 2012
Lewis Hamilton’s Montreal victory was hardly a shock, but it came after another race of surprises as the most unpredictable season in years continued. Hamilton again leads the standings, but so close is the table that four drivers could go ahead of him at Valencia in a fortnight. Big names such as Alonso and Vettel were forced to gamble on strategy - and lost - while rising stars like Grosjean and Perez shone once more. We take a team-by-team look back at a truly fascinating Canadian Grand Prix…
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, P1
Jenson Button, P16
Highs and lows epitomised McLaren’s Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton drove beautifully, scoring his much-needed win on the day that he officially drove one more race for the team than his idol Ayrton Senna. It also put him back in the lead of the world championship after some great teamwork and strategy, and made history as he became the seventh winner in the first seven races of a season. But it was a disaster for Button, who could just never get the heat he needed into his tyres.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean, P2
Kimi Raikkonen, P8
Good and bad here, too. Grosjean did a stellar job of looking after his tyres then came on like gangbusters to hunt down Vettel and Alonso who’d pushed their pace too much. Second place was an excellent result for a man who will surely win a race this season. Raikkonen, however, again came away disappointed.
Sauber
Sergio Perez, P3
Kamui Kobayashi, P9
And here too. Perez ran a lot longer than Kobayashi, and it paid off for him as he was able to take the final podium slot after a super drive. Kobayashi stopped sooner, and got stuck in traffic which ruined his chances of doing better than ninth.
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, P4
Mark Webber, P7
By their lofty standards this was a bad one for Red Bull, with fourth and seventh places after starting first and fourth. Tyre degradation got Vettel early on and put him on his back foot against Hamilton and Alonso, while Webber got mired in upper midfield traffic. The gamble to run a one-stopper came undone for Vettel when he decided to make a late tyre swap on lap 63, but running super-softs put him back ahead of Alonso in a good bit of damage limitation.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso, P5
Felipe Massa, P10
Ferrari gambled and went for the win, the way racers do, but it didn’t pay off and Alonso, who had driven a super race, had to settle for fifth place. But for a spin on lap six, Massa could have had the place, but he recovered well. The F2012 is still a handful, but it’s getting more and more competitive and it’s still right in the title hunt, so it wasn’t all bad news here.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg, P6
Michael Schumacher, Retired lap 43, DRS failure
A mixed race for Mercedes too. Rosberg struggled badly with degradation on the super-softs but was very fast on the softs on his way to a competitive sixth place. Schumacher trailed at the bottom of the list of potential low points scorers before his DRS jammed open and obliged him to retire.
Force India
Paul di Resta, P11
Nico Hulkenberg, P12
Di Resta looked a likely points scorer, especially when he ran as high as fifth early on, but tyre degradation hurt him and lost him his chance of doing better than 11th. Hulkenberg’s was a similar story, leading to frustration after the speed the VJM05 showed in qualifying.
Williams
Pastor Maldonado, P13
Bruno Senna, P17
A bad race for Williams, with 13th and 17th places contrasting so starkly with their Spanish victory only a month ago. A late five-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox didn’t help Maldonado’s cause, while Senna never recovered from tyre degradation early on on the super-softs.
Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo, P14
Jean-Eric Vergne, P15
Ricciardo and Vergne had a right set-to which was a highlight of the lower midfield battling as they swapped and re-swapped places, but then the Frenchman got a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding, and near the end the Australian was lucky to get away with spinning in the second chicane. The STR7 lacked race speed here.
Caterham
Heikki Kovalainen, P18
Vitaly Petrov, P19
No particular issues here for either driver as they kept one another honest throughout. But new aero parts due for Valencia and Silverstone can’t come soon enough.
Marussia
Charles Pic, P20
Timo Glock, Retired lap 56, brakes
Pic was Marussia’s sole finisher, after Glock had kept De la Rosa honest for a while before falling back with brake problems.
HRT
Pedro de la Rosa, Retired lap 24, brakes
Narain Karthikeyan, Retired lap 22, brakes
De la Rosa was on feisty form, but neither car made it home after suffering excessive brake wear.
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