Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2 at Canada

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuveca

Lewis Hamilton has won his second race of the season after starting from pole at the Canadian Grand Prix. Jenson Button completed the McLaren party by coming home in second place, ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Red Bulls finished in 4th and 5th place.

Lewis Hamilton is starting the Canadian GP of 2010 from pole position and on the softer tyre as he ran his final qualifying session on these tyres. Sebastian Vettel is aside of him on the harder compound, expecting to stick onto Hamilton until he makes his stop and then profit from a clear track.

Mark Webber qualified second, but due to a gearbox change moved back to 7th place on the grid.

The track conditions are expected to remain dry and just ahead of the start, air temperature is 25°C, track temperature 38°C.

As the lights went out, all cas gear up to the first corner, the shortest run to that first corner on all circuits this year. Already ahead of turn 1, De La Rosa is spinning on the grass and rejoins the track behind everybody else. He was pushed off by Petrov who initially had two wheels on the grass and spun across the track.

In turn 2, Massa bumps into Liuzzi, requiring both to dive into the pitlane one lap later.

On the first pass through to the final chicane, Kobayashi finds himself in the wall of champions. He is initially able to continue but parks his car in the grass a few corners further down the lap.

3 laps into the race, Hamilton has Vettel and Alonso close behind him but Button in fourth is starting to hold up another pack as his option tyres are already starting to degrade.

One lap later Webber passes Button and flies to the leading three. One further lap into the race Hamilton and Alonso are in to change their options, leaving the Red Bulls in the lead.

In the pits, Alonso is able to get past Hamilton. The duo somehow are released in a relatively clear part of the track and now need to push forward to stay into the fight with the Red Bulls.

On lap 12 it's announced that Petrov made a jump start and will have to complete a drive through penalty.

At Williams the crew is rather busy, switching Hulkenberg's front wing after a failed passing attempt, and 3 laps later Barrichello is also in for a new nose.

After most top cars completed their first stops, Vettel makes his first stop in lap 14 and changes to option tyres. That stop, as Webber also pitted earlier on, leaves Buemi in the race lead until he makes his first stop 2 laps later.

On the back straight then Hamilton manages to get past Alonso, taking the lead again after losing it by pitting.

Michael Schumacher meanwhile dropped back in the ranking after completing two pitstops. After his first he fought through turn 5 with Robert Kubica. Both ended up in the grass, and Schumacher decided to pit again in that same lap.

On lap 17, everybody except Chandhok has made a stop. Hamilton is leading, 1 second ahead of Alonso. In third place is Button, ahead of Vettel, Webber, Kubica and Sutil.

10 laps later, Alonso takes the inside on the hairpin and challenges Hailton all the way through the straight until Hamilton decides to make his second stop. Robert Kubica does the same in a particularly dangerous move as he had Sutil on his left.

Fernando Alonso puts in another 2 flying laps, full of personal bests. He rejoins the track again behind Hamilton, seemingly due to being held up by a Lotus on his in-lap.

On lap 30, Webber is now in the lead, running his second stint on the harder tyre. Hamilton is second, 8s down on the leader and just ahead of Alonso and Button. Vettel is 5th, Buemi 6th, Kubica 7th and Rosberg 8th.

De La Rosa abandons the race in lap 32, the last Sauber car now also out of the race.

On lap 40 Vettel puts in the quickest race lap. Just as Hamilton, Alonso and Button he is now going faster than Webber whose tyres are starting to fade. By lap 43 Webber's advantage has decreased to 6.6s, it was 11 4 laps earlier.

Mark was somehow delayed in traffic, but the result is that on lap 45 Webber is only 3.5s ahead of Hamilton. It also appears like Hamilton and Alonso are going to the end of the race without another pitstop. Webber on the other hand will have to pit again to take on the softer option tyres.

On lap 49 Hamilton is close enough and passes on his first attempt passes the Australian on turn one. Alonso is unable to do so in that same lap, but luckily for him the Red Bull dives into the pitlane.

Hamilton is therefore back in the lead, 2 seconds ahead of Alonso. Button is third while Vettel is fourth while he is managing "an issue" on his car. Webber has fallen back to 5th, 10 seconds behind his teammate.

More in the midfield, Felipe Massa is fighting with Adrian Sutil and is just ahead of Alguersuari. He struggled to get past Liuzzi initially but finally passed Sutil as they lapped Kovalainen.

One lap later Alonso drops a place to Button after getting bad traction after passing a backmarker.

10 laps from the end, Kubica makes his final stop after running 5th comfortably. When getting back on the track with fresh rubber, he needs to make up 9 seconds and quickly puts in 2 quickest laps.

4 laps later Schumacher moved to the right on the straight to defend his position to Massa, but right before the braking zone moved back left again, break Massa's front wing. Schumacher is struggling on 30-lap old option tyres. Schumacher isn't putting in a great performance here, driving slowly and almost dangerously when defending positions.

Thanks to the tyres coming together at the right time, McLaren made this a 1-2 finish, ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Results

Pos.DriverTeamTime
1.HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1h33:53.456
2.ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes+ 2.254
3.AlonsoFerrari+ 9.214
4.VettelRed Bull-Renault+ 37.817
5.WebberRed Bull-Renault+ 39.291
6.RosbergMercedes+ 56.084
7.KubicaRenault+ 57.300
8.BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari+ 1 lap
9.LiuzziForce India-Mercedes+ 1 lap
10.SutilForce India-Mercedes+ 1 lap
11.SchumacherMercedes+ 1 lap
12.AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari+ 1 lap
13.HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth+ 1 lap
14.BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth+ 1 lap
15.MassaFerrari+ 1 lap
16.KovalainenLotus-Cosworth+ 2 laps
17.PetrovRenault+ 2 laps
18.ChandhokHrt-Cosworth+ 4 laps
19.Di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth+ 5 laps
Did not finish
20.GlockVirgin-Cosworth+ 20 laps
21.TrulliLotus-Cosworth+ 27 laps
22.De la RosaSauber-Ferrari+ 39 laps
23.SennaHrt-Cosworth+ 66 laps
24.KobayashiSauber-Ferrari+ 68 laps