Button wins sensational Canadian GP

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F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuveca

Jenson Button has won his 10th GP of his careers after a magnificent drive. He passed the pitlane 6 time and went through the field, pushing Vettel until he made a mistake on the final lap. Vettel still ended in second place, ahead of his teammate Mark Webber.

Continued from http://www.f1technical.net/news/16381

After a long term race suspension due to heavy rain, the pack restarted behind the safety car for another 4 laps.

Two lap later Button attempts to dive on the inside of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard still had the advantage and turned in, ending up in the wall. Jenson Button had a flat tyre and returned to the pits for a new set of intermediates.

Adrian Sutil then got a drive through penalty for speeding in the pitlane, while Paul Di Resta fell back as he broke his front wing in a passing attempt. He later also got a drive-through penalty for that, while also suffering a puncture moments later.

Few laps later Sutil is out of the race with suspension problems.

Once a dry line was clearly formed and intermediates are found on all cars, race control decided to enable KERS at the pre-determined two KERS zones.

On lap 48, Michael Schumacher sets the fastest lap so far. He is absolutely flying now and is now 10s off the lead and 4 seconds behind Felipe Massa. 3 laps later Massa is so busy trying to overtake Kobayashi that Michael Schumacher is able to sneak into the battle and cleanly passed both drivers in the back hairpin. Schumacher is now in second place, only to pit one lap later, along with Massa. Both men rejoined the track in that same order on a new set of supersofts. Mark Webber meanwhile pitted 2 laps earlier for the supersofts and had just set fastest lap.

On lap 53 Vettel also changes tyres to the supersofts, a pitstop that was completed is just 4 seconds. That same lap Massa was lucky to be still in the race as he found himself off the line, started to slide and hit the wall with his nose. Luckily he just slipped back onto the racing line and could continue to the pits for a new nose cone.

On lap 54 Webber catches Schumacher and attempts a pass in the final turn, only to find out that he could not outbrake Schumacher on the wet part of the track.

One lap later Heidfeld ran into Kobayashi in turn 2. His car was much more quicker through the slow corner and he simply hit the Sauber. 50m later however the front wing broke off, went under his car and threw Heidfeld off track in turn 4. As this left a considerable amount of debris on track, the safety car was brought out on track.

Before this SC period, Button was driving along this track at an impressive pace. He was the first to switch to the dry option tyre and got them heated up perfectly. In the last few laps he was nearly 3 seconds a lap faster than Vettel and was just behind Mark Webber.

On lap 61 the racing is on once again. Vettel takes the lead but Michael Schumacher was menacing him into the last chicane before the finish line. Poor traction out of that corner though allowed Webber and Button to get close behind the Mercedes GP. Webber and Button are clearly faster but DRS is not activated yet. One more lap before that happens.

On lap 63 Maldonado is stopped in turn 2. His race is over. At the end of that lap Mark Webber makes his DRS work and passes Schumacher, only to miss the final chicane. He had to give that position back and did so after turn 2.

One lap later Webber misses the chicane again without passing Schumacher. Jenson Button profited of Webber's poor exit on the wet part of the track and moved up to 3rd place.

In lap 64 Button manages to pass Schumacher easily thanks to a perfectly working DRS. Button is again flying and is now only 3 seconds off the lead. By the end of lap 66, despite Vettel's personal best, Jenson Button has closed the gap to just 1.6 seconds.

One lap later Button sets another fastest lap of the race while Michael Schumacher gets passed by Mark Webber. This time it was Schumacher who missed the chicane.

With 2 laps remaining, Vettel has responded by upping his pace considerably. Button however is just one second off the lead and might get a run in the last lap as he is into the DRS window.

Paul Di Resta meanwhile is out of the race.

At turn 7 in the final lap of the race, Vettel is slightly wide on the entry of the turn and nearly spun his car. Surely this was enough for Button to take the win. Mark Webber takes 3rd, just ahead of Michael Schumacher. Vitaly Petrov ended an excellent 5th.

Felipe Massa then ended 6th as he managed to run out Kobayashi in the final pass on the pitlane straight. Massa crossed the finish line centimeters ahead of the Sauber of Kobayashi.

Button's win however is still previsionally as his overtaking manouvre on Alonso earlier on is still under investigation by the stewards.

Results

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTimeGridPts
14Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes70Winner725
21Sebastian VettelRbr-Renault70+2.7 secs118
32Mark WebberRbr-Renault70+13.8 secs415
47Michael SchumacherMercedes70+14.2 secs812
510Vitaly PetrovRenault70+20.3 secs1010
66Felipe MassaFerrari70+33.2 secs38
716Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari70+33.2 secs136
819Jaime AlguersuariStr-Ferrari70+35.9 secs184
911Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth70+45.1 secs162
1018Sebastien BuemiStr-Ferrari70+47.0 secs151
118Nico RosbergMercedes70+50.4 secs6
1217Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari70+63.6 secs17
1323Vitantonio LiuzziHrt-Cosworth69+1 Lap21
1425Jerome d'AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth69+1 Lap24
1524Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth69+1 Lap22
1621Jarno TrulliLotus-Renault69+1 Lap19
1722Narain KarthikeyanHrt-Cosworth69+1 Lap23
1815Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes67+3 Laps11
Ret12Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth61+9 Laps12
Ret9Nick HeidfeldRenault55Accident9
Ret14Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes49+21 Laps14
Ret5Fernando AlonsoFerrari36Accident2
Ret20Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault28Driveshaft20
Ret3Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes7Accident5