The weather looks good today in Montreal – certainly better than yesterday. Sebastian Vettel starts today’s 70-lap encounter from pole position. Lewis Hamilton will race him on the short run to Turn 1. Valtteri Bottas is handily placed in a superb third position on the grid, alongside Monaco GP winner Nico Rosberg.
The grid:
Candian Grand Prix 2013: Grid
Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 1m25.425s | |
2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m25.512s | +0.087s |
3 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 1m25.897s | +0.472s |
4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m26.008s | +0.583s |
5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1m26.208s | +0.783s |
6 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 1m26.504s | +1.079s |
7 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m26.543s | +1.118s |
8 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1m27.348s | +1.923s |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m29.432s | +1.786s ** |
10 | Kimi Raikkonen # | Lotus Renault | Penalty | |
11 | Daniel Ricciardo # | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | Penalty | |
12 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m29.761s | +2.112s ** |
13 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 1m29.917s | +2.268s ** |
14 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m30.068s | +2.419s ** |
15 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m30.315s | +2.666s ** |
16 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1m30.354s | +2.705s ** |
17 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 1m24.908s | +2.590s *** |
18 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | 1m25.626s | +3.308s *** |
19 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m26.508s | +3.398s *** |
20 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | 1m27.062s | +4.190s *** |
21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham-Renault | 1m27.110s | +4.744 *** |
22 | Romain Grosjean * | Lotus-Renault | 1m25.716s | +4.792s *** |
** Gap to quickest in Q2
*** Gap to quickest in Q3
# Two place penalty for failing to leave the pits in the order they arrived at the pit exit during Qualifying 2.
107% time: 1m28.080s
As qualifying was wet, all drivers get a free choice of tyre to start the race on. All but four drivers – Paul di Resta, Romain Grojean, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi – are starting on the softer tyre choice.
Laps 1-10:
Sebastian Vettel leads from the start, pulling out a 2 second gap straight away. Unfortunately, Bottas loses places and is 6th by the end of the first lap. Vergne in seventh was alongside Bottas at the start-finish line, but unable to make the move and the Finn held on. Vergne goes again and makes a good move stick round the outside of Bottas into Turn 1. The Toro Rosso driver takes sixth. Sutil spins at Turn 3 and causes problems. He recovers in 13th place. Vettel’s lead is now a sizeable 4.3 seconds over Hamilton, Rosberg and Webber. Alonso is now 10 seconds off the lead in fifth. It’s not all going smoothly for Vettel though as he is picked up clouting the wall exiting Turn 3. He won’t get away with that too many times.
Laps 11-20:
A fair bit of movement in this section as the pit stops begin. The field spread is already giving options to the strategists, with Webber feeding back in fifth place on the road. Bottas rejoins from his first stop in 13th position, on medium tyres. Alonso is now up to third place on the road, now clocked 8.7 seconds behind new leader Hamilton as Vettel pits. Behind the leaders, Raikkonen is up to sixth place but he has yet to stop. Vergne is seventh with Massa eighth and di Resta in ninth. Grosjean is 10th with Button 11th, Gutierrez up to 12th, Sutil 13th, Bottas 14th and Perez 15th. Hamilton, going for a long stint, is in danger of coming out behind Rosberg and Webber after his first stop.
Laps 21-30:
Vettel now leads by 10.9 seconds over Hamilton, who is a further 3.6 up on Rosberg and Webber. Alonso has ended up fourth after the stops, closing again on Rosberg and Webber. Raikkonen could be the first man eyeing a one-stop plan this afternoon, but that is a long way to stretch out the super-soft tyres – he pits on lap 23, a slow stop after a problem with the rear jack. I would say that he will be unlikely to complete a one stop race from there. The slow stop puts back in 14th. Massa passes Button for 10th and chases after Sutil. Webber, Rosberg and Alonso are battling for third. Webber and Rosberg are lucky not to trip over each other on lap 26. Meanwhile, Vettel is storming off out front and now leads by 14.6 seconds over a tyre-conserving Hamilton and by 20 seconds over Rosberg in third. Button finally pits at the end of lap 28 from 13th – he rejoins in 16th.
Laps 31-40:
This section begins with the three car scrap for third finally sorting itself out. Webber is right with Rosberg as they head into the DRS zone. Webber makes it stick this time as Rosberg closes the door on Alonso but he can’t hold that either and Alonso is past Rosberg on the pit straight, thanks to DRS. Now it’s Webber up to third place, with Alonso fourth and Rosberg down to fifth. Rosberg pits for his second stop and is told via radio that he won’t be stopping again. Vettel is now 15.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton after some traffic for the leader in recent laps. Alonso and Webber are both lapping faster than Hamilton now, with that pair eyeing the Mercedes man in second place. Raikkonen has another go at Bottas and makes the move stick. He moves up to 12th position. Alonso is still right with Webber who has tangled with van der Garde down at the hairpin Webber has continued but looks to have front wing damage after the door was closed by the Caterham driver. Van der Garde has been given a stop-go penalty from the stewards for ignoring blue flags and causing a collision.
Laps 41-50:
Vettel takes the fastest lap, back up to 16.4 seconds clear of Hamilton, who has also picked up his pace. Hamilton is picking up speed now as he nears the end of his middle stint. He has maintained the gap at over seven seconds back to Webber. Alonso is piling the pressure on the second Red Bull now and finally makes it stick with a bold move into the first corner. That releases Alonso up to third and he sets off in chase of Hamilton. Massa comes in and rejoins in 12th position on medium compound tyres. Rosberg has faded down the road since his third stop, trying to go the distance on his third set of tyres, now 53 seconds off the lead. Bianchi is another driver to pit this time round. He just managed 40 laps on mediums and rejoins in 19th. Grosjean is another who is only just into the pits after some 42 laps. He takes on super-softs and rejoins down in 11th place. Webber decides this is time for his final pitstop. Webber resumes, almost with van der Garde again, who has more dramas in his Caterham – he has dislodged his front wing and it is stuck under the chassis of the Caterham. He pulls off and a marshal attempts to remove the wing. Hulkenberg had moved over on van der Garde while lapping him at the final chicane. The pair made contact and we know what happened to van der Garde next. He is out of the race. Hulkenberg then pulled off the track at Turn 3, citing suspension failure as the reason and he retired.
Laps 51-60
Vettel is still leading by a massive 18 seconds over Hamilton, who is now 6.3 up on Alonso. Vettel makes another mistake by cutting the grass at the first corner. That mistake takes four seconds off Vettel’s lead. Lap 55 and Alonso is now 2.7 seconds behind Hamilton as Webber is also encouraged on to chase the Mercedes. Hamilton battles through traffic as Alonso puts a lap on team-mate Massa. 1.4 seconds is the gap between Hamilton and Alonso over the line. Alonso really wants the points for second place, with Hamilton frustrated by Sutil ignoring blue flags – for which he will receive a drive-through penalty.
Laps 61-70:
Hamilton keeps Alonso at bay for the moment but this is the key battle over the closing laps. Hamilton’s Mercedes remains strong down the back straight but Alonso will surely be on for a DRS move. Hamilton is slow off the second chicane and is forced to defend robustly into the hairpin. Alonso tries the outside line into Turn 1 and with a brush of contact, he is through to take second. Sutil comes in and serves that drive-through penalty. He loses 14.4 seconds in the process and drops down to 10th. Hamilton grabs the DRS and is right with Alonso as they make more light contact at the final corner causing minor front wing damage to Hamilton. Alonso has just pulled out of DRS range on Hamilton, with a mistake from the Spaniard picked up as the reason for getting closed by Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel wins the Canadian Grand Prix – a dominant drive from the front. Alonso scores a fine second place with a typically determined drive up from sixth on the grid. He finishes 14.4 seconds behind Vettel. Alonso scores a fine second place with a typically determined drive up from sixth on the grid. He finishes 14.4 seconds behind Vettel. Webber takes fourth place after a difficult afternoon, including contact with a backmarker. It’s fifth for Rosberg when he makes it back around, with the German unable to match Hamilton’s tyre conservation and pace this afternoon. Vergne takes a fine sixth in his Toro Rosso, ahead of a great one-stop seventh from di Resta. Massa crosses the line in eighth, 2.6s ahead of Raikkonen and Sutil finishes 10th to claim the final point for Force India.
Two drivers retired officially from today’s race: Hulkenberg moved over on van der Garde perhaps too much, while lapping the Caterham. The pair made contact approaching the final chicane and they ultimately were forced out of the race.
Candian Grand Prix 2013: Result
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Ferrari | 1h32m09.143s |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | + 14.408s |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 15.942s |
4 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Ferrari | + 25.731s |
5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | + 1m09.725s |
6 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
7 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
8 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | + 1 lap |
9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus-Renault | + 1 lap |
10 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
11 | Sergio Perez | McLaren-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
12 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
13 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | + 1 lap |
14 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | + 1 lap |
15 | Daniel Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | + 2 laps |
16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | + 2 laps |
17 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Cosworth | + 2 laps |
18 | Charles Pic | Caterham-Renault | + 2 laps |
19 | Max Chilton | Marussia-Cosworth | + 3 laps |
20 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | + 7 laps |
Fastest lap: Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, 1m16.182s
Not classified/retirements:
- Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, 46 laps
- Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, 44 laps