Canadian Grand Prix 2011 – Race Report

Jenson Button took his first victory of the season with a sensational drive at a frenetic Canadian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver caught race leader Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages of the race, which had been delayed by over two hours because of a sudden downpour, and pressurised the German into making a small error with half a lap to go, handing victory to Button who had recovered excellently from a troubled start to the race.

It was business as usual for Vettel during qualifying, as he added another pole position to his and Red Bull's burgeoning tally. The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were next on the grid, just tenths behind the reigning champion, ahead of Mark Webber in the second Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton in a somewhat disappointing showing for McLaren. Button lined up seventh with the Mercedes drivers of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher qualifying sixth and eighth respectively.

Though Saturday had been dry, the race began under Safety Car conditions as the track had become waterlogged after heavy showers. This meant the race didn't get underway in earnest until lap 5, with Vettel holding position from Alonso and Massa. Just behind, Hamilton drew alongside Webber in the braking zone as he attempted a pass up the inside of the first corner, but Webber held his line and made contact with the McLaren. This spun the Australian, dropping him to fourteenth place, whilst Hamilton was fortunate to continue in seventh.

Button then dropped two places to Schumacher and Hamilton as he ran wide, the former then forcing the latter wide at the hairpin on lap 6 as he attempted a pass around the outside. This dropped Hamilton back behind Button, but it was clear that he was still the faster of the two McLarens. At the end of lap 8, Hamilton got a superior exit on the final chicane, drawing alongside Button by moving towards the pit-wall, but then found himself squeezed into it by his teammate who failed to spot him and thus took the usual racing line.

The damage done to Hamilton's rear-left wheel was sufficient to end his race, and after parking the stricken McLaren on the circuit, the Safety Car was deployed once again. Button on the other hand sustained no damage, but decided to pit for intermediate tyres at the end of the following lap. Vettel led the field behind the Safety Car, ahead of Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher, Kamui Kobayashi for Sauber who had come from thirteenth on the grid, the Renaults of Nick Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov, and Webber, who had made his way back up to ninth after his earlier Hamilton-induced spin.

The race was resumed on lap 13, with Webber quickly dispensing with both Renaults to reach seventh. Button was also lapping quickly on the intermediate tyres, but he would drop down the order even further after being handed a drive-through penalty for being quicker than the minimum permitted lap time during the Safety Car period. On the strength of Button's lap times though, several others decided to try their luck on intermediates, including Alonso, Rosberg and Schumacher. This dropped Alonso from second to seventh, putting Massa in second and remarkably Kobayashi third.

Their roll of the dice was to fail when a sudden deluge hit the already-damp track on lap 20. The Safety Car made its third appearance in order to pre-empt a potential accident, with Alonso the first to revert to full wets on the same lap along with Button. Vettel decided to change his wet tyres for a fresh set the following lap, temporarily surrendering the lead to Massa before the Brazilian made a similar move a lap later and dropped back to third behind the yet-to-stop Kobayashi. Then, as the rain intensified, the decision was taken on lap 25 to suspend the race, with conditions having become too severe for the cars to even sit in formation behind the Safety Car.

With the rain refusing to relent, the cars lined up on the grid in the order in which they were running at the time of the red flags. Vettel thus lined up in first, from Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Petrov, an impressive Paul Di Resta, Webber and Alonso. Those who were yet to stop were able to change their tyres, but the regulations demanded that they be full wets while the race was still under Safety Car conditions. This would be the case when race control finally judged it safe enough to recommence the race in excess of two hours after the red flags were originally shown.

The Safety Car returned to the pits at the end of lap 32, and after just a few laps of racing a clear line was beginning to emerge. Once again a handful of drivers, chief among them Schumacher, decided to switch back to intermediates on lap 35, followed by several more the following lap including Heidfeld, Di Resta and Button. By the end of lap 37, everybody in the top ten bar race leader Vettel was on the intermediates, but he duly followed on lap 38, retaining the lead. Alonso was delayed during the pitstops after Ferrari pitted both its men on the same lap, forcing him to queue up behind teammate Massa.

This allowed Button to close right in on the Spaniard, and it wasn't long before he would look at passing the Ferrari number one for tenth place. He looked like doing so at turn 4 on lap 38, but ended up colliding with Alonso in the process who resolutely stuck to his line. The Ferrari driver was beached on a kerb and out on the spot, whilst Button picked up a puncture from the contact which saw him drop to 21^st as he was forced to cruise slowly back to the pits and change tyres again.

With Alonso's car stranded in a dangerous position, the Safety Car made yet another showing, this time for just three laps as the race got underway once more on lap 41. Vettel still led from Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Di Resta, Schumacher, Webber and Petrov, but shortly after the restart Di Resta sadly squandered his chance of a points finish by damaging his front wing in a half-hearted attempt to overtake Heidfeld at the final chicane. The Scot had to pit for a new nose, and later lost more time with drive-through penalty, administered for causing an avoidable incident.

This promoted Schumacher to fifth, which became fourth after passing his fellow German Heidfeld on lap 45 before setting about catching up to the duelling Kobayashi and Massa. The seven-time Canadian GP winner cruised up to the back of the two Ferrari-powered cars, and snuck past the pair of them after a minor error on lap 51 at turn 8 from Kobayashi cost both himself and Massa momentum. After clearing Kobayashi on the run down to the hairpin, Massa was forced to pit for a new nose two laps later after clouting the barriers whilst trying to lap a Hispania.

A dry line was most definitely emerging at this stage; Button having already made the switch to slick tyres on lap 52, and Webber one before that. Everyone was then to follow suit, with the order now Vettel, Schumacher, Webber, who had made time by being the first to try slicks, Kobayashi, Heidfeld and Button, who had charged his way through the field since his puncture. He soon cleared Heidfeld and Kobayashi to take fourth, and would be aided by a minor collision between the two drivers he'd just passed which precipitated the fifth and final Safety Car of the race.

Heidfeld gently tapped the rear of Kobayashi's Sauber at turn 1 as the duo continued to debate fifth position on lap 56, but it was sufficient to loosen the front wing of the Renault which then proceeded to break off and get trapped beneath the car, rendering the veteran German helpless as the black-and-gold machine slid down the escape road at turn 4. Though his car wasn't in a dangerous position, the debris had to be collected from the track, necessitating the Safety Car which pulled into the pits at the end of lap 60. Vettel now led a tight bunch consisting of Schumacher, Webber and Button.

With DRS having been enabled some laps earlier by race control, Webber almost made the system work into the final chicane on lap 63 by passing Schumacher, but cut the chicane in doing so and had to hand the place back. Button then profited from a mistake by the Aussie the next lap to move into third, and with five laps to go took second place away from Schumacher. The seven-time winner of the Canadian GP was demoted a further position by Webber on lap 67, the Mercedes proving simply not as quick as the Red Bull as the track dried.

Vettel had built up a five-second advantage over his pursuers, but upon taking second place Button began to hunt down the race leader rapidly – the gap between them was down to just three seconds with three laps to go, and as the two champions began the seventieth and final lap, the gap stood at just 0.9 seconds. Under immense pressure, Vettel made a tiny error at turn 7 and slid wide, allowing Button through to take the tenth and by far the best victory of his career. Webber denied Schumacher his first podium finish since his comeback by taking third, ahead of Petrov and Massa who used the DRS to out-drag Kobayashi to the line by a matter of hundredths of a second to steal sixth place.

Eighth was Jaime Alguersauri, who after starting from the pit-lane put in by far his best drive of the season to score his sorely needed first points for Toro Rosso. Ninth was Rubens Barrichello in a solid run for Williams and the second Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi collected the final point of an eventful afternoon with tenth. Rosberg was left pointless in eleventh after an extremely disappointing outing, ahead of Pedro De La Rosa, who drove steadily to twelfth as the unwell Sergio Perez's replacement, and Vitantonio Liuzzi who scored Hispania's best result of the season with thirteenth.

Next were the two Virgins of Jerome D'Ambrosio, who was penalised for pitting for intermediates before the restart, and Timo Glock. Jarno Trulli was next for Lotus, ahead of Narain Karthikeyan who was docked twenty seconds for cutting a corner and gaining an advantage, dropping him from fourteenth to seventeenth. Neither Force India saw the chequered flag as Di Resta had an altercation with the barrier with three laps to go, and Adrian Sutil called it a day after clipping Rosberg at one of the restarts gave him a puncture and a drive-through penalty. Pastor Maldonado span his Williams with nine laps to go, ending his race, whilst Heikki Kovalainen also retired due to transmission problems with his Lotus shortly after the two-hour delay.

In spite of his tremendously costly mistake, Vettel extended his points lead to 60 ahead of Button, whose victory jumped him ahead of both Webber and Hamilton in the championship. Although Vettel's record thus far this season does have an ominously Schumacher-esque air about it, Button proved today that he is not infallible. That said, the Heppenheim native will have to make numerous other gaffes in the remaining twelve races of the season if he is to forfeit the title, and one man will have to emerge from the chasing pack to truly take advantage. With more storming performances such as today's, Button may just be that man.