Lewis Hamilton secured his first win of the 2012 season by becoming the seventh different winner in as many race in Canada this afternoon. The McLaren driver was otherworldly in his approach to Sunday’s race by blistering the time sheets with fast sector and lap after fast sector and lap. The British driver was elated to return to form at the site of his very first grand prix victory 5 years ago and drove a brilliant race even overcoming a pit stop bobble.
The pit stop strategies were mixed with several teams attempting a one-stop strategy and while this worked marvelously for Lotus F1’s Romain Grosjean, who secured 2nd, and Sauber’s Sergio Perez placing third; it was not to be for Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso or Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Ferrari and Red Bull opted for a one-stop strategy but neither driver could make their tires last long enough to hold off a the two-stopping Hamilton on fresher rubber. Grosjean and Perez, contrarily, made their one-stop tire management program work flawlessly and were setting blistering paces toward the end of the race. Both drivers blew by the waning Ferrari of Alonso in the closing laps to secure podium positions rendering the Ferrari driver in 5th.
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was equally hampered by a one-stop strategy and opted to come in in the last laps of the race to change tires. The move would afford the German the ability to pass Alonso for 4th.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h32:29.586 2. Grosjean Lotus-Renault + 2.513 3. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 5.260 4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 7.295 5. Alonso Ferrari + 13.411 6. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.842 7. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 15.085 8. Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 15.567 9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 24.432 10. Massa Ferrari + 25.272 11. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 37.693 12. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes + 46.236 13. Maldonado Williams-Renault + 47.052 14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:04.475 15. Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap 16. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1 lap 17. Senna Williams-Renault + 1 lap 18. Kovalainen Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 19. Petrov Caterham-Renault + 1 lap 20. Pic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
World Championship standings, round 7:
Drivers: Constructors: 1. Hamilton 88 1. Red Bull-Renault 164 2. Alonso 86 2. McLaren-Mercedes 133 3. Vettel 85 3. Lotus-Renault 108 4. Webber 79 4. Ferrari 97 5. Rosberg 67 5. Mercedes 69 6. Raikkonen 55 6. Sauber-Ferrari 58 7. Grosjean 53 7. Williams-Renault 44 8. Button 45 8. Force India-Mercedes 28 9. Perez 37 9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 6 10. Maldonado 29 11. Kobayashi 21 12. Di Resta 21 13. Senna 15 14. Massa 11 15. Hulkenberg 7 16. Vergne 4 17. Schumacher 2 18. Ricciardo 2
