Hamilton Striking Gold for McLaren
It was a perfect summer Sunday morning in Quebec, Montreal as the drivers lined up their cars for the Canadian Grand Prix, which returned to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit after an absence of one year and the race was definitely worth the wait.
The action packed evening which saw every driver coming to the occasion, delivering and giving their cars that extra push all throughout the race with none other then Lewis Hamilton starting from the pole position for the third time in an equal number of appearances at the Canadian circuit.
All in all, it was a dream race for McLaren Mercedes as both their drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished as the top two on the podium, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso giving them company on the third spot.
Adding to the spice was the internal battle between the two McLaren drivers for the top spot, which was once again visible and like a mirror image of the Turkish race a couple of weeks ago as they battle it out till the checkered flag for the first and second spot.
In the end however it was Hamilton’s day who drove himself to a superb victory and thus securing a spot at the top of the Formula One driver’s championship table with a total of 109 points and with his second consecutive win taking himself from the third spot all the way to the top. His team mate Jenson Button remained on second with 106 points while Red Bulls Mark Webber dropped to third with 103 points in the result of a rare non podium finish for the bulls this season.
The race also was a real test of nerves for not only the driver but the pit team as well, with the wear and tear of tires being a consistent cause of concern and requiring teams to have early pits on streets that featured long straights and slow, tight corners.
And with these initial bottle neck issues, Red Bull looked to be in control towards the beginning of the battle when the McLarens and Ferrari's all pitted early with their tires wearing out quicker, however as the saying goes it only counts about how strong you finish and this was a department where Red Bull could not manage especially with Vettel’s car struggling with a gearbox problem.
With so much of excitement already being present for the fans of Montreal, what more could one ask for or the question being was there more?
Of course and the Canadian fans can safely say that it was the Canadian Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where the Great Michael Schumacher after an ordinary comeback this year finally decided that enough was enough and thus fought his way to finish in 11th place.
In a race which saw Schumacher performing at his best so far since his comeback had a lot of highlights; to mention just a few, we can’t forget the last lap and of course one in between when Schumacher took on his ex team Ferrari’s driver Felipe Massa with a handful of laps still remaining in the race.
Schumacher had moved to cover the inside line and then moved across at the last minute, breaking the Brazilian’s front wing and forcing him off the road, but, Schumacher was cleared of wrong doing after the incident was given a through look.
Hence to end it all, Canada 2010 defiantly can be looked at as the turning point for this year’s season as the Red Bulls hold on the championship has been loosened and McLarens slightly improving.
Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in Montreal and thus with the points table being pretty even, one thing is for sure that the championship has just gotten a lot more exciting.
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