2012 Canadian GP: Hamilton becomes the seventh winner in the seventh race

Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren on 10 June 2012. Romain Grosjean finished second in the Lotus F1, with Sergio Pérez third for Sauber. The race was decided in the final ten laps: Hamilton, on fresh tyres, closed in on two rivals who did not want to pit again. First he passed Sebastian Vettel, then Fernando Alonso on lap 64, and that gave him the lead for the rest of the race. You'll find all the numbers, lap times and the full classification on our race page for the 2012 Canadian GP.

Conditions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were dry and warm. Wikipedia gives an air temperature of just under 29 °C and a track temperature of 45 °C. Vettel started from pole position in the Red Bull and stayed ahead through the first corner. Hamilton (grid position 2) and Alonso in the Ferrari (grid position 3) followed him. The three soon pulled away from the rest of the field, which was led by Mark Webber.

There was more going on further back. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes couldn't find a way past Webber. Felipe Massa took advantage: according to RaceFans, he passed Rosberg on the second lap. On lap 6, however, Massa spun at the exit of Turn 1 and dropped to 12th. After that, Paul di Resta overtook Rosberg in the Force India and ran 5th for a while.

Vettel quickly built a lead of around two seconds. But on the supersoft tyres, which the top nine on the starting grid started on, his Red Bull soon lost pace, and Hamilton closed back in.

Before the race it was unclear whether one or two stops would be faster. Grandprix.com concluded afterwards that both had worked. Vettel was the first of the leading group to pit, on lap 16, with Hamilton coming in a lap later. The McLaren rejoined ahead of the Red Bull. Alonso stayed out until lap 19 and came out ahead of both after his stop. But Hamilton had the fresher tyres, passed the Ferrari with DRS and took the lead on lap 21, when Grosjean also pitted.

From here the strategies diverged. Grosjean switched to the harder compound at his only stop on lap 21 and ran to the flag on it. Pérez had started from grid position 15 on the harder tyre and stayed out until lap 41. According to grandprix.com, this one-stop strategy earned him the podium. Kimi Räikkönen (stop on lap 40) and Kamui Kobayashi (lap 24) also made do with one stop. Jenson Button, on the other hand, struggled badly with his left rear tyre. He stopped three times and finished only 16th, a lap down.

Hamilton and McLaren had planned two stops. His second stop on lap 50 didn't go smoothly: according to RaceFans, a sticking right-rear wheel left him stationary for around 5.5 seconds. Alonso took the lead, and Ferrari left him out. Red Bull did the same with Vettel.

That decision cost Ferrari and Red Bull the race. On fresh tyres, Hamilton was significantly quicker per lap than the leaders. According to RaceFans, the top three were separated by just six seconds with ten laps to go. On lap 62 Hamilton passed Vettel. Red Bull then brought the world champion in for fresh tyres on lap 63. Two laps later it was Alonso's turn: Hamilton overtook the Ferrari with DRS and was back in front from lap 64.

Alonso kept losing places after that. Grosjean passed him on lap 66, Pérez a lap later, and on the penultimate lap the freshly shod Vettel got by too. Vettel set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap and finished fourth, with Alonso fifth. It was tight behind them: Rosberg, Webber and Räikkönen crossed the line close behind the Ferrari. According to grandprix.com, Ferrari could at least have saved one place by pitting at the same time as Vettel. Alonso still found positives: “For the first time this year we were not aiming to limit the damage but actually to win the race.” (grandprix.com)

Only four drivers failed to finish:

• Narain Karthikeyan in the HRT retired after lap 22. The official reason was suspension.
• Pedro de la Rosa, his teammate, parked the second HRT after lap 24 with brake problems.
• Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes retired after lap 43, officially because of a rear wing failure. According to RaceFans, a broken hydraulic line had jammed the DRS flap open. The mechanics were unable to close it during the pit stop.
• Timo Glock in the Marussia retired after lap 56, officially with suspension trouble.

According to our data, there were no Safety Car periods.

Winners: Pérez gained twelve places thanks to his long first stint, going from grid position 15 to 3rd place. That was the biggest gain in the field. Grosjean went from grid position 7 to 2nd, the second podium of his career. Pastor Maldonado in the Williams started 22nd after a gearbox penalty and gained nine places. Even so, he finished 13th and out of the points. Finally, Hamilton took the championship lead with the win.

Losers: Alonso and Ferrari lost the most. They led for 17 laps and had the win in their hands until shortly before the end, only to come away with 5th place. Vettel started from pole and could only finish fourth. Button went home without points in 16th. Di Resta was running 5th early in the race and dropped back to 11th after two stops.

Hamilton was the seventh winner in the seventh race of the 2012 season, something that had never happened before in Formula 1. It was his third win in Montreal. In the drivers' championship he jumped from 4th to the top and now had 88 points. The field behind him was tightly bunched: Alonso had 86 points, Vettel 85 and Webber 79. Rosberg was fifth on 67 points. In the constructors' championship Red Bull stayed in front with 164 points, ahead of McLaren (133) and Lotus F1 (108). Ferrari dropped to 4th with 97 points. You'll find the full table in the 2012 standings.

The race fitted this season well. The Pirelli tyres often degraded quickly, so victory went to whoever managed their tyres best and chose the right strategy. Anyone who misjudged it in Montreal lost several places in just a few laps, as Ferrari and Red Bull found out.