Canadian podium
Montreal, June 10, 2012 – By using a two-stop sprint strategy, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton became the seventh winner from seven grands prix this year, overtaking Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in in the last eight laps to claim a spectacular victory by 2.5 seconds. Hamilton now leads the drivers’ championship by two points: the sixth change of championship lead in seven races.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean finished in a career-best second place, having made a one-stop strategy work well. With Vettel pitting with just seven laps to go, and Alonso dropping back – even though he was on the same strategy as Grosjean, having pitted two laps earlier – Sauber’s Sergio Perez also used a one-stop strategy to claim his second podium of the year. The Mexican however adopted the opposite approach to Grosjean, who had started on the supersoft and then moved onto the soft. The top four were covered by just seven seconds at the finish, mirroring the closeness of the competition all year.
Hamilton, who started from second on the grid, crucially claimed the advantage over pole-sitter Vettel on lap 17 following his first pit stop – even though Red Bull had pitted Vettel from the lead a lap earlier.
However, Hamilton was passed in a similar way by Alonso, underlining the importance of pit stop strategy as the top three swapped positions. After he overtook the Ferrari driver, Hamilton made his final stop from the lead onto the soft tyre with 20 laps to go and emerged third: the prelude to a thrilling finale.
Lewis Hamilton– “It’s a phenomenal sensation to come back to Canada and put on a performance like we did today. This win feels as good as my first Formula 1 victory back in 2007. In fact I’d say it’s one of the best races I’ve had for a very long time. I feel fantastic, to be honest. Just brilliant. I could hardly believe it when I was driving across the line. That emotion inside, it’s like an explosion. It’s really just incredible. It’s what I love best about motor racing. I always knew today’s race was going to be incredibly tough. So, in the first stint, I was really pleased that I could keep up with Seb [Vettel], and at that point I already felt sure I’d be involved the fight for victory. Our strategy was always for a two-stopper: we knew it was going to be the fastest way to get to the finish. I looked after my tyres really well today, and I used them knowing we were going to two-stop. I had 100 per cent control and understanding of what was happening in the race – it was one of our best races for that. I told my race engineer, Andy [Latham], to keep the information flowing, and he was fantastic today. I always knew where I was losing or gaining time, which really helped. Every win is different. Every victory is new, special and fresh. And to see the team all wearing their Vodafone ‘rocket red’ victory T-shirts, knowing the guys back at the factory are doing the same, makes everything feel even more special. Finally, the support from the fans has been amazing – this victory is dedicated to them. I’m so grateful to be here today.”
Conditions were much warmer for the race than they had been during free practice and qualifying, with track temperatures in excess of 40 degrees centigrade and 27 degrees ambient. This meant that teams started with limited information as to how the tyres might behave in the hotter temperatures, particularly as last year’s race was characterised by heavy rain.
As the race progressed, ambient and track temperatures remained consistent while fuel loads came down, adding another variable to the strategy calculations. Rarely for Canada, there were no safety cars, which also had an effect on the strategy – as these are normally factored in.
Romain Grosjean-“It’s been a great day for the team. It was an incredible race and the one stop strategy worked perfectly for us. It wasn’t an easy race, but we wanted to be aggressive to achieve a good result. Yesterday was a bit disappointing, but we learnt a lot from Friday to Saturday and the fruits of all these lessons were seen today. It wasn’t easy to manage the second set of tyres for so long, but it worked so I’ll happily do that again for another result like today. It’s fantastic to finish in second position on my first visit to Montreal, hopefully I will finish in first on my second time! I would like to thank the entire team for the amazing job we’ve done this weekend. All the drivers started on the supersoft tyre apart from Jenson Button (McLaren), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus), Nico Hulkenberg (Force India), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Pedro de la Rosa (HRT). Raikkonen ran the supersoft tyre for the longest stint, 30 laps, while Alonso made his set of soft tyres last for 51 laps.
Sergio Pérez- “When you start 15th and there is no rain or chaos you don’t really expect to finish on the podium. We were quite aggressive today. The strategy and the pit stop have been very good and I was able to overtake a few cars. I saw that for me the tyre degradation wasn’t so bad and this allowed me to manage my pace quite well. We have a quick car but since Malaysia we have been unlucky for one reason or another, and then yesterday we had such a disappointing qualifying. Today’s result is a great reward for all the guys who work hard. The last time I scored points I was also on the podium and think this is quite a nice way to do it. Also it is particularly sweet to have been at the podium ceremony here in Montreal because we are not too far from my home country and there are many Mexicans here. It is a great boost for the team and I am very pleased for everybody.”
