Jenson Button – Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, Canada saw one of the most dramatic wet races in the history of Formula One, a race that technically lasted for more than four hours!
Before the race started the dark clouds had indicated it would be a rather wet afternoon at the track. The rain had made the whole track slippery and it was dangerous for the drivers to race in such conditions, hence the race had to start under the Safety Car. Soon, the rain seemed to stop. The track started to dry up on the racing line, as the cars drove round. Then at lap 25 the red flag stopped race due to heavy downpour.
This period of racing was very interesting with Lewis Hamilton creating most of the action. Lewis first clipped the rear of Mark Webber sending him for a spin which send Mark Webber back a few places, then again after a few laps he banged into the rear of his own team mate Jenson Button. Button got away undisturbed but the car of Lewis was damaged and he had to retire from the race. Webber was also busy overtaking the slower cars to climb back into the top ten.
This move by Lewis is heavily critized, stating that he his still immature and needs to drive more responsibly.
Mean while most of the drivers with the track drying, were making pit stops and switching into the intermediate tyres. In this process, Kamui Kobayashi ended up being in the second position, behind Vettlel and followed by the Ferrari of Alonso.
The race went back under the Safety Car as the rain suddenly increased, hampering visibility, eventually the race was stopped under the red flag. The race track was flooded with water as the rain continued to pour down heavily. The race officials tried to clear the water off the track but it seemed that the incessant rain was washing their efforts down the drain.
A lot of time, a little over two hours, was how much the drivers had to wait to get back to racing. The race was a complete sold out and the people who had come to watch a good race would have been very disappointed, with the rain playing spoilt sport.
The star of the race undoubted has to be Jenson Button, who in the end took the race win under wet and slippery conditions. It was a very eventful race for him; who first survived a high speed nudge from his teammate Lewis down the start finish straight, which was followed by a drive through penalty for speeding behind a safety car landing him up in 21st position. He fought back up the grid with some brilliant driving mixed with great team strategy to end up on second position, right on Vettel’s tail. He kept mounting pressure on Vettel, who made an error in the last lap and gifting the Canadian Grand Prix to Button.
The race mostly took place in behind the safety car and was looking to be a real dull encounter, but thanks to the race officials and the drivers the track, once dry gave some of the best racing moments in recent times. It was certainly the last 20 odd laps that brought all the thrills back into Formula One.
Tags: Canada, Canadian Grand Prix, F1, Formula One, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Montreal, Sebastian Vettel
