F1 News
Date: 11/June/2012
Lewis Hamilton became F1’s seventh winner in seventh races with a stunning victory in Canada on Sunday.
The McLaren star made a two-strop strategy work by overtaking race and title leader Fernando Alonso on lap 64 of 70. The Ferrari driver had opted for a single-stop, but slipped from first to fifth as his tyre grip evaporated in the closing laps.
Hamilton has now taken the World Championship lead by two-points from Alonso, completing a perfect day for the Englishman.
“What a great feeling this is, where I won my first grand prix,” smiled Hamilton. “I knew today would be a tough, tough race but I loved every single minute of it and I’m really grateful.
“I couldn’t believe it when I was coming across the line. That feeling inside, it’s like an explosion. And that’s what I love about racing and if I continue to have this feeling then hopefully I’ll be here for a long, long time.”
Hamilton seemed to spot that Alonso and Vettel would try and one-stop early in the race, but had been wrongly assured over the radio that they were also two-stopping. The 2008 World Champion insisted the information made little difference as a one-stop was never an option for him.
“I was thinking that these guys are falling quite far behind, so I assumed they are doing a one-stop,” explained Hamilton. “But I wasn’t able to do a one-stop [anyway]. I think I would have fallen back as they did: perhaps even further. So I just kept on pushing.
“Fernando and Sebastian looked like they were having oversteer moments and definitely struggling [towards the end]. I had so much traction with fresh tyres that there was almost a two second difference in pace between us.”
While Alonso and pole sitter Sebastian Vettel couldn’t make a single-stop work, Lotus rookie Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Sergio Perez did just that - and were rewarded with second and third places in the late-race reshuffle.
Spotting the danger, early leader Vettel dived in for a second set of tyres when he began to struggle in the closing stages. The extra performance allowed the Red Bull driver to overtake the fading Alonso, for fourth, with two laps remaining.
Despite suffering at the end of the grand prix, Alonso refused to criticise his one-stop strategy.
"Today we tried to win the race, but the gamble of only making a single stop did not pay off,” said the Spaniard.
“When Hamilton came back into the pits for his second stop, we chose to try and play our hand: now it's easy to say that we should have made that choice too, but it would have meant we had tried nothing.
“The last laps were very long indeed: the tyres dropped off suddenly and I was too slow to defend myself from those coming up behind.”
All of which means that the top four drivers in the World Championship - Hamilton to Mark Webber - are covered by just nine points.
“We got a win and 25 points and I only have a two point lead, so it’s incredible how close it is and I think it will stay that close throughout the year,” predicted Hamilton. “Again, it just highlights how important consistency is.”
“I think it will continue to be like this throughout the year,” Hamilton added. “We’re still trying to fully understand these tyres. Sometimes you’re overheating them, sometimes you’re not heating them up enough.
“But I think it’s great for Formula One and it’s great for the fans. I’m guessing there was a lot of overtaking today, a real mix-up and seven different winners in seven races - I can’t remember hearing of anything like that.
“I hope there’s no more!”
Round eight of the 2012 season will be held at Valencia on June 24th.
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