Button Wins on Wild Day in Canada

MONTREAL, Canada- R.I.S.- Enduring being hit from his teammate, striking the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, speeding through the pit lane , and a two hour rain delay did not deter Jenson Button from being aggressive enough to pass Sebastian Vettel on the last lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. It was his 10th career win and his first of the season. Mark Webber just held off a rejuvenated Michael Schumacher for third.

“I mean, I really don’t know what to say” replied a stunned Button., “there was the incident with Lewis and I have apologized for that, and then I got penalized speeding under the safety car. But it was a great win and it was my best.”

The race began with sopping conditions right at the beginning which brought out the safety car for the first four opening laps. Because the new Pirelli tires were never experimented before in these situations, the officials decided that the new wet tires would need a few laps of putting heat into them, even with the moist conditions. But when the race finally received the green flag, Fernando Alonso was right behind Sebastian Vettel, but could not pass the German, as the world champion began to pull away. But Vettel’s Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, was not as fortunate as the Australian was clipped by Lewis Hamilton on the first hairpin spinning him around, but Webber recovered but found himself in 16th position after five laps. But Hamilton himself was too aggressive again, and right after the start/finish line struck his McLaren teammate, Jenson Button, damaging his left rear suspension.

“Jenson (Button) braked quite late and I pulled across and I don’t know if he saw me or not”. Recalled Hamilton later. “I thought he knew I was alongside of him, but it does not matter now.”

As the safety car appeared again, .Button took advantage of this situation and pitted, but was penalized for speeding in the pit lane, as the race went green again on lap 11. Vettel regained the lead once more, with the Ferrari’s of Alonso and Massa right behind him .As Button moved up the grid with his choice of intermediate tires, the Englishman gained many spots and by lap 17, was in 10th place. This made other teams dive into the pits one lap later putting on the same rubber even as the rain was beginning to fall even more. On lap 19, the rain became a downpour and all the drivers all returned to the pits for full wets with the safety car now deployed back onto the track for the third time on lap 20.Vettel decided to pit one lap later but regained the lead when Felipe Massa also went into the pits to change to wets.

As the race continued, the rain increased even more and on lap 24, the officials decided to stop the race, with the mechanics able to assist the cars. As the race was halted, the conditions were expected to change for another 20 minutes. But the drivers now had to wait for the decision from the Marshalls to see whether or not the race will continue. But after over two hours under the red flag, the drivers at 3:45 in the afternoon would resume the race with full wets under the safety car, even with the skies producing a small amount of drizzle.

While the safety car was making its laps, Heikki Kovalainen encountered a broken drive shaft and had to pit his Lotus. On the 35th laps, the safety car came off the track, Vettel shot out in front, and Kamui Kobyaschi moved just out in front of Massa. But as the lap completed, drivers came in for intermediate tires. But Jerome D’Ambrosio came in a lap earlier under the safety car, and the Belgian was given a penalty.

But on lap 37, Button and Alonso touched and the Spaniard beached his Ferrari, bringing out the safety car once again. But Button limped his McLaren back to the pits as Vettel pitted under the caution which ended with the green coming out once again on lap 40. As the race resumed, Paul Di Resta tried to pass Renault driver Nick Heidfeld and in the process broke his front wing, and had to pit. Michael Schumacher was on his best, passing Heidfeld and now moving into fourth place. At this point, the scientific DRS system, was now enabled for all cars for the first time in the race.

By lap 50, many drivers began to dive into the pits for super soft tires, but while some of the drivers were pitting, Schumacher passed both Massa and Kobyaschi and now found himself in second. Di Resta by this point was issued a drive through penalty for striking Heidfeld. Schumacher and Massa pitted for the supersofts. Vettel finally pitted as well, but as that was going on, Massa with slicks, spun and destroyed his front wing and had to pit. Fighting for fifth place, Heidfeld attempted to pass Kobyaschi and struck the Japanese with his front wing at the Casino hairpin.. But as the German continued on, his broken front wing went underneath his car, and took Heidfeld into the wall, leaving debris everywhere, and brought out the safety car on lap 58 and still 11 laps to go in the race. As the safety car headed back into the pits, Vettel flew out in front again, leaving Schumacher and Webber behind him. Button began to gain and the three began a huge fight with just five laps to go. Button took advantage of Webber overshooting the last chicane, giving the Englishman third place. But only a lap later, Button passed Schumacher was closing in on race leader Vettel. With four laps to, Button had Vettel in his sights, but on the last lap, the world champion locked up his car, and Button passed the German to take the win.

Vettel was pleased considering he made a mistake after leading all but one of the 70 scheduled laps.

“It is a disappointment and we lead all laps until the last won.” Said Vettel. ‘I was trying to hold the gap and I was pushing and I locked up the rear. There was only one line and I was on the wrong one, and if you give it away you lose, but it was a good race.”

In even this chaotic race, Vitaly Petrov managed to finish his Renault in fifth, while Massa just edged Kobyaschi for sixth. Rubens Barrichello took eighth, while Toro Rosso drivers Jaime Alguasuari and Sebastian Buemi placed eighth and tenth, respectively.

Despite the win, Button still trails Vettel by 50 points going into the next round on June 25th on the streets of Valencia, Spain. But the Englishman and former World Champion was only thinking about celebrating.

“I am sure I am going to have a busy time today, and I am going to celebrate here. A thank you for everyone on the team for today.” Finished Button.