Hemilton won Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s triumph at the Turkish Grand Prix earlier this year was somewhat inconclusive keeping in view the mouthwatering opportunities unleashed by a sensational scramble between Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. Yet the results at the recent Canadian event were far more decisive and the Red Bull men were upstaged convincingly by both McLaren and Ferrari. As the 2010 race calendar hastily progresses to the mid-season mark, the year’s title race could not have been tighter. With McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, his teammate Jenson Button and Red Bull’s Mark Webber, leading the way with only six points between them and with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel also not far behind in the chase.

Fernando Alonso put Ferrari back in the title contention with a stunning performance that saw him end third behind McLaren duo, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, who managed to take the first and second positions respectively. It was an astonishing comeback for the Spaniard, who could not manage any better than the 8^th spot at the Turkish event earlier in the year. Both Alonso and teammate Felipe Massa were held back by the McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes men who battled it out to deny Ferrari the top five spots at Istanbul Park. In a post- match press conference, the 2005 and 2006 world champion Alonso cautioned competitors not to underestimate the Ferrari threat, asserting that the 2010 Canadian victory could very possibly have been his.

Alonso’s teammate, the Brazilian Felipe Massa was not so fortune however, and produced a disheartening run at Montreal before finishing an unspectacular 15^th. Massa aptly described his show as “horrible”, a drama-filled display, where the Brazilian overcame an unfortunate altercation with Force India’s Vitantonio Liuzzi, at the initial turn before subsequently impairing his F10 machine’s nose in a battle with Michael Schumacher for the 9^th spot.

Red Bull duo, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ended 4^th and 5^th respectively in a race that did not produce much luck for the Austrian-based team. Vettel’s campaign was thwarted by a gear-box complication later in the race and the German had to gratify himself with a four place finish behind Alonso. His teammate, Webber, slid down the world championship rankings down to the third position from the first, after temporarily taking the second spot from a seventh place start midway through the race before a pit stop delay condemned him to the fifth position.

The Mercedes team also did not particularly dazzle in a venturesome run that saw Michael Schumacher plummet down from the third spot during the 11^th lap to an unimpressive eleventh finish. In a drama-filled display, the German got himself embroiled in a series of clashes involving Felipe Massa and Tonio Liuzzi before Adrian Sutil snatched the 10^th spot from beneath his nose, during the dying stages of the race. However, Schumacher was lucky to escape any punishment for his part in the mishaps.

Meanwhile, the German’s teammate Nico Rosberg produced a concrete display that eventually netted him the 6^th spot. Rosberg suffered heavily after getting caught in the rubble occasioned by a brouhaha, that occurred around the first corner but the Mercedes man did not stumble thereafter and recouped his pace to clinch 8 meaningful points for his team.

Renault enjoyed mixed fortunes as Robert Kubica managed the 8^th position to clinch six meaningful points. However, it was a hard fought reward for the Pole whose run was plagued by considerable rear tire damage and some grueling challenges from both Michael Schumacher and Adrian Sutil.

Toro Rosso men, Sebastian Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari clinched the 8^th and 12^th positions respectively in a show that saw Buemi notch four well-earned points. The Swiss star spectacularly weaved his way through the first corner turmoil and remarkably overtook Michael Schumacher on one occasion in the relentless pursuit for points, despite suffering from a broken exhaust pipe midway through the race.

European GP 2010: Vettel wins

Finally, the European GP comes to an end with an expected yet sensational win by Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel. He came back into the title hunt with his victory yesterday as teammate Mark Webber surprisingly escaped un-harmed from what looked like a life threatening crash.

Sebastian Vettel, who started the race from a pole position after topping the qualifiers, took great advantage of his 4th pole this season and thus secured the much needed victory for the energetic bulls who have had a stroke of bad luck since their crash in Turkey.

However it was not all cheers in the Red Bull team area as Valencia saw a Turkey like moment, but this time only one of their driver’s was affected.

Mark Webber was once again the victim, as he had witnessed another crash in Valencia. This time, though, his car flipped over and the accident looked much bizarre then the Turkey incident.

Webbers car flipped backwards almost 180 degrees after he smashed his car at the back of Lotus driver Kovalainen’s car. He, thus, landed upside down after staying airborne in the crash.

Mark Webber’s crash yesterday was very similar to his 1999 triple back-flip which he witnessed as a Mercedes Le Mans driver.

With yesterdays crash it is expected that the F-1 management will have to sit down and really think about whether the slower cars like the Lotus are either good or bad for the sport.

The slower teams have been a topic of debate many a times and only two weeks ago in Canada we saw Ferrari complaining about this very fact as Fernando Alonso became a victim of the slower cars on the track.

Anyhow, moving on with yesterday’s race. Except for this ugly scenario the rest of the race went on smoothly as Red Bull Racings Sebastian Vettel dominated the race right till the end.

However, throughout the ride tailing him closely and looking for a break to get upfront was none other then McLarens Lewis Hamilton, who despite the 2nd position yesterday still tops the championship table after his successes in both Turkey and Canada.

So guess who was tailing Mr Hamilton then?

No, it was not Ferrari nor was it Mercedes, but it was actually none other than his own McLaren teammate Jenson Button, who stands only a few points behind Hamilton on the championship tables.

Both the McLaren drivers have been up each others throats this F-1 season, having very close 1-2 finishes in the last two outings. Hamilton managed to get the better of Button in both the Turkish and Canadian grand prix and now with Valencia, the total tally become’s three.

Thus the podium yesterday saw Sebastian Vettel on top next to Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the 2nd and 3rd position respectively.

Rubens Barrichello, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil, Kamui Kobayashi, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Buemi and Nico Rosberg were the other seven drivers who finished as the top 10 of the race.

Lewis Hamilton however still tops the Championship Points table as the leader with just six points separating him and teammate Jenson Button and the next race of the season is scheduled to take place at Silverstone on July 11th.

Among the top 10 drivers at Valencia, if one was to be given an award for driver of the day then strong contender would be Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber.

Kobayashi took great advantage of the safety car period which came into the race after Webbers crash and got onto the third position. He also managed to hold onto for most of the race before he finally finished 7th in the race.

What was great about his performance yesterday was the fact that he managed 50 laps on his first set of tyres and then also went head to head against Alonso’s Ferrari to take the 7th place in the race with Alonso finishing 8th.

So now it is over to Silverstone, as Hamilton itches to extend his lead and the Bulls eye a comeback to the top of the table. Whatever the result of the next outing be, fans can be sure to expect a battle of nerves.

It is hard to wait for the July 9th weekend to arrive as F1 returns to Britain at the famous Silverstone, a track which has carved as one of the leading motorsport venues for the past 60 years. 9th and 10th are booked for the qualifiers of eleventh’s race day.