FINAL LAP CHAOS LEADS TO VETTEL VICTORY IN CANADASebastian Vettel survived a dramatic end to the Canadian GP to become the seventh different winner in seven races in a race that saw only eight cars cross the finish line.
In a race that was fairly uneventful until the last few laps, it looked like Michael Schumacher would cruise to victory, only the second time he had converted pole position into a win in five attempts this season. However, several teams miscalculated the amount of fuel they needed to put into their cars at the pit stop, resulting in multiple retirements as cars ran out of fuel on the last lap.
Schumacher himself was the only driver to recognise his impending failure, and came into the pits on the penultimate lap for a splash and dash that gave him second place.
Ayrton Senna also took advantage of the last lap retirements to complete the podium, with Damon Hill and Jim Clark, who were fighting for the last few points, promoted to fourth and fifth.
Emerson Fittipaldi and Mika Hakkinen made the most of the drama to help alleviate the pressure on them following their disappointing starts to the season. Fittipaldi, who had qualified 21st, took his second 6th place finish in three races to move him away from the relegation battle, whilst Hakkinen - who had only scored one Legend's Trophy point before the race - finished seventh.
Niki Lauda, the only driver who hadn't scored any points, was the last car to finish, in eighth place.
Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Alberto Ascari, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Denny Hulme and Nino Farina all ran out of fuel right at the end of the race - although Hamilton and Fangio were still classified ninth and tenth respectively, with only eight cars seeing the chequered flag.
Calm before the stormSchumacher started on pole, with a well-behaved first corner seeing the top seven drivers in grid order on the opening lap, with Fangio second, ahead of Ascari and Hamilton.
With the cars at the front maintaining steady gaps to each other, the main story of the first half of the race was the Lotus cars, who clearly had slower race pace, battling hard to defend their 9th and 11th positions from the BRM's and Coopers.
Nelson Piquet, who is coming under pressure following a series of poor races, was the only driver to crash into the "Wall of Champions", retiring on lap seven.
Most cars came in for their pit stop at the halfway stage of the race, with Ascari causing confusion in the pit lane by coming in on the same lap as teammate Schumacher, costing himself time while waiting for the German to be serviced, whilst also holding up Hamilton who was unable to get past the queuing Ferrari in the narrow pit lane - an infringement that saw a 20-second penalty handed to the Italian.
Sebastian Vettel was one of a few drivers who stayed out, taking the lead of the race, with Senna and Hill (4th and 5th) also not stopping. Any talk of a no-stop strategy was soon halted, however, when the remaining cars came in with six laps to go.
Montre-all out of gasSchumacher looked to be heading to a second victory of the season, with Fangio in a second place that would see him stay at the top of the Driver's Championship, and Hamilton continuing his strong form in third.
However, all was about to change when Schumacher came in for a surprising second stop on the beginning of the last lap of the race, another error from Ferrari once again costing them the opportunity of a race win.
This promoted Fangio to the lead, seemingly repeating the inherited victory he enjoyed in the opening race in Belgium, but the Argentine himself ran out of fuel on the final lap.
Hamilton also ran out of fuel, which promoted Vettel, who was fourth at the start of the opening lap, to the lead.
Prost was looking good for second place until he ran out of fuel, promoting Schumacher back up to second, ahead of Senna third.
Several more retirements ensued - including Denny Hulme who threw away a fifth placed finish when he ran out of fuel at the last chicane - but Vettel held on for the victory, incredibly the seventh different winner in the opening seven races of the season, and the quadruple-World Champion German takes the lead of the Driver's Championship for the first time this season.
FINAL STANDINGSCanada - Montreal
(35 Laps)
Pos Driver Time/Speed
1st sebastien vettel 45m 34.020s
red bull-renault
2nd michael schumacher +0.712s
ferrari-ferrari
3rd ayrton senna +20.079s
mclaren-mercedes
4th damon hill +29.169s
williams-renault
5th jim clark +47.401s
lotus-cosworth
6th emerson fittipaldi +58.825s
red bull-renault
7th mika hakkinen +1m 08.085s
mercedes-amg
8th niki lauda +1m 13.541s
brabham-ford
9th juan-manuel fangio -1 Lap
mercedes-amg
10th lewis hamilton -1 Lap
mclaren-mercedes
11th alain prost -1 Lap
renault-renault
12th alberto ascari -1 Lap
ferrari-ferrari
13th kimi raikkonen -1 Lap
cooper-cosworth
14th denny hulme -1 Lap
cooper-cosworth
15th jackie stewart -1 Lap
brm-brm
16th jack brabham -1 Lap
brabham-ford
17th fernando alonso -1 Lap
renault-renault
18th graham hill -1 Lap
lotus-cosworth
19th nino farina -1 Lap
benetton-renault
20th mike hawthorn -4 Laps
brm-brm
21st nelson piquet Didn't Finish
williams-renault
22nd jody scheckter Didn't Finish
benetton-renault
DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP1) Sebastian VETTEL (Red Bull) 92
2) Michael SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 76
3) Juan Manuel FANGIO (Mercedes) 70
4) Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren) 63
5) Ayrton SENNA (McLaren) 63
6) Graham HILL (Lotus) 46
7) Damon HILL (Williams) 46
8) Alain PROST (Renault) 44
9) Alberto ASCARI (Ferrari) 41
10) Jim CLARK (Lotus) 40
11) Fernando ALONSO (Renault) 24
12) Emerson FITTIPALDI (Red Bull) 18
13) Kimi RAIKKONEN (Cooper) 17
14) Nelson PIQUET (Williams) 17
15) Jackie STEWART (BRM) 11
16) Denny HULME (Cooper) 10
17) Mika HAKKINEN (Mercedes) 7
18) Jody SCHECKTER (Benetton) 6
19) Nino FARINA (Benetton) 6
20) Niki LAUDA (Brabham) 4
21) Mike HAWTHORN (BRM) 4
22) Jack BRABHAM (Brabham) 2
CONSTRUCTOR'S CHAMPIONSHIP1) MCLAREN 126
2) FERRARI 117
3) RED BULL 110
4) LOTUS 86
5) MERCEDES 77
6) RENAULT 68
7) WILLIAMS 63
8) COOPER 27
9) BRM 15
10) BENETTON 12
11) BRABHAM 6
Scheckter's retirement was the only talking point of the opening lap.
The Lotus', Coopers and BRMs provided a nostalgic view of 1960's F1.
Piquet didn't do his season any favours when he became the only victim of the Wall of Champions.
Schumacher was kept honest by Fangio, but never seriously threatened.
Ascari compromises his and Hamilton's races with an ill-timed pit stop.
Clark finally succumbed to the pressure from Jackie Stewart's BRM.
The McLarens - on different strategies - enjoy a rare inter-team battle.
Ferrari were able to save Schumacher's race by bringing him in with a lap to go.
Hamilton suffers his third retirement of the season...
...with Alain Prost also running out of fuel on the final lap.
Vettel finally reaps the reward of his consistency with an unexpected victory.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 09:48PM by kingdeuce86.