Formula 1

SEBASTIAN VETTEL DOMINATES THE 2013 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA…

Triple world champion Sebastian Vettel coasted to victory from pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Bull driver finished the 70-lap race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 14.4 seconds ahead of second-place Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari.

Alonso bumped defending champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes to third place with a pass heading into the 63rd lap after a long battle.

The second Red Bull driven by Mark Webber was fourth with Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in fifth and a season-best sixth place for Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rossi. Paul Di Resta of Force India was seventh.

Kimi Raikkonen tied Michael Schumacher’s record of 24 consecutive races in the points with a ninth-place finish.

Vettel won the Canadian race for the first time, after finishing second in 2011 and fourth two other times. He was heard to yell over his radio to his pit crew: “we won Canada, thanks boys.”

The German is on pace for a fourth straight Formula One title. It was his third win in seven races this season.

He was never threatened on a warm and — most importantly — dry day at the track. He quickly built a wide lead over Hamilton from the front row and relinquished it only briefly during an early pit stop.

A rainy qualifying session left quick and slower cars scattered through the starting grid, including rookie Valtteri Bottas in third position for Williams. There was high anticipation of what would happen at the start, particularly as cars crowd together through the first chicane.

Bottas dropped a few places and held on for several laps before falling back.

SEBASTIAN VETTEL:
“It’s great to win today. I was pushing very hard, especially at the beginning of the race – I had a moment when I hit the wall, but I didn’t feel it; I was trying to get away from the field, as you don’t know what will happen towards the end. It turned out that we could control things in the later stages, but you don’t know that, so I was just trying to push all the time and stay in the rhythm. It was good to see that we were quick in all conditions this weekend and had speed in the race. We had average tyre wear, which hasn’t always been the case for us, so we have made a step forward there. It’s nice to win here, as it’s a very special race. Not just the track, but the whole city enjoys the race and it’s a nice atmosphere.”

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault           1h32:09.143
 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                    +    14.408
 3.  Hamilton       Mercedes                   +    15.942
 4.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault           +    25.731
 5.  Rosberg        Mercedes                   +  1:09.725
 6.  Vergne         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 7.  Di Resta       Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
 8.  Massa          Ferrari                    +     1 lap
 9.  Raikkonen      Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
10.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
11.  Perez          McLaren-Mercedes           +     1 lap
12.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes           +     1 lap
13.  Grosjean       Lotus-Renault              +     1 lap
14.  Bottas         Williams-Renault           +     1 lap
15.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    2 laps
16.  Maldonado      Williams-Renault           +    2 laps
17.  Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
18.  Pic            Caterham-Renault           +    2 laps
19.  Chilton        Marussia-Cosworth          +    3 laps
20.  Gutierrez      Sauber-Ferrari             +    7 laps