Lewis Hamilton Makes It Seven For Seven!

In comparison to the 2011 Montréal Grand Prix, many fans may speculate that this year was a big let down. Yet when the Grand Prix came into it's closing stages, the track lit up with excitement. As we normally see at least one safety car during the race, 2012 was different in this way as well.

While the event was not sold out (for the first time in a decade), it was close to it, with more than 100,000 in attendance at the facility (that holds 115,000). There was no sign of demonstrators either, before or during the two-and-a-half-hour event. Students did not protest on track as it meant they would have had to buy a Grand Prix ticket to gain access to the closed island.

The start of the race was slightly subdued, with a safe start from everyone but once all 24 cars made it around the track, the race was truly on.

Many teams were looking into a one-stop pit strategy this year yet only some were able to do so. With the cars being so close and the television coverage jumping from one fight for position to another, it was only time before the driver's tyres would hit the cliff and the team would have to make the decision to pit them.

The often incident-filled race got off to its cleanest start in memory and all 24 cars stayed on the track until lap 25, when Narain Karthikeyan's HRT spun out and stopped on the first turn. A lap later, Pedro de la Rosa's HRT was pushed into the garage with smoke billowing from its brakes. Another item that the Circuti de Gilles Villeneuve is known for. Red hot brakes.

Seven-time Canadian Grand Prix winner Michael Schumacher`s day was done on lap 45 when his DRS got stuck in an open position. Mechanics (four in total) tried to snap it back without success, and the German was forced to retire for the third straight race and for fifth time this season.

The final retirement saw Marussia's Timo Glock spinning off track on turn 10 and enter the pits that lap, thus ending his race due to a brake problem.

In the final stages of the race, the track came alive with excitement and action. All eyes were on the front of the grid as Sauber's the one-stopping Sergio Perez passed first Mercedes' Nico Rosberg (strongly around the outside of turn one) and then Ferrari's Felipe Massa (in consecutive laps) seemed relatively harmless. When Vettel pitted and rejoined in fifth place, however, both Perez and Grosjean were in a fantastic position to chase down the slowing Alonso. As the different strategies saw large differences in lap times, the effectiveness of the DRS made position changes relatively simple and Alonso was powerless to defend.

It was perhaps Grosjean's performance that was impressive to most, as he went a full 48 laps at the end of the race on Pirelli's prime tyres and was still able to close within 2.5s of Hamilton by the chequered flag. Perez finished a similar distance behind, while Vettel set the fastest lap on the final lap to cross the line 6.1s ahead of Alonso.

Though the 2012 Montréal Grand Prix may have failed to comparison to last year's race on many levels, many fans are still raving about it online. With the European Grand Prix set to be held in two weeks time (Valencia), we shall see if there is another drive in the paddock that will be willing to take the chance and make it eight different drivers to win the eight different events!

Lewis Hamilton	Winner
|Romain Grosjean	Second
Sergio Perez	Third        Fan's Choice
Sebastian Vettel	P4
Fernando Alonso	P5
Nico Rosberg	P6
Mark Webber	P7
Kimi Räikkönen	P8
Kamui Kobayashi	P9
Felipe Massa	P10
Paul di Resta	P11
Nico Hülkenberg	P12
Pastor Maldonado	P13
Daniel Ricciardo	P14
Jean-Éric Vergne	P15
Jenson Button	P16
Bruno Senna	P17
Heikki Kovalainen	P18
Vitaly Petrov	P19
Charles Pic	P20
Timo Glock	Retired (brakes)
Michael Schumacher	Retired (rear wing)
Pedro de la Rosa	Retired (brakes)
Narain Karthikeyan	Retired (suspension)