Lap 70 Into the final lap. Massa’s past Raikonnen! Raikonnen still in
ninth, so will equal that Schumacher record. Webber sets a new fastest lap
of the race. Vettel moments away from clinching this.
Lap 68 Vettel has taken his helmet off and is waving to fans, driving
at an average speed of 13mph. He’s still way out in front. I exaggerate
lie, but he’s home and hosed.
Lap 67 Only the top five are on the lead lap. Three laps to go. This is
Vettel’s, unless something ridiculous happens.
Lap 66 Yellow flags out, possibly for the piece of Hamilton’s front
wing he lost in that most recent tussle with Alonso. Oh no, it’s Guttierez
in the Sauber, who’s into the barriers at turn one. A later retirement for
him… Here’s Alonso looking moody earlier today:
Lap 65 Alonso and Hamilton make contact again, as the Mercedes driver
tries to reclaim second. Looks like some minor damager to Hamilton’s car.
Top 10 with five laps left: Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg,
Vergne, Di Resta, Raikonnen, Massa, Sutil.
Lap 64 Vettel, incidentally, is 19.6 seconds ahead of Alonso with six
laps left.
Lap 63 Excellent defensive work from Hamilton, earning the inside line
just before the final chicane, but Alonso is past him on the straight! They
touch wheels just slightly, but both cars look okay. Hamilton down into
third, Alonso takes second.
Lap 62 Just two tenths of a second between second and third now. Pass
attempt surely coming soon…
Lap 61 Hamilton holding off Alonso for now, but the gap’s narrowing and
it’s hard to see him seeing this out. Sutil’s given a drive-through penalty
for ignoring blue flags.
Lap 60 Ten laps left. Your top 10: Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Webber,
Rosberg, Vergne, Di Resta, Sutil, Raikonnen, Massa.
Lap 59 Just one second behind Alonso and Hamilton, the Spaniard’s
within DRS range.
Lap 58 Paul Di Resta pits at last, and holds onto seventh place. Lewis
Hamilton says to someone on the team radio telling him about metrics “please,
just let me drive man”. Tee hee hee!
Lap 57 Webber, it should be said, isn’t really going with Alonso as he
pursues second place. He’s seven seconds behind the Ferrari.
Lap 56 Alonso closing on Hamilton all the time. Just 1.4 seconds
between them, as Alonso laps his team-mate.
Lap 54 Fernando Alonso only two seconds behind Hamilton now. These fans
of the Spaniard look to be having a nice time:
Lap 53 Paul Di Resta is told he can come in for some new tyres if he
fancies them. He still hasn’t pitted, and he’s still in the points.
Lap 52 Ooh, hang on, Vettel’s just made a real meal of the first turn,
going off and having to navigate some grass to get back on the track. He’s
told to settle down over team radio, his gap is down to just 14.6
seconds.
Lap 51 Very little going on. Very hard to see anyone except Vettel
winning this by a million miles. Hamilton looking safe in second ahead of
Alonso, but Webber’s giving the Spaniard something to think about.
Lap 50 Webber told he can push til the end on his tyres. Wonderful
news. Vettel’s into the pits and out about a decade ahead of the rest of the
field. Alright, it’s more like 30 seconds.
Lap 49 Hulkenburg also out of the race after that incident with Van Der
Garde. Yellow flags out, Lewis Hamilton’s into the pits and out safely in
second.
Lap 47 Webber is into the pits and onto some medium tyres. Van Der
Garde is lolopping folornly around the track with his front wing hanging
off. He’s not makes it back to the pits. Hulkenburg tapped him slightly. Van
Der Garde is the first to retire.
Lap 46 Sergio Perez is told that he is racing Jenson Button now over
team radio. They’re 12th and 13th respectively. It’s like a fun, stake-less
mini-game!
Lap 45 Looks like the dream could be over for Raikonnen and the title.
He’s in ninth and under pressure from Grosjean.
Lap 44 Di Resta, incidentally, is the only driver yet to pit. His
team-mate Sutil has already been in twice.
Lap 43 Vettel reclaims fastest lap honours. He’s just lapped Di Resta,
who is seventh. Madness.
Lap 42 Alonso is past Webber for third! Webber locks up going into the
hairpin and Alonso takes full advantage, edging past Webber on the finshing
line.
Lap 40 Alonso sets a new fastest lap of the day. Here’s the top 10,
with 30 laps left: Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, Vergne, Di
Resta, Raikonnen, Grosjean, Massa, Perez.
Lap 39 Oddly, Webber is now lapping slightly faster without that chunk
of his front wing. Alonso about a seventh of a second behind him in fourth.
Van der Garde picks up a 10 second stop/go penalty.
Lap 38 Van der Garde is under inevitable investigation for that sorry
episode. Here’s Lewis Hamilton inside his powerful racing machine:
Lap 37 Pointlessness alert! Van der Garde in the Caterham, one of the
backmarkers fails to make way for Mark Webber as the Aussie laps him at the
hairpin, they collide and Webber’s lost a large section of his front wing.
Madness from the Dutchman.
Lap 36 Sutil pushing hard on Grosjean for eighth place. The real action
is ahead of both of them, with Webber and Alosno making a concerted effort
to close the gap to Lewis Hamilton in second.
Lap 34 Eek, Webber laps Raikonnen, the man who is a place behind him in
the driver’s championship! No retirements thus far, incidentally. Hats off
for sensible driving…
Lap 33 Webber is now fastest, dragging Alonso along with him. The
Australian has been ordered to look after his tyres.
Lap 32 Rosberg’s into the pits and on top medium tyres. He’s back in
fifth.
Lap 30 Rosberg, despite some slightly dubious swerving to hold off his
challengers, is passed by Webber in the end, and Alonso moments later. Alas.
The Red Bull’s looking very quick. Hamilton just over seven seconds ahead of
the Aussie.
Lap 29 Rosberg doing a good job of maintaining some breathing space for
Hamilton, holding off Webber in third. Bunching up behind him, with Alonso
snapping at Webber’s heels.
Lap 28 Button coming into the pits after being passed by Bottas.
Lap 27 Webber goes wide at the final chicane, Alonso right on his tail
now. Hamilton a mammoth 15 seconds behind Vettel. That’s a pitstop ahead of
everyone, basically.
Lap 26 26 laps. Feels like the right time to give you a top five:
Vettel, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, Alonso.
Lap 25 Massa is past Button. Which sounds better than it is, because
Sutil’s also ahead of the McLaren. Button looking very slow suddenly out
there, I would suggest something is awry with his automobile.
Lap 24 Raikonnen is told to “save fuel without hurting performance,”
easy, right? He’s going to have to earn that record-equallying
moment. Gah, then a horrible pitstop for Raikonnen, with his team having
trouble getting his right rear tyre on. Not. Ideal.
Lap 22 Sutil giving Massa a bit more trouble than some of the drivers
he’s passed already this afternoon.
Lap 21 Bottas is past Guttierez now, as he steps up his chase for some
points after a disappointing opening to the race for Williams.
Lap 20 Massa, driving an aggressive and error-free (FOR NOW) race is
past Guttierez and now up into 12th.
Lap 19 Lewis Hamilton’s pit team are out. They’re switching him onto
the medium tyres. He’s out into a comfortable second place, well ahead of
Rosberg in third.
Lap 18 Maldonado’s making his drive-through penalty happen. Bottas is
told to try for a mammoth 25 more laps on his medium tyres. He’s back in
13th. Gotta love that fake Epcot centre behind the hairpin in Montreal:
Lap 17 Vettel’s into the pits with some absolutely ruined-looking front
tyres. He comes out in second, behind wor Lewis. Fernando Alonso loses 20
seconds with his visit to the pit lane.
Lap 16 Maldonado is given a drive-through penalty for running into the
back of Sutil. A harsh one, I think.
Lap 15 The stewards are looking into Maldonado and Sutil’s collision a
little earlier. Hamilton’s “pushing”, he says, over team radio.
This lap a little better for him, 0.6 seconds faster than Vettel round the
track.
Lap 14 Perez pits after complaining about degradation of his super-soft
tyres.
Lap 13 Vettel’s a ludicrous 7.6 seconds ahead of Hamilton now.
Lap 12 Massa seemingly frightens Ricardo into the pits as he activates
DRS down that long home straight.
Lap 11 Raikonnen visibly struggling to hang onto ninth, as Massa puts
him under. Raikonnen, as you know, can equal Michael Schumacher’s record of
24 consecutive finishes in the points this afternoon.
Lap 10 Massa’s up into the top 10 after getting past Hulkenburg. Sutil
into the pits after a forgettable opening to the race. Here’s what the first
corner looked like:
Lap 9 Raikonnen has been on the radio to report a problem with his car,
some talk of Kers issues. Kerses!
Lap 8 Vettel’s lead up to 4.4 seconds at the head of the race. Perez
and Massa having an engaging scrap for 12th, in the battle of the drivers
keen to do slightly silly things.
Lap 6 Sutil’s sent spinning in the Force India after trying to get the
better of Maldonado, losing four places in the process.
Lap 5 Well, I’ve seen nothing from that lap thanks to a series of
replays of things I’ve already told you about. Thanks, F1 TV overlords.
Lap 4 Nearly three and a half seconds between Vettel and Hamilton in
second already. All set up for the German to dictate and control this all the way. As I said some time ago, let’s hope for some rain. Not much
prospect of that at the moment, sky is still almost entirely lovely.
Lap 3 Maldonado’s overtaken by a brave move from Felipe Massa before
his inevitable high-speed meeting with a wall on approximately the 52nd lap.
DRS is enabled after its absence from the first two laps.
Lap 2 Here’s your top five after a lap: Vettel, Hamiulton, Rosberg,
Webber, Alonso.
Lap 1 Bettel’s off well, Webber’s also past Bottas already. Hooray for
energy drink! Ach, Alonso’s around Bottas before too long as well. He’s down
to sixth from third already.
19.02 Alright, we are moments away. Cars in position. Lights are coming
on.
19.00 What’s all this? It’s looking positively sunny now in
Montreal. Covers off the tyres, almost everyone’s on the super-soft variant.
18.58 Concerning news from Tom Cary as we prepare for the
formation lap:
We’re one grid girl down. As I walked on to the grid she tottered past me
flanked by two burly security guards. I think she had fainted rather than
done anything wrong. Didn’t find out whose car she was meant to be standing
in front of but hopefully it’s not a bad omen for that man..
18.50 Emailing’s Marc Melander has failed to step up to the
non-metallic plate with his anecdote contribution:
An anecdote to dine in on would be putting a duck in a microwave. Whither
Bill Withers.
18.48 A man with a grand piano is banging out the Canadian national
anthem close to the grandstand. And what a song it is…
18.45 Martin Brundle is doing his usual chaotic pitwalk. He seems
excited. I like this Williams’ chap’s sideburns:
18.35 Some more weather news, from Team Sauber this time, and
they’re playing down the chance of rain, the spoilsports:
18.25 Who’s winning the lanyard collection competition? Oh look, it’s Hugh
Grant:
18.15 Sebastian Vettel‘s having a lovely time in the back of a bearded
man’s car:
18.05 The stars are out at last, and our man in Canada Tom Cary
has been spotting them, but does offer a contradictory weather forecast to :
Just walked past actors Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult, the latter
looking v lanky as he was introduced to Bernie. Sunny weather here at
present for first time this week. Reports that Paul Di Resta’s criticism of
team after quali yesterday went down like a lead balloon. I’m off to check
that out.
17.55 Yet to see any glitzy pictures of Canada’s greatest celebrities
mingling with second-tier tyre-changers in the pitlane. Whither Bryan Adams?
Whither Wayne Gretzky? Whither Celine Dion? Come on, Canada. Stop mugging us
off.
17.45 Encouraging weather news from Will Buxter off of that
Twitter:
17.30 Compare and contrast… Third on the grid today, fourth in the
drivers’ championship, his team fourth in the constructors’ championship:
AND: 14th on the grid today, out of the driver’s championship already, and
lagging behind Force India in the constructor’s….
17.20 Have we all seen the latest entry in Felipe Massa’s 2013 crash
compendium? He did this in qualifying yesterday:
17.00 Afternoon liveblog fans.
It’s a little drizzly. This is obviously great news.
If that memorable story which Jenson
Button will be dining out on* until the day he dies has taught us
nothing else, it’s that rain at the Canadrian Grand Prix means great times.
Jenson is unlikely to be at the centre of whatever yarn this race spins this
evening, given that he’s back in 14th on the grid after a disastrous
weather-related qualifying mishap for McLaren.
He’s won from a worse starting position here before (last) but it is no longer
2011 and it’s hard to see him getting past Raikkonen, Alonso and Webber
today, let alone Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel who are further up the grid.
There’s also an unfamiliar name in the advanced rows, that of 23-year-old Finn
Valterri Bottas who’s in the Williams and has basically already had a
fabulous weekend whatever happens here.
Let’s all pray for consistent mild rain and consistent massive excitement.
All the build-up and pictures of celebrities you can shake an
aerodynamically-optimisied stick at to follow, stay tuned.
* – Never really understood this phrase. Does it mean that if you have good
enough anecdotes you never have to pay a bill? Must make for a dangerous
number of free Nando’s dinners for the likes of JK Rowling…