Montreal, QC– At a time when he needed it the most, Lewis Hamilton drove his McLaren-Mercedes to victory at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.  It was only fitting for Hamilton to win as he became the seventh different winner in the first seven races of the F1 season.  The Canadian Grand Prix victory has catapulted Hamilton to the top of the driver’s championship race by two points over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and three up on Red Bull Racing’s Sebastien Vettel.

The Canadian Grand Prix became a race of strategy as both Alonso and Vettel mistakenly attempted a one-stop strategy which would come back to bite them in the final 10 laps of the scheduled 70 as they eventually lost traction leading Hamilton to cruise right by.  Not only would they lose places to the victor, but the costly pit strategies gave Lotus-Renault’s Romain Grosjean and Sauber’s Sergio Perez podium finishes, respectively finishing second and third. 

The pole-position winner Vettel would finish fourth, followed by Alonso in fifth.  

Rounding out the driver’s taking points from the race from sixth to tenth would be Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg, Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, Lotus-Renault’s Kimi Raikkonen, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

This was Hamilton’s third victory in Montreal and the scene of his first F1 win back in 2007. “This is where I won my first Grand Prix. I knew it would be tough, but I loved every single minute and I’m really grateful,” Hamilton said. “The feeling inside is like an explosion, it’s incredible.” Hamilton exuded a feeling of utter happiness with a touch of relief.

It was all smiles for Grosjean who passed Vettel on lap 62 and Alonso on lap 67 for his best F1 finish on a track that he never raced on before, but was apparently his favourite to play on the F1 X-Box game. ”It’s more bumpy than on the X-Box while sitting on the sofa,” Grosjean joked.

The Canadian Grand Prix sustained the parity of the 2012 F1 campaign and delighted the large crowd that was estimated at more than 100,000.  With the driver’s championship so tight after seven races, it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top at the end of the year.  It’s safe to say that no one can complain that a team is too dominant, which has plagued F1 throughout the years.