MONTREAL, QC - The reigning three-time champion Sebastian Vettel took off comfortably from the start and never looked back. It was the ideal drive for any pole sitter as Vettel was never pressured during the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix. 

The Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver finished 14.4 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. The win extends Vettel’s lead over Alonso in the driver’s championship to 36 points. 

“I was pushing very hard at the beginning to get away and open a gap. It’s Canada, you usually go close to the walls and sometimes even closer than I wanted,” Vettel said.  “I felt I had more pace at the beginning of the race…it’s good to have some time on your hands. We had a great car and always had enough pace on hand to control the gap.”

It was a very different battle for second place between Alonso and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton, who started in second, held that position for most of the race until lap 63 that saw a ferocious battle between the two rivals. Alonso got the best of Hamilton on his third passing attempt that ended with Hamilton giving the Ferrari driver a little bump that thankfully caused no incident.

“We were very close in pace. We had some action there, but it was nice to have this battle with such intelligent drivers,” Alonso said. “We fight at 300 km/h and you feel safe while you’re racing…this is real racing and I’m very happy to see this back after Monaco.”

Rounding out the top five were Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber and Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg. 

Webber was involved in one of the rare incidents on track when Caterham’s rookie driver Giedo van der Garde didn’t get out of the way despite the waving blue flags to let a lead-lap driver through. Webber’s Red Bull made contact with van der Garde leading to losing a part of his front wing. Van der Garde was assessed a stop and go penalty, but Alonso took full advantage of the situation and passed Webber four laps later. 

Other notable storylines in the race was Jean-Eric Vergne who steered his Toro Rosso to sixth place, his best finish of his career. 

Lotus Renault’s Kimi Raikkonen might not have had his best race, but placed ninth, tying Michael Schumacher’s record of 24 consecutive races in the points. Raikkonen currently sits third in the driver’s championship with 88 points, eight points back of Alonso. 

And then there was Valtteri Bottas who started on the second row in third position to only see his Williams car drift back into their average grid position, eventually ending up in 14th. 

“The start of the race was not so great. I was missing some traction and the other cars were quite a lot quicker than me and it was difficult to keep up with them,” Bottas explained. “I enjoyed the qualification result for a while and really hoped we could get some points.”

Outside of the race itself, there is some concern over Montreal’s hold on the F1 calendar after its contract expires after next year’s race. The FIA has wanted to see improvements in its paddock and other areas of the track, but the federal government has been uneasy in increasing its current $15-million contribution. When it comes to Vettel’s perspective of Montreal, they all wish for it to stay on the calendar. 

“In terms of atmosphere, the whole city enjoys the Formula One Grand Prix,” Vettel said. “To me this race belongs 100 percent on the calendar, because for us drivers we love seeing grandstands completely sold out and a lot of people enthusiastic about the Grand Prix.” 

But the day belonged to Infiniti Red Bull and Vettel. For pure racing fans, it was a near flawless drive that showcased Vettel’s skills and the car’s dominance. Only one lack of concentration happened during the last third of the 70 lap race when Vettel missed his braking point into Turn 1 and had to cut across the grass. It cut the first to second place gap from 18 seconds to 14, but that made no difference in the end. 

It was Vettel’s first win in Canada and a nice reward after being passed by Jenson Button on the last lap two years ago in a rain-delayed and soaked track. It looks like another year where Vettel might win another championship, but things can turn around very quickly in Formula One and there are plenty of races left for the likes of Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton to catch up.