McLaren has pretty much established itself as the team to beat at this point of the season with yet another 1-2 victory. Lewis Hamilton led team mate Jenson Button across the finish line at the eventful Canadian GP in Montreal, after doing the same two weeks ago in Turkey. This 1-2 victory is McLaren’s third this season and both of its drivers were joined by Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso in third place on the podium.

Both the Red Bulls failed to make it onto the podium but they finished just outside of it with Sebastian Vettel’s fourth and Mark Webber’s fifth. At one point Webber was leading the race and looked good for a race win but had to bow down to McLaren’s superior performance and race strategy. Nico Rosberg managed to finish in sixth for Mercedes and was closely followed by Robert Kubica of Renault. Toro Rosso managed to collect some valuable points with Sebastien Buemi’s eight place finish.

It is also a good day Vijay Mallya and his Force India team as both of his drivers finished in the top ten. Vitantonio Liuzzi finished in ninth ahead of team mate Adrian Sutil. In fact both drivers managed to push 7-times World Champion Michael Schumacher out of the point-paying top ten. The Mercedes driver had a bad qualifying yesterday as he only managed 13th spot.

However at the start of the race he managed to get up to eight place and was running strong. Unfortunately after making a pit stop earlier in the race he had a tussle Kubica and was forced to pit again. That pretty much ruined his race. Further down the field Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen finished the race in 16th ahead of Renault’s Vitaly Petrov. Hispania’s Karun Chandhok settled in 18th followed by Virgin’s Lucas di Grassi. On the contrary to the expectations of many, only few drivers failed to finish the race. They include Timo Glock from Virgin, Jarno Trulli from Lotus (reason of retirement unknown at this point), Pedro de la Rosa from Sauber, Hispania’s Bruno Senna and lastly Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi.

The 2010 Canadian GP kept its promise of becoming a spectacular race filled with entertaining events, although the Safety Car was not deployed at all. At the start of the race almost everyone had clean starts but Felipe Massa and Liuzzi came together and both drivers had to pit but managed to continue racing. Kobayashi was the first to retire as he became victim to the Champion’s Wall on Lap 1. Some drivers had to make early pit stops as the track wasn’t kind on tires and at one point both Hamilton and Alonso went into the pits together and it was Alonso who came out in front. Both were side by side while exiting the pits but managed to keep their front wings clean. By Lap 10 it was Vettel who was leading followed by Webber, Schumacher, Buemi, Alonso, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Button, Kubica and Sutil.

After the Red Bulls made their stops it was Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Vettel, Webber and Kubica who were in the top six. Many laps later the top runners made their pits stops again but Webber stayed out and but by about Lap 50 Hamilton managed to overtake the Australian, who dived into the pits moments later. There was also an incident that involved Kubica and Sutil when the former attempted to make a pit stop.

Kubica overtook Sutil on the inside right before heading into the pits on the back straight. That move was a very dangerous move and the stewards acknowledged this hence an investigation will be carried out after the race. By Lap 53 Hamilton, Alonso, Button, Vettel, Webber, Kubica, Rosberg, Schumacher, Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg from Williams were running in the top ten.

A while later Alonso lost his second place to Button while trying to overtake a back marker (Karun Chandhok) and he failed to snatch it back. Overall it was a very interesting race and although mid-race refueling is banned this year, the drivers still had to make multiple pitstops for fresh tires. There were many times when positions were jumbled up, as different drivers were suffering from different levels of tire degradation, so it was hard to predict their stops.

Today’s 1-2 victory propelled Hamilton into the lead in the Driver’s Championship with 109 points. Button is close behind with 106 points while Webber is in third with 103. Alonso’s third place pushed him up to fourth with 94 points, ahead of Vettel with 90. McLaren has increased it’s lead in the Constructor’s Championship with 215 points, followed by Red Bull with 193 and Ferrari with 163. Formula 1 will now pack it’s bags and head to Valencia for the European GP on June 27th.

Please go here to view full race results.

Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal from pole position ahead of both the Red Bulls. The McLaren driver who was practically running on fumes on his final run scores his third consecutive pole at the North American race and his first since last year’s Abu Dhabi GP. This result ends Red Bull’s recent dominance in qualifying. Both Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel secured second and third places respectively.

A Ferrari was also seen in the pole battle but had to settle for fourth place. Yes we are talking about Fernando Alonso who will start the race ahead of Jenson Button in the other McLaren. Vitantonio Liuzzi made it onto sixth place for Force India while Felipe Massa from Ferrari secured seventh. Renault’s Robert Kubica, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg made up the rest of the top ten.

Rosberg out-qualified his more experienced team mate, Michael Schumacher who only managed 13th. Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli from Lotus Racing will lead the new teams when the lights go green tomorrow with their 19th and 20th positions. The final four positions were taken up by Timo Glock of Virgin, Bruno Senna of Hispania and respective team mates Lucas di Grassi and Karun Chandhok.

Following Hamilton’s last minute pole, the Brit was told by his team to stop the car on the in-lap as it was about to run out of fuel and the team wanted to collect a sample. Hamilton stopped his McLaren on the back straight, got out of it and started to push the car, while waving to the fans! That pretty much overshadowed his final pole-securing run and became the highlight of the session.

The Canadian GP makes a return after a year of absence and just like all times, it is expected to host a very entertaining race as drivers push themselves to the limit and closer to the walls at the same time. Safety car periods are highly anticipated so look out for a spectacular event. For those of you who won’t be able to watch the race tomorrow midnight, you can come here to read about what you’ve missed!

You can click here to view the qualifying results in full.