The complete 2010 Canadian GP review

PRACTICE

Practice 1 - Friday AM

Despite several drivers claiming the track was more like a rallycross venue thanks to its lack of recent use, oil from support races and slight drizzle, everyone stayed well clear of the walls in opening practice.

The session was fought out between the McLarens and Michael Schumacher, with Jenson Button coming out on top and the Mercedes pushing Lewis Hamilton back to third. Nico Rosberg put the second Mercedes fourth as Red Bull started off with fifth for Sebastian Vettel and a low-key 14th for a still content Mark Webber.

Williams got both cars in the top 10, just behind an encouraging eighth place for Tonio Liuzzi. His Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil lost mileage to technical problems, as did Jarno Trulli at Lotus - though not as much as Virgin's Lucas di Grassi, who failed to set a time due to an "assembly error" with his brake.

Practice 2 - Friday PM

One issue dominated second practice: the extreme tyre wear that saw drivers up to 6-8s off the pace before long on super softs.

Amid all that, it was Vettel who hit the front, narrowly beating Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, as Rosberg kept Mercedes in the hunt in third ahead of Webber. The McLarens slumped to seventh and 12th, and were less than happy.

His car repaired, Sutil grabbed a strong sixth, but the issues continued for Trulli, whose Lotus became jammed in gear due to an electrical glitch, further limiting his mileage.

Saturday Practice

Hamilton was the man to beat in the final session, setting such a strong pace that no one looked like beating him even before di Grassi spun into the hairpin gravel and brought out yellow flags for the final minutes.

Webber took second ahead of Alonso, Schumacher and Vettel, but Rosberg barely featured in the session due to a clutch problem that kept him in the garage until the last four minutes.

These days though, no matter what goes wrong in practice there's normally someone in a new team faring worse, and this morning it was Chandhok, who didn't reach the pitlane exit before a gearbox issue ended his session.

QUALIFYING

1. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-3

Continuing his love affair with Canada, Hamilton put on a superb performance to secure his third pole in a row in Montreal, ending Red Bull's unbeaten 2010 qualifying run. A delighted Hamilton celebrated as if he had won the race, but the reality was that there were still a long way to go, especially with the Red Bulls having qualified with the prime tyres.

2. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-3

Despite his run of poles coming to an end, there were not many reasons for Webber to be unhappy with his performance, having qualified on the front row with the harder tyre and, once again, ahead of Vettel. For the first time this year, the top teams had chosen completely different strategies, and that was only good for the sport. It was all ruined, however, when he was forced to change his gearbox and was dropped five places.

3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-5

Although he qualified behind Webber for the fourth time in a row, Vettel was much happier with his performance than in Turkey, and he felt third place was a good spot to start from. With the dirty side of the road also meaning a significant disadvantage in Montreal, the German was still in good shape for Sunday - although he ended up on the less grippy side after all when Webber was penalised.

4. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-3

It was a relief for Alonso to see Ferrari back on form following the poor showing of Istanbul, and the Spaniard made good use of the car all weekend. Like Hamilton, Alonso used the softer tyre compound for his run and the decision worked just fine for the Spaniard.

5. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-5

Button had to concede Hamilton was just too quick for him on his final flying lap, the current world champion having to settle for a position four places behind his team-mate. Button said he was happy with his effort, but admitted Hamilton was simply out of reach.

6. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

Liuzzi was delighted to be back on form after a couple of difficult races. The team's decision to give him a new chassis for Montreal seemed to pay off, and the Italian outqualified his team-mate Sutil for the second time in eight races, also putting on his strongest qualifying showing in 2010.

7. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-5

In such a tight session, not completing a perfect lap cost Massa a few positions, the Brazilian feeling a better result was possible. Massa said his prime tyres were getting better after every lap, his best coming on the fourth lap of his run.

8. Robert Kubica, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-0

Once again, Kubica performed flawlessly to put the Renault in the mix. The Pole admitted it had been hard to choose the tyres for Q3, in the end opting for the prime tyres, which he felt cost him some time but put him in a stronger position for the race.

9. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

Sutil completed Force India's strongest qualifying of the season with another Q3 effort, the first one since the Chinese Grand Prix. The German admitted that he had been unable to get his tyres to work perfectly in Q3 and so had to settle for the fifth row.

10. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

Despite the feat of becoming the first team-mate to qualify ahead of Schumacher in Canada, there was little reason for Rosberg to be happy, as the performance of the Mercedes was far from what was expected. Rosberg said his car was good, but he was just unable to get the tyre working properly when it mattered.

11. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

After a dismal showing in Turkey, Williams took a significant step forward in Montreal thanks to the nature of the track and the updates brought for the weekend. Barrichello felt he had extracted the maximum from the package and was pleased to be close to the top ten.

12. Nico Hulkenberg, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

It was extremely close between Hulkenberg and Barrichello, the German finished less than a tenth behind his team-mate. Despite being pipped by the Brazilian, Hulkenberg was still upbeat about his chances for the race following Williams' step forward.

13. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

For the first time in his career, Schumacher saw his team-mate outqualify him in Canada. Also for the first time ever, he failed to qualify in the top six in Montreal, so it was far from a happy day for the German, who was at a loss to explain his problems with the handling of the car.

14. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-8

The Russian was confused as to why his performance dropped significantly in Q2 after a promising Q1 effort. At it was, however, Petrov struggled to get his tyres working properly in the second qualifying segment and had no chance of making it to Q3.

15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-1

Fifteenth place was the best Buemi felt was possible with the Italian car, which was far from the quickest cars around the Gilles Villeneuve track. He was still pleased with his effort, especially after a difficult start to the weekend on Friday.

16. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-7

Alguersuari also conceded there was nothing else to extract from his Toro Rosso and the Spaniard was happy to finish less than a tenth behind his team-mate on his first visit to the Montreal circuit.

17. Pedro de la Rosa, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

De la Rosa admitted a better result was not possible due to the lack of pace of the Sauber car. The team decided to remove downforce to try to compensate for its lack of top speed, but that made the Spaniard struggle in the corners, having to settle for the last place in Q2.

18. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

A last-gasp effort stopped the Japanese from becoming the first driver in a established team to be outqualified on merit by one of the new cars. In the end, Kobayashi just pipped Kovalainen, but still completed a disappointing day for the Swiss squad by exiting in Q1.

19. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

Kovalainen was delighted with his qualifying lap, which he felt he had nailed. The Finn was confident enough with his car and was able to push to the limit. After a superb flying lap, the Lotus driver finished less than two tenths off Kobayashi.

20. Jarno Trulli, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-4

Unlike Kovalainen, Trulli was unable to find the right set-up for Montreal, as the four-tenth gap reflected at the end of the grid-deciding session.

21. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-0

The Virgin driver had a difficult weekend right from the start, struggling with the handling of his car on Friday. Several changes overnight meant he managed to close in on the Lotus duo, but Glock admitted his car was still far from perfectly set up.

22. Bruno Senna, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-2

After a promising Friday, Senna had another decent day on Saturday, escaping the final row of the grid on merit for the second grand prix in succession. The HRT driver extracted the best from his car to finish around half a second off Glock's pace.

23. Lucas di Grassi, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-8

Another poor qualifying for the Brazilian, who for the second race in a row saw an Hispania car finish ahead of him on merit. Di Grassi said he lost his quickest two laps because of traffic, ending up behind team-mate Glock for the eighth time in eight races.

24. Karun Chandhok, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-6

It was a terrible Saturday for Chandhok, who did not manage to set a proper laptime all day. In final practice, the Indian did not complete a lap after being hit by a gearbox failure, which was followed by a sensor issue in qualifying, which meant he finished nearly 10 seconds off the pace of his team-mate.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3       

 1.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:15.889  1:15.528  1:15.105
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:16.423  1:15.692  1:15.373
 3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:16.129  1:15.556  1:15.420
 4.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:16.171  1:15.597  1:15.435
 5.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:16.371  1:15.742  1:15.520
 6.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:17.086  1:16.171  1:15.648
 7.  Massa          Ferrari                1:16.673  1:16.314  1:15.688
 8.  Kubica         Renault                1:16.370  1:15.682  1:15.715
 9.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:16.495  1:16.295  1:15.881
10.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:16.350  1:16.001  1:16.071
11.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:16.880  1:16.434
12.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:16.770  1:16.438
13.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:16.598  1:16.492
14.  Petrov         Renault                1:16.569  1:16.844
15.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:17.356  1:16.928
16.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:17.027  1:17.029
17.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:17.611  1:17.384
18.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:18.019
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:18.237
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:18.698
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:18.941
22.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:19.484
23.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:19.675
24.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:27.757

All Timing Unofficial

THE RACE

As soon as cars started going 6-8s per lap slower as the super soft tyres wilted in Friday practice, it was clear that the rubber would be the story of the weekend. Some drivers optimistically spoke of the problem clearing up as the track rubbered in over the weekend, but when Bridgestone motorsport chief Hirohide Hamashima - not a man likely to scaremonger about his own products - spoke of the now-traditional one-stop strategy being "impossible", you knew the race would be something of an adventure, but in the best possible way. Not for the first time, a tyre supplier getting things slightly wrong did the racing a very big favour.

Red Bull had most reason for confidence on the grid. Mark Webber's demotion from second to seventh due to a gearbox change was a blow, but with both the points leader and new front row man Sebastian Vettel on medium Bridgestones while all around them had the certain-to-fade super softs, it looked like it would not take long at all for Red Bull to hit the front as the rest had to pit.

The plan worked perfectly for RBR at first. Having fended off Fernando Alonso into the first corner, Vettel slotted into second behind Lewis Hamilton, as Webber immediately jumped to fifth behind Jenson Button. And within a couple of laps the trio on super softs were starting to feel their tyres gives up, while the Red Bulls had no such concerns.

Webber swept past Button under braking for Turn 8 on lap five, just before the world champion pitted. Just ahead, Vettel was flitting around assertively behind the slowing Hamilton, and Webber quickly caught Alonso to make it a four-car train. The Australian lined up the Ferrari on the long straight, only for Alonso to come straight into the pits - the seemingly surprised Webber nipping across the chicane run-off as the Ferrari vanished down the pitlane. With Hamilton doing likewise, Red Bull found itself first and second within seven laps.

There was another blow for Hamilton in the pits, with Ferrari turning Alonso around slightly quicker. They rejoined side by side, but Alonso had the line through the pit exit into Turn 1 and moved ahead.

"As I pulled away he was in my blind spot," said Hamilton. "I didn't even know he was there but I tried to make sure I had enough space."

Red Bull's lead would be shortlived. On heavy tanks and at this stage of the race, the medium tyres were not holding up too well either - and Alonso and the McLarens were getting much more grip out of their similar but much newer rubber. The lead pack was starting to concertina, so Vettel and Webber made their own first stops relatively early too, on laps 13 and 14, but even by then their pursuers had closed enough to mean that they rejoined only fourth and fifth, leaving Vettel baffled.

"I don't understand how you can pit as the leader and manage to come out fourth," he said. "The others had to stop after five or six laps, as we had predicted. That usually means their race is over because they come back out in traffic. But that wasn't the case this time."

By that time it was Hamilton rather than Alonso leading the race. They had quickly come up behind Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso, whose strong pace as he ran long on mediums meant he moved into the lead for a brief but glorious lap as everyone else pitted. He had no interest in making it easy for the title contenders, so hugged the inside at the hairpin as Alonso tried to go down the outside under braking. That cost the Ferrari momentum, and Hamilton breezed past on the next straight, then hit the front as Buemi soon pitted.

Red Bull had split its strategy at the pitstops, putting Vettel onto super softs and leaving Webber on mediums with the idea of keeping his time on the more delicate tyres as brief as possible.

The McLarens weren't getting a great deal of life from the medium tyres at this point either. Alonso quickly caught Hamilton again and started looking for a way through, which he was set to find just as the McLaren pitted from the lead on lap 26. Button, Alonso and Vettel - the latter getting rid of super softs - all came within a further two laps.

That put Webber into the lead for the first time. To make this strategy work, he had to either pull a long way clear of the rest before taking super softs on, or assume that as their tyres were fading so quickly, they would be pitting for yet more mediums too.

But in the second half of the race, with the track improving and the fuel loads coming down, tyre life finally started to become less of an issue for the McLarens, Alonso and Vettel - whereas Webber's rubber had already been on since lap 13, so had used its best grip when the car was still relatively heavy.

"I was just trying to hold a constant pace, and then in the end the tyres didn't want that pace and they went away," said Webber. "It's virtually impossible to keep the tyres happy, they just keep degrading no matter how slow you drive."

Although Webber got his lead up to 12s at one stage, before long he was being reeled in. Heavy traffic didn't help, and by lap 49 his lead had dwindled to nothing, with Hamilton surging past into Turn 1 and Webber pitting next time around.

That was Red Bull's shot at victory over. The pack had closed on Webber so much that he came back out in fifth, and 20 laps on super softs even with a light car was never going to be a cavalry charge stint. Vettel could do little to improve on fourth either, ordered to back off and conserve his car as a gearbox problem developed. He did enquire as to whether he was allowed to have a crack at fastest lap just to make a point, but was firmly rebuffed over the radio.

Hamilton, Alonso and Button were still running in very close company up front, with the Ferrari looking like it might still have something in reserve to attack the leader. But as the finish drew nearer, it was McLaren that came on stronger, and when Alonso was trapped behind Karun Chandhok's lapped Hispania with 15 laps to go, Button surged past to take second and set up McLaren's second one-two in a fortnight. Its drivers assumed the same position in the standings, Hamilton ahead, and it bolstered its constructors' lead too. Not a bad day for a team that had been thought to be gambling on tyres two hours earlier. Alonso chased them home, as the Red Bulls fell ever further away in fourth and fifth.

That quintet had been a class apart all afternoon, but the other 19 drivers provided just as much entertainment.

It kicked off even before the first corner, as in the confusion of finding a way around Rubens Barrichello's slow-starting Williams, Vitaly Petrov took to the grass even before the end of the pit wall and spun back across the track into the path of Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber. Amazingly the damage was limited to wing wounds, with Petrov lasting right through to his first scheduled stop on lap 18 before getting his replaced - by which time he had been awarded penalties for both jumping the start and causing an accident. De la Rosa would later retire with engine failure.

There was more contact further up, as Tonio Liuzzi's great qualifying went to waste in a Turn 1 tangle with Felipe Massa then nearly wiped Button out too.

"Felipe just massively closed the door, but I think it was also because we were three [abreast] into the first corner, I don't blame Felipe completely," said Liuzzi.

Both got sideways as they banged wheels in Turn 1, with the Ferrari slewing back into the Force India through Turn 2 and this time spinning it right around. Both would need new wings, and the unfortunate Nico Rosberg was caught in the wrong place and had to pretty much park behind them and watch it all unfold while car after car came past.

Contact between Bruno Senna and Timo Glock later in the lap compromised both their races too, and then Kamui Kobayashi left Peter Sauber unimpressed by doing race-ending damage to his Sauber as he tried to overtake Nico Hulkenberg. Kobayashi had vaulted from 18th to 10th during lap one and wanted more, but both he and Hulkenberg were over-optimistic as they braked for the final chicane for the first time. Hulkenberg was able to cut across the grass, but Kobayashi clouted the kerb and bounced into the barriers. Having escaped that incident, Hulkenberg compromised his day six laps later when he ran into the back of Adrian Sutil's Force India at the hairpin and smashed his wing.

Robert Kubica had been 'best of the rest' at first, but was surprised that even on medium tyres his rubber was going off badly in the opening stint, and he came into the pits as soon as lap nine. That cost him ground to the chasing Michael Schumacher, who rejoined just ahead after his own stop three laps later and then tried very, very hard to stop Kubica re-passing. It ended with trips over the Turn 3 grass for both and a puncture for Schumacher.

Kubica later found himself racing spectacularly with Sutil, who also ended up with a puncture during the course of the dice, while the Pole would be reprimanded for cutting across Sutil's bows at the final second as he dived into the pits on lap 26.

"I backed off and pulled behind him to take my line for the pits, but he braked very early and hard," Kubica insisted. "I had to go round him to avoid causing an accident."

The Pole eventually made three stops, finally taking the super softs for just 11 laps at the end. That put him seventh, unable to get quite close enough to Rosberg, who had been unobtrusively brilliant as he came back through from his first lap delay.

Schumacher was the story of the race in the rest of the pack. Out of sequence after making an additional stop for his puncture, Mercedes gambled on seeing if he could go 27 laps on super softs at the end. He could... but not at any kind of competitive pace.

Soon rivals were lining up to challenge the great man, who may be slightly slower than in his prime, but is no more easygoing about being overtaken than he used to be.

First up was Buemi, on great form in Canada, who eventually made it through to claim eighth. Next came the recovering Massa and Liuzzi, who had a harder time. Eight laps from the end, Massa was surprised to find Schumacher edging his way as they went wheel to wheel under braking for the final chicane, leaving the Ferrari slewing over the grass with a dislodged front wing.

"I braked on the left, he braked in the middle, and then suddenly he moved a little bit and he touched my front wing," said Massa, who dropped to 15th.

Things got even more frenetic when Liuzzi came along, with Schumacher getting increasingly optimistic in his use of the chicane run-off to stay ahead. Liuzzi had no qualms about making this a bare knuckle fight though. Far from being frustrated by Schumacher's defensive driving, he relished the battle and on the last lap he went for it into the second chicane, lumps of bodywork flying off both cars as Schumacher stuck to his line. But at the next chicane the battle was lost for the Mercedes, which bounced over the grass trying to hold Liuzzi off and lost the place - falling behind Sutil too at the final corner, where Schumacher again wide as the Force India came past to take 10th.

After its promising qualifying run, Williams only had 13th and 14th from the delayed Hulkenberg and Barrichello, the latter struggling after contact with 12th place finisher Jaime Alguersuari damaged his brakes. Alguersuari would later be reprimanded.

Heikki Kovalainen was again a class apart among the new teams, running as high as 10th during the early pit sequences and delighting Lotus by resisting the recovering Petrov to take 16th.

Chandhok and Lucas di Grassi completed the finishers, the latter backing right off to nurse a hydraulic issue at the end. A steering rack leak accounted for his Virgin team-mate Timo Glock, while brake problems halted Jarno Trulli's Lotus and Senna's Hispania stopped with gearbox failure.

RACE RESULTS

The Canadian Grand Prix
Montreal, Canada;
70 laps; 309.396km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h33:53.456
 2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +     2.254
 3.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     9.214
 4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    37.817
 5.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    39.291
 6.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +    56.084
 7.  Kubica        Renault                    +    57.300
 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
 9.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
10.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
11.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
12.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
14.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +    2 laps
17.  Petrov        Renault                    +    2 laps
18.  Chandhok      HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps
19.  Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth            +    5 laps


Fastest lap: Kubica, 1:16.972

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              50
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               43
De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari               31
Senna         HRT-Cosworth                 14
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               2


World Championship standings, round 8:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton     109        1.  McLaren-Mercedes          215
 2.  Button       106        2.  Red Bull-Renault          193
 3.  Webber       103        3.  Ferrari                   161
 4.  Alonso        94        4.  Mercedes                  108
 5.  Vettel        90        5.  Renault                    79
 6.  Rosberg       74        6.  Force India-Mercedes       35
 7.  Kubica        73        7.  Williams-Cosworth           8
 8.  Massa         67        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          8
 9.  Schumacher    34        9.  Sauber-Ferrari              1
10.  Sutil         23       
11.  Liuzzi        12       
12.  Barrichello    7       
13.  Petrov         6       
14.  Buemi          5       
15.  Alguersuari    3       
16.  Hulkenberg     1       
17.  Kobayashi      1     

All timing unofficial

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

Pacesetters on Friday morning, Button and Hamilton are unhappy with their cars on Friday afternoon, but the latter recaptures his form to top both practice three and qualifying, ending Red Bull's pole run. Button admits Hamilton is untouchable and takes fifth, which becomes fourth when Webber changes his gearbox.

Hamilton leads from the start but both have to make early pitstops having started on super softs. That tactic works out well though, as Red Bull's tyre wear comes at inopportune times and they fall back in the pits. That leaves Hamilton and Button racing for Alonso for victory, with both passing the Ferrari - which had earlier won a pitlane battle with Hamilton - in separate moves in traffic to earn another one-two.

Mercedes

Rosberg and Schumacher are quick in practice but off the pace in qualifying, where they only manage 10th and 13th - a disaster for Montreal specialist Schumacher.

He gains ground early in the race but gets a puncture in a forceful dice with Kubica. To compensate, his strategy is changed to feature a very long last stint on super softs, but it doesn't work and he tumbles off the pace, defending heavily against Buemi, Massa, Liuzzi and Sutil. Massa ends up with a broken front wing, but the other three all get through despite Schumacher's best efforts and he falls to 11th.

Rosberg moves in the opposite direction, dropping back to 14th when trapped behind Liuzzi and Massa's first corner tangle, but later charging through to a fine sixth.

Red Bull

Running medium tyres in Q3 means an end to the pole sweep as Webber and Vettel qualify second and third, which becomes seventh and second when the points leader needs a need gearbox.

As others pit early, they find themselves running one-two, but then their tyres wear just as their rivals come on strong, and they fall back when they pit. Webber postpones the super softs till the very end but this too backfires as his mediums wear out and he is caught and passed by Hamilton. Webber falls to fifth when he pits, Vettel scrapes home fourth as a gearbox problem forces him to back off.

Ferrari

Alonso is back in the thick of the lead fight all weekend, qualifying fourth, which becomes third when Webber changes his gearbox, and then battling with the Red Bulls and McLarens on race day. He gets ahead of Hamilton in the pits but loses out again when wrongfooted behind Buemi, and is later passed for second by Button as they get caught up with Chandhok.

Massa has a less impressive weekend. Seventh on the grid, he damages his car in a first corner tangle with Liuzzi, then later has to pit for another new wing thanks to Schumacher's defensive driving. That leaves him only 15th.

Williams

A return to form of sorts for Williams as Barrichello and Hulkenberg qualify 11th and 12th. But things quickly go wrong in the race, with Barrichello trundling off the grid due to an anti-stall issue and then struggling with damaged brakes after a brush with Alguersuari. He finishes 14th.

Hulkenberg survives a wild first lap battle with Kobayashi then breaks his front wing on Sutil five laps later, leaving him 13th at the flag, having also picked up a pitlane speeding penalty.

Kubica starts sixth and hopes his medium tyres will give him an advantage but is surprised to find them wearing as fast as other drivers' super softs. That means a three stop strategy that saves the super softs till the very end. Along the way he has spectacular battles with Schumacher and Sutil, and gets a reminder for jinking in front of the Force India to dive into the pits. He eventually finishes seventh, chasing down Rosberg.

Petrov is a frustrated 14th on the grid, clips the grass at the start and spins in to de la Rosa. He escapes with minor wing damage but is penalised for both the shunt and jumping the start, leaving him 17th at the flag behind Kovalainen's Lotus.

Force India is a top 10 threat all weekend, with Liuzzi showing much better form to qualify sixth and then gaining another place from Webber's penalty. Sutil starts eighth.

A first corner mess with Massa knocks Liuzzi back, while Sutil picks up a puncture fighting with Kubica. They recover well though and grab ninth and 10th at the end after a big dice with the struggling Schumacher.

Buemi and Alguersuari rue their lack of track knowledge and their car's lack of speed as the qualify on row eight, but Buemi is quick in the race. He even leads for a lap during a long first stint on medium tyres, and finally finishes eighth after overtaking no less a figure than Schumacher. Alguersuari makes less of an impact - except on Barrichello, and he gets a reprimand for that collision. He finishes 12th.

More of the same at Lotus, as Kovalainen stars by nearly outqualifying Kobayashi, running 10th for a while and fending off Petrov to finish 16th, while Trulli's abysmal luck continues with mechnical problems costing him practice time and a brake issue ending his race early.

Hispania is a bigger threat to Virgin this weekend, with Senna getting ahead of di Grassi in qualifying. Saturday barely happens for Chandhok though, thanks to gearbox and sensor problems.

Senna retires with a gearbox failure while Chandhok overcomes the Virgins and finishes 18th.

Glock qualifies 21st but struggles in the race thanks to early damage from a brush with Senna wearing his tyres out even quicker. A steering rack leak eventually causes his retirement. Yet more mechanical glitches interrupt di Grassi's practice and he starts 23rd, finishing 19th and last while nursing hydraulic problems.

A total lack of pace in qualifying sees de la Rosa and Kobayashi back in 17th and 18th on the grid, the latter only just beating Kovalainen's Lotus. De la Rosa is collected by Petrov's spinning Renault at the start and later has an engine failure while recovering well, while Kobayashi's brilliant first lap goes awry when he clatters into the wall trying to pass Hulkenberg for ninth.