Canada : The Red Bulls make sure of points

The Red Bull team, which has been dominant since the beginning of the season, was beaten for the second time in two races but remains in a position to carry off its first Championship, after Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber finished in 4^th and 5^th places, at the end of a gripping Canadian Grand Prix.

Just like two weeks ago in Turkey, the Germano-Australian duo could but contemplate a McLaren double led by Lewis Hamilton who started on pole. Nevertheless, nothing has been lost regarding the championships. In the drivers' championship, Webber is six points behind Hamilton and Vettel is fifth, lagging by 19 points.

On the constructors' side, McLaren is leading 215 to 193, although we are not yet in mid-season. The RB6 is still one of the best-performing single-seaters and even if Hamilton put an end to the series of seven Red Bull pole positions in seven races on Saturday, coming events in the competition will be fought over with much determination. The next race will be the European Grand Prix in Valencia (Spain), on 27^th June.

Kubica makes exploits commonplace

In Montreal, Red Bull attempted a fine gamble for the return of Formula 1 to the atypical circuit on the Ile Notre Dame, from which it was absent last year. Its two drivers qualified on hard tyres, due to the over-rapid degradation of soft tyres on a "green" and cold track. This was a first since the start of the 2010 season, all teams taken together. Hamilton was on soft tyres. Red Bull hoped this strategy would pay off during the race, but the team suffered a cruel blow on Sunday morning. “As a precautionary measure,” according to Red Bull, Webber was obliged to change his gearbox and, in compliance with the rules, lost five places on the starting grid, moving back from 2^nd to 7^th.  

The mission was looking almost impossible, but the big Australian gave his all and even led the race from the 30^th to the 50^th of the 70 laps before stopping to make his second tyre change and handing the race leadership over to McLaren, while Fernando Alonso, who began 3^rd on the grid, finished on the podium.

In the Renault camp, Robert Kubica (8^th on the grid) once more ran an exemplary race, driving the fastest lap and bringing home 7^th place at the flag. Renault had the best top speed this weekend, an important factor for performance on this circuit. But the other driver sporting the Lozenge, Vitaly Petrov, did not manage to benefit from it. The Russian, who started 14^th, finished 17^th following a drive-through and four pit stops.