Button wins Canadian GP

Jenson Button won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday after a thrilling finish to a race which took over four hours to complete because of heavy rain.

The McLaren driver took the chequered flag in Montreal after the long time leader, world champion Sebastian Vettel, ran wide on the last of the race's 70 laps.

Button had fallen down as far as 21st place after conditions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve had earlier forced the race to be red-flagged for more than two hours.

Incredibly, his win came in spite of an early collision with team-mate Lewis Hamilton and another with Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

He made no fewer than six visits to the pitlane in all, but also made full use of his ability to exploit changeable track conditions when it mattered most.

As a result of his win, Button has climbed to second place in the drivers' championship, albeit 60 points behind leader Vettel.

With all of the runners electing to start with full wet tyres, the race ran under safety car conditions for the first four laps.

The action then started in earnest, but despite Alonso, who qualified second, applying pressure to polesitter Vettel heading into the turn one chicane at the start of lap five, the Red Bull driver calmly held the lead.

There was contact behind them, though, when Hamilton tried to pass Red Bull's Mark Webber up the inside and both were pitched into a spin.

Hamilton recovered quickly and was soon following Michael Schumacher past Button but he then ran wide at the turn 10 hairpin on lap six after an aborted attempt to pass the Mercedes.

Leader Vettel briefly leaving the track himself on lap eight but Hamilton's race was run soon after he hit his team-mate on the start-finish straight.

He was shaping up to pass Button - who appeared to exit the turn 12 chicane more slowly - at the start of the lap but he jinked left as his team-mate moved in the same direction.

Hamilton's car hit both Button's and the pit wall itself and although he limped on for a few more corners with his left rear wheel askew, his car was terminally damaged.

The safety car came out again and Button pitted for intermediate tyres, falling down to 12th and then losing three more places after being handed a drive-through penalty for speeding under waved yellows.

Button's switch to inters initially seemed to be paying off, though, and with the safety car back in, he quickly passed both Paul di Resta's Force India and Renault's Vitaly Petrov among others to move back to ninth.

Alonso, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg and his team-mate Schumacher had also pitted for inters but they joined Button in diving back in once more when the rain suddenly intensified on lap 20.

Deterioration

Indeed, the conditions deteriorated this time to such an extent that race control deployed the safety car for the third time.

Vettel and Ferrari's Felipe Massa used its appearance to make their first visit to the pits, with the German subsequently describing conditions between turns nine and 13 as 'undriveable'.

Then, with Vettel leading Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi, Massa, Renault's Nick Heidfeld, Petrov, Di Resta, Webber, Alonso, Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa and Button, the race was red-flagged on lap 25.

It was eventually re-started - once more behind the safety car - with Massa trying unsuccessfully to pass Kobayashi for second place into turn one.

Almost immediately, cars started pitting for inters with Button and Alonso then colliding on lap 37. The Ferrari driver was out on the spot, while Button pitted for repairs.

With the safety car almost inevitably reappearing, meanwhile, Vettel made his second stop for tyres and rejoined in the lead, with racing back underway on lap 41.

Damage

Di Resta had climbed to fifth but then damaged his front wing trying to pass Heidfeld at the start of lap 43 - the Force India driver falling down the order and picking up a drive-through penalty before later retiring.

Schumacher, though, was heading in the opposite direction, climbing to fourth by lap 46 after passing both Webber and Heidfeld.

Schumacher was in second place two laps later after nipping past both Kobayashi and Massa at turn eight as they concentrated on each other too intently.

By this time the track had dried sufficiently for cars to stop for slick tyres, with the change coming too quick for Massa, who lost his front wing after a spin off the racing line.

Vettel among the last of the frontrunners to stop on lap 54 and he rejoined ahead of Schumacher, Webber and Button, who had climbed 17 places in as many laps.

The safety car was back out on lap 57 after Heidfeld hit the wall and retired after losing the front wing of his Renault while battling Kobayashi for fifth place.

It peeled in for the final time at the start of lap 61 but Schumacher was unable to challenge Vettel for the lead.

Instead he found himself having to fend off Webber and Button, with the Australian using his DRS to pass the Mercedes on lap 64.

Mistake

However, Webber outbraked himself into the turn 12 chicane and had to hand the place back.

The Red Bull driver made the same mistake one lap later and this time lost third place to Button - the pair subsequently almost making contact on the start-finish straight.

Button then passed Schumacher with five laps to go and was less than two seconds behind Vettel just one lap later.

Webber then passed Schumacher for third on lap 68 while Button closed to within a second of Vettel on the final lap.

But the sudden presence of the McLaren appeared to un-nerve Vettel, who ran wide at turn six allowing Button through.

Webber completed the podium ahead of Schumacher, with Petrov finishing fifth ahead of Massa and Kobayashi - the Ferrari and Sauber almost in a dead heat across the finishing line.

Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari finished eighth ahead of Williams driver Rubens Barrichello, with Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) completing the points finishers.

Result
1 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 4hrs 04mins 39.537secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 4:04:42.246, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 4:04:53.365, 4 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 4:04:53.756, 5 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 4:04:59.932, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra)

Ferrari 4:05:12.762, 7 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 4:05:12.807, 8 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 4:05:15.501, 9 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 4:05:24.654, 10 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 4:05:26.593, 11 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 4:05:29.991, 12 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber-Ferrari 4:05:43.144, 13 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 1 Lap, 14 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 at 1 Lap, 15 Jerome d'Ambrosio Bel Virgin Racing at 1 Lap, 16 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 1 Lap, 17 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap, 18 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India at 3 Laps Not Classified: 19 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 61 Laps completed, 20 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 55 Laps completed, 21 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 48 Laps completed, 22 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 36 Laps completed, 23 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 28 Laps completed, 24 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 7 Laps completed