Lewis Hamilton took the lead of the world championship on Sunday by winning his first race of the 2012 season in Canada. The Briton becomes the seventh different winner of the year after the opening seven grands prix, and pulls two points clear of former championship leader Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton won with a two-stop strategy, so therefore had to pass one-stoppers Sebastian Vettel and Alonso with mere laps to the chequered flag. But until then, the 2008 world champion wondered whether McLaren had made another team blunder. "Are you sure they (Vettel and Alonso) are not trying a one-stop?" Hamilton asked his engineer on the radio. "We're sure, Lewis," came the reply.
Ultimately, McLaren was wrong about Red Bull and Ferrari's plans, but the two-stop turned out as superior. "It was a big mistake by Ferrari not to stop more than once. A big mistake," said Jaime Alguersuari on British radio.
But Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Sauber's Sergio Perez made their one-stoppers work, easily passing the struggling Alonso - and also beating pole sitter Vettel - in the closing stages to lock out the podium. (GMM)
Hamilton takes title lead as seventh winner of 2012
- Published on 11 Jun 2012 08:46
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- By: Rob Veenstra
F1 News
Fernando Alonso
Romain Grosjean
Lewis Hamilton
Sebastian Vettel
Sergio Perez
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Driver profile
- Team Aston Martin
- Points 628
- Podiums 9
- Grand Prix 196
- Country ES
- Date of b. Jul 29 1981 (44)
- Place of b. Oviedo, ES
- Weight 68 kg
- Length 1.71 m
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Team profile
- Team name Sauber
- Base - Switzerland
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Kimi Räikkönen 7
- Felipe Massa 8
- Marcus Ericsson 9
- Nico Hülkenberg 11
- Felipe Nasr 12
- Esteban Gutierrez 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Felipe Massa 12
- Kamui Kobayashi 14
- Sergio Perez 15
- Charles Leclerc 16
- Kamui Kobayashi 16
- Sergio Perez 17
- Kimi Räikkönen 17
- Esteban Gutierrez 21
- Kamui Kobayashi 23
- Guanyu Zhou 24
- Nico Hülkenberg 27
- Antonio Giovinazzi 36
- Valtteri Bottas 77
- Pascal Wehrlein 94
- Adrian Sutil 99
- 115,816 comments on Sauber
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