Manic Montreal

Canada's Formula One Grand Prix race has to go down as one of the most craziest races for a long time. The conditions were extremely wet and the driver who led for the most laps was Bert Mylander in the Safety Car. Due to the weather, the race started, controversially, under the safety car. Toro Rosso's Alguersuari had to start from the pit lane so this actually helped him.

Five laps into the race, the Safety Car finally departed and the race got under way. It only took a few corners before Lewis Hamilton showed us why he is becoming the stewards' worst nightmare; Hamilton tried to overtake Webber on a corner which Webber had given him enough room, but Hamilton wanted more room and subsequently shunted Webber aside. Luckily, Webber was able to turn his car back around and continue the race. Hamilton was then forced wide by Schumacher a lap later, this allowed Button to overtake his teammate. But the two McLarens would meet on lap eight when Hamilton looked to have the drive on Button, but Button didn't see him and forced Hamilton into the wall and out of the race. The stewards stopped enquiring about his collision with Webber now Hamilton was out and confirmed that the stewards would look into that crash after the race.

The collision unsurprisingly caused the Safety Car back onto the track but was back in on lap twelve. The day got worse for Button as he received a drive through penalty for speeding during the Safety Car period. There was a sudden heavy downpour on lap twenty that again forced the Safety Car onto the track but just five laps later the race was red flagged due to the undriveable conditions.

Just over two hours later the race resumed as the weather was clearing up. Again, unsurprisingly, the race resumed under the Safety Car. Heikki Kovalainen waited for two hours just to see his engine fail five laps into the Safety Car period and had to retire. The Safety Car finally departed on lap 34, nine laps after the restart. D'Ambrosio received a drive through penalty for having the wrong tyres during that period because the pit crew changed them to intermediates while the Safety Car was in operation.

The Safety Car was again deployed on lap 37 when Alonso tried shutting the door on an overtaking Button, Button contacted Alonso which sent the Ferrari onto the kerb and beached so it couldn't move. Button suffered a puncture but was able to carry on and the incident was also under investigation after the race. The Safety Car again departed on lap forty.

Three laps later Di Resta collided into the back of Heidfeld and consequently lost his front wing. A lap later his Force India teammate Sutil was branded a drive through penalty for overtaking during the Safety Car and then Di Resta was handed the same punishment on lap fifty for causing an avoidable collision with Heidfeld. Two laps later Sutil then retired after just changing his tyres due to a right rear puncture.

Front wings took a battering throughout the race as Massa had a fight with the wall on lap 54 which caused mass damage to the front wing but the Ferrari was able to continue. Heidfeld was not so lucky two laps later; he went up the back of Kobayashi which caused front wing damage before the wing then collapsed and went under the Renault causing Heidfeld to crash in a run off area. The amount of debris left on the tack caused yet another Safety Car deployment.

The Safety Car departed on lap sixty and three laps later Maldonado became the latest retirement. The last six laps caused some of the best excitement in Formula One that didn't involve any collisions: Button overtook Webber to climb into third place on lap 64, a lap later Button then overtook Schumacher for second in what has to be Schumacher's best race since his comeback. Unfortunately Schumacher was denied a podium as Webber also overtook the Mercedes on lap 68. Di Resta ended a poor day for Force India by crashing on the penultimate lap but it didn't stop the last lap drama between leader Vettel and the hunter, Button. Button closed in on Vettel and the pressure got to the Red Bull as Vettel went wide on a corner, this allowed Button to overtake and unbelievably take the chequered flag. Although the real race winner should be Bert Mylander who led for thirty of the seventy laps in the Safety Car! Race results:

1.Button (McLaren), 2.Vettel (Red Bull), 3.Webber (Red Bull), 4.Schumacher (Mercedes), 5.Petrov (Renault), 6.Massa (Ferrari), 7.Kobayashi (Sauber), 8.Alguersuari (Toro Rosso), 9.Barrichello (Williams), 10.Buemi (Toro Rosso), 11.Rosberg (Mercedes), 12.De La Rosa (Sauber), 13.Liuzzi (Hispania), 14.Karthikeyan (Hispania), 15.D'Ambrosio (Virgin), 16.Glock (Virgin), 17.Trulli (Lotus) DNF: Hamilton (McLaren), Kovalainen (Lotus), Alonso (Ferrari), Sutil (Force India), Heidfeld (Renault), Maldonado (Williams), Di Resta (Force India).