Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Canadian GP

The Sebastian Vettel–Red Bull dominance of recent years was captured perfectly at the 2013 Canadian Grand Prix, as the three-time world champion converted his 39th career pole position into his 29th career victory.

Vettel wasn’t troubled during the 70 lap race and the 14.4 second margin back to Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) in second place flatters the rest of the field. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) rounded out the top three.

Mark Webber (Red Bull) flirted with the podium positions for much of the race, despite minor front wing damage suffered on lap 37 in a collision with Giedo van der Garde (Caterham). Webber was not pleased with van der Garde’s actions either, slamming the 28-year-old as a “a pay driver with no mirrors”.

“I got a sensational start, but I didn’t have too many places to go,” said Webber.”We lost some time with Nico in the first stint, and the car was getting hot behind him in the slip stream. Once I got in free air, the car was handling much better. Then we had the incident with Giedo van der Garde which caused some front wing damage and made it more difficult; the whole top section of the wing was gone on the left hand side, so it didn’t help from then on. I don’t know what he was doing.

“There were some positives from today, but it would have been nicer to have finished a bit further up the road.”

Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) finished fifth, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) who finished a career-best sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo was well behind his Toro Rosso teammate and could only manage P15. “I got a really good start, making up two positions off the line,” said Ricciardo afterwards. “I felt we could have a good race, but after just four laps, the car was oversteering like crazy and I couldn’t manage the tyres anymore. As the race went on, we tried to improve the car balance and maybe we improved it a bit, but our pace was really slow.

“We didn’t change so much on the car since Friday, so why we were so slow is a mystery to me at the moment.”

Both McLaren drivers finished outside of the points in P11 and P12, ending McLaren’s 64-race run of at least one car scoring championship points.

In awful post-race news it emerged that a marshal was killed in a terrible accident with a crane removing Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber. The marshal slipped while out of sight of the crane driver and was run over. He was rushed to hospital and passed away last night. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

2013 Canadian Grand Prix final placings

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing – 70 Laps 1:32:09.143 (25 points)
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – +14.4 secs (18 points)
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – +15.9 secs (15 points)
4. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing – +25.7 secs (12 points)
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – +69.7 secs (10 points)
6. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso – +1 Lap (8 points)
7. Paul di Resta Force India – +1 Lap (6 points)
8. Felipe Massa Ferrari – +1 Lap (4 points)
9. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus – +1 Lap (2 points)
10. Adrian Sutil Force India – +1 Lap (1 point)
11. Sergio Perez McLaren – +1 Lap
12. Jenson Button McLaren – +1 Lap
13. Romain Grosjean Lotus – +1 Lap
14. Valtteri Bottas Williams – +1 Lap
15. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso – +2 Laps
16. Pastor Maldonado Williams – +2 Laps
17. Jules Bianchi Marussia – +2 Laps
18. Charles Pic Caterham – +3 Laps
19. Max Chilton Marussia – +3 Laps
20. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber – +7 Laps

Retired/not classified
Nico Hulkenberg Sauber – Accident (Lap 45)
Giedo van der Garde Caterham – Accident (Lap 43)

Fastest lap
Mark Webber Red Bull Racing – 1:16.182 (Lap 69)

2013 F1 world championship – Drivers (top 10)

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing – 132
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – 96
3. Kimi Räikkönen Lotus – 88
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – 77
5. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing – 69
6. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – 57
7. Felipe Massa Ferrari – 49
8. Paul di Resta Force India – 34
9. Romain Grosjean Lotus – 26
10. Jenson Button McLaren – 25

2013 F1 world championship – Constructors

1. Red Bull Racing-Renault – 201
2. Ferrari – 145
3. Mercedes – 134
4. Lotus-Renault – 114
5. Force India-Mercedes – 51
6. McLaren-Mercedes – 37
7. STR-Ferrari – 20
8. Sauber-Ferrari – 5