Hamilton leads McLaren 1-2 at Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal: Lewis Hamilton took the lead in the drivers’ championship on Sunday when he led team-mate and fellow-Briton Jenson Button home in a dramatic one-two for McLaren at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The 2008 champion benefited from a well-judged two-stop strategy after starting on the softer tyres, his smooth-driving team-mate Button looked after his tyres well while rivals Red Bull duo Australian Mark Webber and German Sebastian Vettel struggled with tyre degradation. All eyes were on Hamilton to see how he coped with his tyres during the first stint of the race with Vettel behind him, in second place, after Webber was put back to seventh on the grid after changing his gearbox on Sunday morning. Webber was leading into the final stint of the race but suffered from tyre degradation and was eventually overtaken by Hamilton, then Alonso and Button who took second place from the Ferrari driver with twelve laps remaining. Double champion Alonso also benefited from starting with the softer tyres and claimed the final podium position ahead of Webber and team-mate Vettel in fourth and fifth. German Nico Rosberg of Mercedes finished sixth followed by Pole Robert Kubica of Renault. Toro Rosso driver Swiss Sebastien Buemi finished the race in eighth ahead of Force India drivers Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi and German Adrian Sutil in the final points-scoring positions. Hamilton’s win means he now leads the drivers’ championship on 109 points ahead of Button on 106. Webber dropped to third with 103 points. In the constructors championship McLaren extended their lead over Rivals Red Bull to 22 points. Bureau Report