Hamilton takes championship lead – full points after Canada

51 comments on “Hamilton takes championship lead – full points after Canada”

1. 

   US_Peter (@us_peter)
   13th June 2010, 18:48

   Wow. VET really doing well considering the reliability he’s had. Two mechanical retirements, one crash out, three races now where’s he’s limped a broken car to the checkered flag.
   1. 

      macahan
      13th June 2010, 19:01

      Sad to see hit again like that. But great to see him bringing car home without loosing any spots this time.
   2. 

      David A
      13th June 2010, 19:39

      He’s only had one mechanical retirement this season, at Australia.
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         13th June 2010, 20:08

         You’re right. I know that too. Not sure what I was thinking.
         1. 

            Randy
            14th June 2010, 1:06

            He fell from the lead to fourth due to loss of power from a dead spark plug in Bahrain as well. Terribly unlucky not to be leading this championship by a large margin.

            He was at fault in Turkey though(just sayin).
2. 

   Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
   13th June 2010, 18:57

   McLaren have two hundred and fifteen times more points than Sauber. That statistic is quite incredible. This time 2 years ago Sauber were race winners and championship leaders. It’s quite incredible how much they have capitulated since then
   1. 

      Randy
      14th June 2010, 1:13

      No money, no sponsors, no results. Saubers future in the sport beyond this season looks incredibly grim.

      Very sad but I can’t help but wonder what a difference Heidfeld might have made this year. I know they’ve had lots of mechanicals but both drivers are clearly underperforming.
      1. 

         Oliver
         14th June 2010, 9:13

         Heidfeld would have helped with their early season hydraulics problems?
3. 

   rfs
   13th June 2010, 18:59

   Lewis back where he belongs! Its bloody tight though.
   1. 

      Dan N
      13th June 2010, 19:08

      This years Drivers Championship looks set to go right to the last race, esp now with the new points system. I make it 8 drivers still with a chance of the front spot within two races.
      1. 

         Ads21 (@ads21)
         13th June 2010, 19:23

         Agree with Dan, could we see our first ever 5 way title decider at the last race? The only downside with that would be it’s at Abu Dabhi. But then again F1 is so exciting atm there’ll prob be a good race there.
         1. 

            Icthyes (@icthyes)
            13th June 2010, 19:35

            Has there ever been a 4-way fight at the last race?
            1. 

               Ned Flanders (@ned-flanders)
               13th June 2010, 20:12

               There were a few driver in with a shout in 1982, weren’t there?
            2. 

               Scribe (@scribe)
               13th June 2010, 22:45

               I think Rosberg had pulled away by then, just a little bit.
4. 

   NDINYO
   13th June 2010, 19:04

   The Return of the King of Montreal
5. 

   Icthyes (@icthyes)
   13th June 2010, 19:14

   Three drivers covered by a 1-2 margin, 5 within a race victory. Still close!
6. 

   Rahim RG
   13th June 2010, 19:16

   Bloody Awesome Race…..Something was wrong with the Red Bull Management i think…..Webber should have pitted before…..or they were thinking Mclaren and Ferrari Were going to pit……Feel sad for Force India
   1. 

      madhu
      13th June 2010, 19:21

      yeah….. webber should have been on the podium
      if he had pitted earlier he would have passed vettle and would have had a great challenge on alonso….
      1. 

         Katy (@katy)
         13th June 2010, 19:34

         Perhaps not because then his soft tyres would get destroyed with several laps still to go.
         1. 

            David BR
            13th June 2010, 19:38

            That’s the only real explanation for not pitting I think. In fact he recovered fairly well to finish just behind Vettel (who he was catching but seemed to back off…) It was fascinating bit seeing the RBR tyre strategy fail after everyone was predicting Ham etc. would suffer – though it actually did look like that after a few laps. The crucial bits were maybe the McClarens and Alonso getting a lot out of the hard tyres after the early switch, and Alonso getting caught twice as he tried to pass backmarkers.
            1. 

               US_Peter (@us_peter)
               13th June 2010, 20:13

               It was also interesting that the two Bulls were on different strategies from each other with Vettel doing the middle stint on options and Webber doing the final stint… Basically it seams to me that the earlier in the race you got the options out of the way the better, HAM, BUT, and ALO all did their first stint on ’em, VET did his second, WEB third. I guess they started in a similar order too though. Would’ve been interesting to see how things turned out had Webber not had a grid penalty.
7. 

   Damon
   13th June 2010, 19:19

   Hahaha, now look at this. The 2007 WDC final points table:
   1. Kimi Räikkönen – 110
   2. Lewis Hamilton – 109
   3. Fernando Alonso – 109
   4. Felipe Massa – 94

   And now:
   1. Lewis Hamilton – 109
   2. Jenson Button – 106
   3. Mark Webber – 103
   4. Fernando Alonso – 94
   1. 

      TommyB
      13th June 2010, 19:36

      So Kimi would be leading the title if he was still here? Or you mean it’s close to how it was in 2007?
      1. 

         David A
         13th June 2010, 19:42

         It’s quite close to how it was at the end of 2007.
      2. 

         BasCB (@bascb)
         13th June 2010, 19:43

         Or 3 of those are the same guys, only Mark took the place of Kimi?

         Ah half way they have almost the same amount of points scored. Shows it is pretty even, as the points were more than doubled.
         1. 

            US_Peter (@us_peter)
            13th June 2010, 20:15

            No, only Hamilton and Alonso are the same. Massa was in there at the end of ’07, Button is in there now.
   2. 

      Oliver
      14th June 2010, 9:17

      No we are not even halfway into the season and the points tally is equal to the final points tally of 2007.
8. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   13th June 2010, 19:41

   Looks like Alonso is back in the hunt. This is shaping up to be a great season.

   We have had some of the most exiting races in years so far and some inter team battles spicing it up.

   Lets hope Ferrari bring something special to Valencia and make it a second win for Alonso. I would love to have a 3-4 horse battle into the last race!
   1. 

      The Limit
      13th June 2010, 19:49

      You are not the only one.
      1. 

         US_Peter (@us_peter)
         13th June 2010, 20:19

         Absolutely. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the end of Red Bull’s dominance yet on high speed corners, and they could still leap frog McLaren in the constructor’s at least once more before the end of the season. The back and forth is very exciting. We have the fifth different driver this year leading the championship at the moment, and there’s no reason to think that Vettel won’t be a sixth at some point before it’s over.
         1. 

            bosyber
            13th June 2010, 23:28

            I would hope so too, I was reading something on another site that had a lot of McLaren love after this race, and I wondered how soon we would be bored with them getting the 1-2’s in, as we had been getting with Brawn last year, and with Red Bull qualyfying on top all the time :)

            I am glad that Ferrari do seem to do better here, and probably at Valencia. If they have two cars on the podium there, the WCC tightens up again. But I am worried about Massa doing his part of that, actually. So maybe just an Alonso win, with Vettel/Rosberg/Kubica on the podium to tighten things up for the drivers as well?
9. 

   DaveW
   13th June 2010, 19:46

   Webber should have been on the podium, yes. Another race, another strategic Fail by Red Bull Racing. Which team was the one that decided it was so much better to start on primes? By the first stops a few laps in, it was obvious that this was stupid. Why oh why are Horner and his guys still on that wall. Newey is wasting his genius by putting in the hands of these guys every race.
   1. 

      US_Peter (@us_peter)
      13th June 2010, 20:21

      Yeah, probably wasn’t the right call, and on top of the race strategy if they had qualified on the options, they would have taken the fight to Hamilton for pole and things could have turned out very different for them.
      1. 

         Scribe (@scribe)
         13th June 2010, 22:51

         I think the right call was in fact to split them. Redbull just didn’t expect the level of tyre degredation, getting the softs out the way early prooved to be the right option only because the track eat the hards as well.

         All the same remember what Christian Horner said, if we go well here we’ll be fine everywhere, they didn’t even have an F-Duct an they nearly locked out the front row, Redbull still have the fastest alround car by a way, especially in qualifiying. However the gap has closed an the upgrades Ferrari and McLaren are bringing over the next two races may well close it up some more.
10. 

    Calum
    13th June 2010, 19:48

    Alonso’s going to win, afterall he won the season opener ;)

    The point in a previous point is saying that 2007s total score is similar to the current 2010 score.
    1. 

       David BR
       13th June 2010, 19:52

       If Ferrari can get their butt in gear, he’s got a definite chance. Though this time he’ll probably be contending with a much less mistake-prone Hamilton, along with Button (proving his worth today as he nipped past said Fernando) and the Webber ‘n’ Vettel show, however that works out.
    2. 

       Scribe (@scribe)
       13th June 2010, 22:51

       season opener meh? It’s Australia that really spills the beans.
11. 

    NDINYO
    13th June 2010, 20:28

    Alonso’s mistakes continue; Hamilton can look after his tyres; but you have to be impressed by Button’s tyres – they were in great shape – Lewis needs to keep his eye on his team mate who is always hanging within a position or two. I have to say Button is racing very impressively – nowhere as entertaining as Lewis but lucking dangerously within striking distance if the younger man were to make mistakes
    1. 

       Oliver
       14th June 2010, 9:22

       Is Button preserving his tyres for the end of race picture gallery? Tyres are tools, not trinkets.
       1. 

          Lee D
          14th June 2010, 12:59

          couldn’t agree more, Hamilton is really impressing me this season he still has his blistering pace but is really learning to look after those tyres, I think he is going to be bloody hard to catch.
12. 

    Renell
    13th June 2010, 20:29

    As a Lewis fan I’m supporting him to win – but I’m definitely backing Mclaren to bring home the goods. Red Bull still seem to have the odd problems popping up every other race. Ferrari are breathing through one driver, whilst the other one is stumbling.

    The problem though is that a mistake nowadays costs a lot more than ever before in terms of points. Just two races ago Lewis seemed to be falling in the WDC race after he crashed in Spain and Webber, Alonso, Vettel and Button racked up points.
    1. 

       bosyber
       13th June 2010, 23:35

       It is also much easier to make up points again. Relatively the points of the first few positions just scaled up by about 2.2, roughly.

       Plus, there are two more positions to get a few mercy points from, so in the end it is about equal.

       The bigger difference is that now there are about 3-4 teams fighting for wins/podiums, and 5-6 teams regularly fighting for those points-positions, making it easier for a mistake to become costlier during the race (despite the 2 extra positions worth points).
13. 

    Calum
    13th June 2010, 20:54

    Lewis’ two in a row has got him right back in it but he doesn’t exactly seem to be miles ahead!
14. 

    sato113 (@sato113)
    13th June 2010, 22:33

    can someone work out what it’s like with the old points system?
    1. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       13th June 2010, 22:44

       It’s not all that different.
       1. 

          Scribe (@scribe)
          13th June 2010, 22:53

          It’s quite funny the credit being given to the new points system, it’d still be nearly this close under old money, possibly tighter.

          Still wins do bring you back in quicker, an the lower teams have all got points now, baring of course the new teams.
15. 

    Dmitry
    13th June 2010, 23:10

    A small recap of five 2010 leaders:

    After the
    1st race: ALONSO
    2nd (AUS): ALONSO
    3rd (MAL): MASSA
    4th (CHN): BUTTON
    5th (ESP): BUTTON
    6th (MON): WEBBER
    7th (TUR): WEBBER
    8th (CAN): HAMILTON
    1. 

       Enigma (@enigma)
       14th June 2010, 12:05

       Not once this year has the championship leader at the time won a race. The best was Webber in Turkey with 3rd, others never made it onto the podium. Alonso was 4th in Australia, 12th (I think) in Malaysia, Massa was around 8th in China, Button was 5th in Spain, retired in Monaco, Webber was 3rd in Turkey, and 5th in Canada. I wonder if Hamilton can win in Valencia.

       And that’s what makes the championship so interesting this year – the leader always f**ks something up, or just isn’t fast enough.
16. 

    DaveW
    14th June 2010, 4:19

    It’s amusing to recall that Massa once lead the points this year. But I guess that is a cautionary tale for Hamilton and Button now.
17. 

    Bartholomew
    14th June 2010, 5:06

    I am happy for Button. He made the right move to McLaren when no one else saw it as a step forward.
18. 

    Jhonnie Siggie
    14th June 2010, 5:16

    It is indeed looking like it will be a dog fight going into the last race. If lewis has only a small lead by Abu Dabi, there is a good chance (like in 2007 and almost in 2008) that a rush of blood will see him blow his chance.

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