Montreal: Sebastian Vettel won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, leading almost the entire way to extend his lead in the Formula One points race. Starting from the pole position, Vettel finished 14.4 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso's Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, the 2012 winner, was third after holding the lead for three of the 70 laps when Vettel made an early pit stop.
After practice and qualifying were slowed by rain, the sun came out Sunday for a warm and dry race on the Ile Notre Dame. That gave Vettel, who skidded in the rain on the final straightaway to give up the lead here two years ago, a clear path to the checkered flag. "We've had good races before, but it didn't come together to win," Vettel said on the victory podium. "It made up for that today. Great feeling. Great car by the team and we were really able to pull away from the rest of the field."
Vettel, of Red Bull, picked up 25 points in the championship standings to extend what had been a 21-point lead over Lotus' Kimo Raikkonen. Raikkonen finished ninth for two points. Vettel's biggest difficulty on the 2.71-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve came when he brushed the wall in the 11th lap. But he kept extending his lead before pitting in Lap 16 and switching from supersoft to the medium tires that he continued with for the rest of the race.
Hamilton moved into the lead with Vettel in the pits, but the three-time defending Formula One champion went back to the front in the 19th lap and stayed there for the remainder of the race. He lapped Raikkonen in the 34th lap - halfway through the race. Vettel ran wide on a chicane in Lap 52, but it did not substantially eat into his lead.
By the end, the Red Bull car had lapped every other in the field except for the top five finishers. Alonso, who is third in the standings, passed Hamilton, who is fourth, at the start-finish line in the 62th lap to take third place. Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, was fourth and Monaco winner Nico Rosberg was fifth.
It was the third victory of the year for Vettel, but his first career win in Montreal. On a rain-soaked course two years ago, Vettel skidded slightly on the final backstretch and Jenson Button passed him for the win. The dry track was a break for Vettel but not for rookie Valtteri Bottas, who made the second row for the first time in his career. He said after qualifying that his car would not be able to compete on a dry track - and he was right, quickly falling out of the top 10 before stabilizing his position and eventually finishing 14th.
With his ninth-place finish Raikkonen tied Michael Schumacher's record of recording a point in 24 consecutive finishes.
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