Button's last-gasp dash to victory

What a sensational race! When I sat down at 5pm to watch the BBC coverage I didn’t think I’d still be sitting there five hours later having witnessed one of the most epic races this season. It contained a two hour stoppage for rain, five safety cars, too many incidents and clashes to mention and some quite supreme driving skill from the best drivers on earth. We even got a spot of bird watching from the BBC commentators as they waited for the restart.

All of the races so far this year have been exciting, but this was something else, and it gave us our second non Sebastian Vettel victory. Jenson Button was simply in outstanding form.

I don’t think there has been another race where the winner has made six pit stops, been given a drive through penalty, dropped to last place, charged back through the field more than once and yet still come out on top on the very last lap of the race. Many others can claim to have had the same amount of drama today, but only one can say they came through to win.

After the last safety car period there were only 10 laps to go. He had been gaining two seconds a lap over the fight for second place between Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber. Button latched on to the back. Nose to tail for five laps, each trying to use every inch of the dry line, Webber finally made his move on Schumacher but overdid it and went over the final chicane on to the start finish straight.

Taking to the wet part of the track Button raced around the outside, taking third, he was soon on to the gearbox of the silver Mercedes. Schumacher was struggling in more normal dry conditions. He’d pushed his car to the edge every lap and in the wet had looked every inch the master he once was. In the dry he was no match, and as they surged on to the back straight Button activated his DRS and was easily through with 4 laps to go.

Jenson was driving out of his skin. He’d already survived a clash with his McLaren team mate Lewis Hamilton, and had bit of rough and tumble with Fernando Alonso, but he knew he could catch Vettel. He began reeling him in, Vettel tried to respond but he couldn’t. Into lap 70 Button was less than a second behind and still catching.

Vettel has been mighty under pressure so far this year. In Spain and in Monaco he has fended off sustained pressure and never looked like cracking. But today he led practically every lap but not the final one.

Approaching turn six he got on to the wet bit of track and slid. The car half turned and that was all Button needed. He greeted his jubilant mechanics with that wide eyed victory stare he has, eyes bulging, and adrenaline no-doubt still pumping. It was a brilliant drive and he took what was certainly one of the best victories of his career.

Jenson’s race was only one of a number of outstanding performances. Vettel drove brilliantly for the majority of it, only succumbing at the very end. He looked pretty annoyed with himself, but he can be consoled by his increased championship lead and second still being his worst result of the year.

Webber had a number of setbacks yet still managed to finish third. Being knocked off on the first proper racing lap by Lewis Hamilton didn’t help and he was one of a number of drivers who changed too early for intermediate tyres in the first part of the race. Yet he battled back to snatch third from Schumacher in the dying moments of the race.

However, I think along with a number of people, it was almost a shame he did. For today in Canada, Schumacher showed us what he is still capable of. He had his drama’s today too including being one of the drivers to change for intermediates a lap before heavy rain came which stopped the race on lap 25 leaving him 12^th.

He’d already had a hard battle with Lewis Hamilton and made an opportunistic move on Button, but two hours later when the race resumed he showed us what we’d been missing. As soon as the safety car came in eight laps after the restart, he was in for intermediates again and scythed through the field utilising turn 6 as his passing spot and was straight after Kobayashi and Massa who were battling for second and third.

As Massa failed to make a move stick, they were both offline and Schumacher swept past them into second down to the hairpin and he began to close on Vettel before the safety car came out again for Nick Heidfeld’s accident on lap 57. By then he'd changed to dry tyres, the track having dried significantly and his car was no longer up to the job as Button and Webber swept passed.

Still, fourth was a great result even if he commented after “I am leaving this race with one eye laughing and one eye crying, as I am not sure if I should be excited or sad about it." He deserved a podium, but it was nice he got a result after the flashes of speed he has shown this year.  

Other notable results included Vitaly Petrov in fifth place and Kamui Kobayashi in seventh who’d battled near the front for a long time before dropping back after stopping too late for dry tyres. Jaime Algersuari finished eighth, he’d started from the pit lane but impressed by staying on the track while others got involved in incidents.

However, while others have great results others are noticeable by their lack of them. Ferrari had opportunity to show well but for various reasons were unable to perform. Alonso was unfortunate to tangle with Button and beach his car on the kerb resulting in the fourth safety car period, but he hadn’t really shown that much speed up to that point.

Felipe Massa was impressive, for a long time battling in the top 3. However when he changed to dry tyres, he got on to the wet part of the track passing a Hispania car and wrecked his nose resulting in an extra trip to the pits. He did manage to pass Kobayashi on the line to take sixth but it could have been so much more.

Paul Di Resta in the Force India raced in the top 6 for a long time but knocking his nose against Nick Heidfeld at the final chicane ruined a good chance. It finally ended for him when he crashed at turn nine two laps from the end.

Lewis Hamilton is someone who loves these conditions and no doubt would have excelled. Therefore it was rather unfortunate that for the second successive race he was involved in a number of collisions. But unlike in Monaco he was blameless in both.

At the first start Hamilton dived to the inside of Webber into turn one. He was given room, but as Lewis went over the kerb, the car skated and clattered into the back of Webber, spinning the Red Bull round, but it was no more than a racing incident.

His second clash of the day was with his team mate Button. Button was struggling in the early wet part of the race. Hamilton had ended up behind him after running wide at the hairpin but coming on to lap 7 he was tucked up and moved to the outside on the start finishing straight.

Button looked in his mirror but the sprayed masked his team mate and he kept to the normal line and knocked Hamilton’s right front wheel resulting in his car bouncing into the pit wall. Jenson has since apologised, but it ruined the other McLaren’s race.

The only slight disappointment was the original start behind the safety car, and then once the race was stopped how long they stayed behind it when it was restarted. It seemed a slight case of being over cautious when races in the past have been started in far worse conditions, but I guess these are the times we live in. Having said that, it was definitely right that the race should have been stopped when it was.

However, it didn’t stop Jenson and as a drive through penalty was handed to him for speeding behind the safety car and other incidents delayed him, he carried on charging to take one of the best last gasp victories we’ve seen in years. Watch the highlights here, they’re more than worth it.