Canadian Grand Prix - Vettel claims maiden victory in Montreal

Sebastian Vettel made it third time lucky in Canada by cruising to a deserved victory around Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Starting from pole for the third consecutive year, Vettel was never troubled in his Red Bull, finishing 14 seconds clear of title rival Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.

The win made up for the fact Vettel had failed to take victory from pole the previous two years, notably in 2011 when he lost out on the final lap to McLaren's Jenson Button.

Alonso is now Vettel's nearest challenger after beating Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in a thrilling late battle for the runner-up spot, but with the Spaniard 36 points adrift.

Behind Vettel, the battle was all about the minor places, which for 63 laps appeared to be Hamilton's as he ran a comfortable second.

But in switching to the medium Pirelli compound for the final stint, the rubber proved his undoing as he could not keep Alonso at bay.

The double world champion had several laps earlier passed Mark Webber to move up to third, aided in part by a damaged front wing to the Red Bull.



Briefly, Hamilton was not done as he had a crack at Alonso later in the eace but had the door slammed shut.

It was Hamilton's one opportunity, leaving him in third place for the third time this year in his debut campaign with Mercedes.

As for Alonso, who had started sixth, in finishing second to Vettel, it was as much as he could to limit the damage in the title battle.

Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen has now dropped behind Alonso in the standings after a see-saw race resulted in him finishing ninth.

The Finn has now equalled the record of Michael Schumacher for number of consecutive races in the points at 24, but it will be of no consolation as he is 44 points down.

Behind Webber, Monaco GP winner Nico Rosberg finished a staggering 70 seconds adrift of Vettel, and was the only other driver on the lead lap come the chequered flag.

Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne was a career-high sixth, whilst Paul Di Resta superbly made a one-stop strategy wotk to claim seventh after starting 17th, with Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil 10th behind Massa and Raikkonen.

As for McLaren, winners of this event for the last three years, the race was a bitter disappointment with Sergio Perez and Jenson Button out of the points in 11th and 12th.