Sebastian Vettel stamps authority with bold display of front-running

IN the end it was the old one-two that captured that Canadian Grand Prix after providing a contrast in styles as they duelled their way.

Vettel wins Canadian F1

IN the end it was the old one-two that captured that Canadian Grand Prix after providing a contrast in styles as they duelled their way.

Sebastian Vettel took the victory, but Fernando Alonso put on the sort of relentless, breathless chase that is his hallmark, coming from on the grid to leave Lewis Hamilton in his wake and to stay in touch with the driver fast becoming his nemesis.

Twice in three years, this pair have battled over the World Championship only for the Ferrari man to lose out to the German. Make that a third contest now between the two men who must surely lay claim to being the best in the business right now.

Vettel remains on top, taking a 36-point lead in the drivers' standings over Alonso after this, the seventh grand prix of a 19-race calendar. But Alonso never gives up, even when the odds are stacked against him. Choose your metaphor, but battle is now thoroughly joined between these two for the 2013 championship.

For Hamilton, it was another po-faced day of disappointment. He has spent the weekend looking as though someone had taken his wallet and he could barely crack a smile as he received his trophy for third to complete a podium of world champions.

But Hamilton suffers from a dose of overexpectation that he cannot always realise and this was such a day. He had qualified second behind Vettel, perhaps crucially ahead of Nico Rosberg, his team-mate, for the first time in four races. Psychologically, that was a significant marker and there was a glint in the eye that said revenge was called for after Rosberg's win in Monaco.

Hamilton gave chase but his Mercedes never quite had enough, particularly because Alonso found the sweet spot of his Ferrari and closed in with eight laps to the finish. The Briton was braced for the inevitable, verbally cuffing Jock Clear, his race engineer, who disturbed his concentration with the bizarre news that Hamilton's "traction metrics are under 2,000".

"Please just let me drive, man," Hamilton pleaded as he scoured his wing mirrors for any signs of Ferrari's "Red Baron". Alonso duly arrived and the pair swept along the grandstand straight side-by-side and, for a micro-second, they touched as neither man wanted to give way. But Alonso had the momentum. Fisticuffs were neither required nor sensible, as both bagged good points in the Montreal sunshine.

"I lost a little from the front wing, but it was nothing serious," Hamilton said. "Fernando is very fair, but he was just massively quick."

Tensions are high in this sport, nowhere more so than at Force India, where Paul Di Resta emerged from a day of recrimination and reports of a dust-up in the garage to put on arguably the performance of the day. Force India followed a qualifying cock-up in Monaco with a blunder in Montreal and the Scot was fuming. Bob Fernley, the deputy team principal, admitted he was going to investigate an alleged scuffle said to involve Di Resta on Saturday.

The low-level ruckus must have had a galvanising effect, though. Di Resta drove for an incredible 63 laps on Pirelli tyres that have acquired a reputation for falling apart faster than Shredded Wheat. That was good enough to propel him from a starting position of seventeenth on the grid to finish seventh.

To put it into context, the driver with Force India stands eighth in the championship, two places ahead of Jenson Button, who believed that he was a title contender coming into this season.

Button trailed home twelfth in a duck so lame that it should be put out of its misery. Yet again, McLaren bolted new parts on to the ailing MP4-28; yet again they did not work. Neither did a one-stop strategy that had Button sinking backwards. There were no points at all for McLaren, with Sergio Perez finishing eleventh.

"We finished outside the points and we have a lot of work to do," Button said. "We have got to get our act together and improve. Are we going to be quicker at Silverstone (in the British Grand Prix at the end of the month)? Yes. We had parts here that didn't work on this circuit, but will work at Silverstone."

Perhaps that is another vain hope in a listless season for Button, who must look at Vettel and wonder at, well, the boy wonder. When Vettel dominates, he crushes to an extent that is winning him few friends and plenty of enemies. The Montreal crowd, usually so generous, booed him on the podium because they wanted Ferrari romance and not ruthless Teutonic efficiency.

But that is what Vettel does and he does it brilliantly, and maybe only one man can stop him on points - his old sparring partner, Alonso.

The Times