Alonso Forges Ahead
Reigning world champion Fernando Alonso leads the Formula 1 championship by 25 points after winning the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.
His nearest rival Michael Schumacher took advantage of a mistake from Kimi Raikkonen to steal second on the penultimate lap.
Alonso drove a controlled race despite the worsening conditions as the track began to gather treacherous dust and rubber.
Alonso had crashed at the exit of the final chicane to hand victory to Raikkonen in last year’s race but the Spaniard made no mistakes this time around.
“This is one of the races we should have won in previous years but didn’t because of mistakes and technical difficulties,” said Alonso.
“All victories are nice but this is fantastic. It was not easy to keep the concentration while leading the race with such a large gap.”
Schumacher started from fifth on the grid and impressively weaved his way up through the pack.
The seven-time world champion never looked content with third spot and kept on Raikkonen’s tail throughout the race despite the difficulties presented by using harder Bridgestone tyres on the warm track.
“It’s just a shame there weren’t 10 more laps, it could have made it interesting,” said Schumacher.
“We just kept the damage as little as possible.”
Giancarlo Fisichella took a creditable fourth after he clawed his way back after a drive-through penalty.
The Italian had started alongside Renault team-mate Alonso at the front of the grid but appeared to jump start and was consequently penalised.
Felipe Massa gathered more points for Ferrari in fifth while Toyota’s Jarno Trulli claimed his first points of the season in sixth.
BMW Sauber had showed promising pace in practice and Nick Heidfeld took seventh ahead of Coulthard.
But there was disappointment for Canadian Jacques Villeneuve on the track named after his late father Gilles and in front of his loyal home fans.
The former world champion was lying in seventh before he skidded on lap 59 and ploughed into the wall at 90mph.
Juan Pablo Montoya also made a dramatic exit from the race when he slid into the Wall of Champions on lap 14.
The McLaren driver had earlier ended the hopes of Nico Rosberg, who had qualified in sixth place for Williams.
Montoya tried to squeeze past the German on the opening lap but instead he spun the 20-year-old into the wall and out of the race.
It was a much better day for Coulthard, who started from the back of the grid - instead of the 16th place he qualified in - because of an unscheduled engine change.
The Scot drove solidly throughout the race before overtaking his Red Bull team-mate Christian Klien five laps from home to move into ninth.
Encouraged by his crew over the radio, Coulthard then out-manoeuvred Button out of the hairpin to earn his third points finish of the season.
Button will be disappointed to surrender the points but will take some comfort in at least finishing the race after retiring at Silverstone last time out.
His Honda team-mate Rubens Barrichello failed to finish for the first time this season after retiring on lap 59. Alonso is now the only driver to complete every race.
