F1: Montreal marathon ends four hours after race starts

"Three hours or however long it was.." Sorry, Jenson. It was four. "eight or nine pitstops..." Nope, it was five. I’m emotionally attached to this win because it’s just happened - but I would say this race is the best one I’ve had in my career." Well, all racing drivers feel like that as they grasp the trophy and before the post-adrenalin crash comes.

The Canadian Grand Prix is a race that everyone will talk about for a long time - if they remember it. Started under the pace, sorry, safety car teams were cheated (if that's the right word) of their right to choose tyres. Alonso's crew, having made the decision to run on intermediate wets, had to comply with the rules that say that a safety-car start in the wet must be on full wet tyres.

Not that it made much difference.

At the start, when the safety car released the cars, Hamilton made an ill-advised lunge down the inside of Webber as they went into the first part of the chicane. That put Webber almost at the back of the pack and Hamilton lost a few places. Coming up behind Button, he tried to squeeze between Button and the pit wall as Button lined up, on the racing line, for turn one. In a foolhardy move, he drove into the back of Button, causing a puncture and bounced into the wall, breaking his suspension.

Button pitted, changed to intermediate tyres and began a fight-back from almost the back of the field. Then as heavy rain arrived, the safety car came out again. With conditions becoming, as Vettel reported to his pits, undrivable and as Button reported too dangerous to continue, the race was red-flagged.

The cars sat on the start-finish line for more than an hour. Drivers got out, did a potty-dash and went back, some stayed in their garages, some in their motorhomes, some in their cars. Renault mechanics brought tea and biscuits out to the chaps standing around the cars. Mercedes carried portable shelters to protect machinery and people, others used umbrellas or sheets. Far from being an F1 grid, despite the rain it turned into a relaxed pool party with the rain overhead instead of contained. And still it rained. And rained. When it stopped, the limitations of the drainage - sufficient for normal use - meant that the water could not drain away. Grassy areas were flooded, the track had puddles that were so deep that the cars would turn into flat-bottomed boats, the wheels lifted off the tarmac as the wooden plank under the car aquaplaned across the surface.

When the race eventually restarted, behind the safety car, the teams had been able to work on their cars. Unlike the start of the race proper, where little can be done after qualifying, there are few restrictions on what can be done under a red-flag. Just as Vettel benefited from the red-flag in Monaco, Kobayashi benefited because - in second place when the race was stopped - he had not made a pit stop for tyres. But by then Button had already made two - when the rain started, he like others swapped back to full wets. Back down the field.

In fact, at one point, Button was last. And his fight back was not helped by a total of five safety car periods - they count as racing laps but no racing is allowed. Worse, Button got a drive-through penalty for driving too fast behind the safety car as he tried to get heat into a set of new tyres.

As the race ran on, conditions changed more and more, eventually worth the risk for slicks, Button and his team decided. Back down the field. Then it rained again: but Button stayed out. And, as the track quickly dried, at least o the racing line, Button was quickest. In the last few laps, having passed everyone or watched them slither off (including Alonso with whom he had a coming together in the chicane, leaving the Spaniard stranded as his car balanced itself on top of a curb) Button started to close down on Vettel who had not only driven almost faultlessly (he had gone agricultural in the early stages but avoided damage) but had managed the restarts to great advantage. Button admits that the final catching up was aided by DRS, but that was a factor for only the last two laps. With half a lap to go, the most important half lap because it's the one with the chequered flag at the end, Vettel made an uncharacteristic mistake and slid wide at the chicane. Button flicked the car first left, then right blocking Vettel's re-entry. Vettel to his credit did not try to cut the chicane and to argue later - some drivers would have done. Button - having driven through dismal conditions, some so bad he could not see his front wings much less the corners or other cars, had worked his way from the back of the field twice.

He may have been emotional and adrenalin boosted when he said it was his greatest race. He might also have been right.

Other highlights:

Vettel and Webber brought the Red Bulls home second and third, increasing their lead in the Constructors' Championship

Torro Rosso got both their cars home in the points. Alguersuari finished 8th having started the first race from the pit lane and therefore tweaked his car. Buemi was 10th.

Barrichello got Williams first points of the season: 2 for 9th place. That means the team gets financial support for its travel budget.

Both Virgin cars beat Team Lotus, the first time that has happened since the teams arrived in F1 at the beginning of 2010.

The most mentioned drivers in the quotes from all the teams were Kobayashi and Karthikeyan, and neither in very positive terms.

Sergio Perez was taken ill and Sauber "borrowed" Pedro de la Rosa from McLaren. Kobayashi finished 7th (having saved a pit-stop but also, despite comments from some drivers, having driven well and fully deserving his place). De la Rosa finished a creditable 12th having not stepped into the current Sauber car (which is very different to last year's) for a while.