After dominating the previous three races, it was widely expected that the Montreal circuit would not play to the Red Bull's strengths, with intense media speculation that the controversial crash between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber whilst fighting for the lead of the Turkish Grand Prix would only worsen the team's chances.

[4] None of the teams planned to introduce major updates for the race, though several brought customised packages specifically for the high-speed, low-downforce circuit.

The Friday sessions passed without incident save for minor off-track excursions by several drivers and a spin by Pedro de la Rosa at l'Epingle.

[5] With several teams expecting rain at some point during the weekend, the lack of grip and unpredictable conditions made setting the car up exceptionally difficult.

Sebastian Vettel was the fastest driver in the session, narrowly outclassing the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

Despite setting the fastest times of the first session, the McLarens both struggled, with Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh and Button only managing eleventh.

Pedro de la Rosa very nearly came unstuck at the same point, but Karun Chandhok was less fortunate, his Hispania F110 stopping on the circuit early on.

To compound the problems associated with heavy graining, overnight rain washed away whatever rubber had been laid down on the circuit during the Friday practice sessions, further reducing grip.

The first qualifying session had no surprises when both drivers from HRT, Virgin Racing and Lotus failed to make the cut, they were joined by BMW Sauber pilot Kamui Kobayashi.

With Hamilton ending Red Bull's run of pole positions after seven races, Webber was set to start second right in front of his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

Fernando Alonso was fourth, Jenson Button fifth followed by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who qualified at a career-best sixth; Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil and Nico Rosberg completed the top ten.

While Lewis Hamilton won the drag race to the first corner, in the middle of the pack, Vitaly Petrov jumped the start and was forced onto the grassy verge as he attempted to go around the outside.

This resulted in a spin that forced Pedro de la Rosa to take evasive action; Petrov earned two drive-through penalties in the space of one hundred metres for his efforts and spent the rest of the race fighting with the new teams.

Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi made contact three times in one corner, with the Italian getting spun around in the process and sliding down the order.

early round of stops passed without incident, although Red Bull elected to run their drivers on separate strategies; Mark Webber ran the harder prime compound back-to-back with a finish on the softer options, while Vettel ran the options in his middle stint and picked up the primes for the run to the finish.

Massa's race was marked by a perpetual battle with the Force India drivers including several near-misses in the second corner, the scene of his first-lap tangle with Liuzzi.

Hamilton, running second at the time, quickly reduced the Australian's lead and caught him with twenty laps to go, dragging the Ferrari of Alonso through in the process.

The final result meant that Hamilton leapfrogged both Button and Webber in the championship standings with six points covering the top three drivers.