Hamilton wins Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton held off McLaren teammate Jenson Button to race to his second straight Formula One victory and second Canadian Grand Prix title in four years Sunday.

“I don’t know why I do well here,” said Hamilton, who also claimed the driver’s championship lead from Red Bull’s Mark Webber. “I love it here. It’s a great track, great city, great food and great weather today. ... I’m just able to dial in my car here and have a better feel here than some other places.”

Hamilton, the 25-year-old Englishman who raced to his first F1 victory in 2007 at Montreal, started from pole position at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve en route to his 13^th career victory after gambling on Bridgestone’s super-soft compound tires in final qualifying. The top 10 starters are required to start the race on the tires they used in the final qualifying segment.

Webber qualified second on the more durable medium-compound tires, but was dropped from second to seventh on the starting grid because of a gearbox change.

The Australian took the lead after the other front-runners made their second and last stops, but gave up considerable time on his badly worn tires. He didn’t pit until just after Hamilton took the lead on the 50^th of 70 laps.

“Tires played a huge role in the race today and, in the end, we did the best we could,” Webber said. “I was trying to keep my pace constant, but in the end the tires didn’t want that pace and they go away from you. It’s virtually impossible to keep the tires from degrading here, no matter how slow you drive.”

Hamilton and McLaren managed their tires and pit stops perfectly.