June 12th, 2011. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal. Round 7 of the season. A rain race was forecast. Jenson Button qualified seventh, already in the shadow of Red Bull dominance and Sebastian Vettel’s metronomic march toward a second title. Nobody expected what came next.
Six pit stops. One drive-through penalty. Two collisions. Last on Lap 37. And somehow—Jenson Button won. On the last lap. Of the longest Grand Prix in Formula 1 history.
You want chaos? You want comeback? You want one man dancing through the flood while the world spins off around him?
Welcome to Montréal, 2011.
Moments That Belong in a Fever Dream
- Start Behind Safety Car – Rain lashes down so hard they start under caution. It won’t be the last time.
- Teammate Tangle – Button and Hamilton collide on the pit straight. Lewis is out. Jenson gets a drive-through.
- Red Flag Madness – Torrential rain halts the race for over two hours. Everyone goes full Wimbledon mode.
- Climb from Last – Button finds himself dead last. The comeback begins.
- Alonso Collision – He tags Fernando on the drying line. Ferrari beached. Another stop for Button.
- Pace of a God – On worn inters, he slices through the field, dropping fastest laps like confetti.
- Vettel Cracks – Last lap. Final sector. Leader since Lap 5. Vettel goes wide. Button pounces.
- From Nowhere to Never Forget – Jenson crosses the line first, with one corner to spare.
The Race That Shouldn’t Have Been
Montréal always promises mayhem, but 2011 was a different creature altogether. From the moment the formation lap started behind a safety car, the skies made it clear: this was going to be a war of attrition, timing, and luck. Rain pelted the tarmac like shotgun fire. The opening laps were processional—if your definition of “processional” includes aquaplaning at 280 km/h.
Then came the first twist. Button and Hamilton, McLaren’s sweet-and-sour pairing, collided in the pit straight as Jenson moved across, perhaps not knowing Lewis was there. Hamilton was out, his car parked against the pit wall. Button got a drive-through penalty for speeding under the subsequent safety car. Already two stops down, and barely 10 laps in.
Then came the rain. Proper, biblical, boat-building rain. The race was red-flagged. Drivers climbed out of cars. Mechanics played cards. David Coulthard offered fashion critique on BBC. The world waited. For over two hours, the race paused.
When it resumed, Button’s luck somehow got worse. He tangled with Alonso, sending the Ferrari into the gravel and breaking his own front wing. Another stop. He was dead last. Dead. Last.
What followed was pure poetry.
Button found grip where others slid. His lines were fearless—tiptoeing through the wet patches, devouring seconds on full wets, then on inters, then on slicks as the track dried just enough to allow bravery. He overtook Schumacher, Massa, Heidfeld, Webber… and then, somehow, he was second.
Vettel had led the race basically all day. He was untouchable. Robotic. Precise. But in the final laps, the air got heavy. The circuit began to sweat. And Button was flying.
The Crack in the Machine
Final lap. Vettel leads by a second. He’s been the metronome all season—pole, lead, win. But pressure is a strange beast. Into the final sector, under the trees, Vettel hits a damp patch. A heartbeat too late on the brakes. A flick of opposite lock. Wide.
That was the moment.
Button didn’t need an invitation. He was there. Hungry. Relentless. He darted through the inside, snatched the lead, and disappeared up the final straight.
From P21 to P1. From hopeless to heroic.
In the last lap of a four-hour race.
Meanwhile, in the Paddock
By the time the race ended, the sun was setting over Île Notre-Dame. Commentators had run out of metaphors. Mechanics had eaten entire meals. Fans in the stands had been drenched, dried, and drenched again. Everyone was exhausted—and no one wanted to leave.
McLaren’s garage exploded. Red Bull’s faces froze. Vettel shrugged. He knew he’d blinked. Button? He collapsed into the arms of his team, soaked and delirious. Later, he’d call it the greatest race of his life. You’d be hard-pressed to argue.
A Race Unlike Any Other
Canada’s Grand Prix has delivered chaos before—think the 2007 rookie win for Hamilton, the 2014 Mercedes brake war, or the 2019 Vettel penalty meltdown. But 2011? This was Shakespeare meets demolition derby.
It was the longest race in F1 history: 4 hours, 4 minutes, 39 seconds.
There were 6 safety cars.
Button made six stops, including a penalty and two wing changes.
And he still won.
This wasn’t strategy. This was survival by symphony.
How Legends Get Written
Some races are remembered for titles. Others for dominance. But every now and then, we get a race that burns itself into memory because it shouldn’t have been possible.
Canada 2011 was impossible.
It made Button immortal. It made rain beautiful. And it reminded us all why we watch: because even on the worst days, the sport can pull something extraordinary out of the abyss.
And all it takes is one corner. One lap. One mad, perfect drive through the storm.
