Lewis Hamilton taken out by team-mate as Sebastian Vettel lost all-time great F1 race

The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve has played host to some iconic races over the years, and the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix might just be the best of them.

It remains the longest race in Formula 1 history at a shade over four hours from start to finish, though two of those hours saw nothing happen as intense rain caused the red flags to fly. When the cars were moving, though, the action was breathtaking.

And Lewis Hamilton was very much in the thick of it from the get-go. Just four laps had come and gone when he was involved in a collision, spinning the Red Bull piloted by Mark Webber who ended up falling to the back of the grid. But two laps later, and it was game over – which no doubt came with a dressing down from McLaren chief Ron Dennis.

That's because this time it was Jenson Button who got a little too close to him, and the two team-mates made their own lives a lot harder. It was the end of Hamilton's race, though Button managed to survive after limping around the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve to the pits with a puncture.

He was now a long way off race leader Sebastian Vettel, though not yet cut adrift due to the safety car being deployed as the other McLaren was recovered. The bad news continued to pour in, however, as he was slapped with a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Button had changed to intermediate tyres which helped him move from 15th to eighth, but it wasn't long before he needed to move back to full wets as the conditions worsened, and so he was in the pit lane for the third time. When the red flags came out, he was 10th and looked a long shot to achieve anything that day.

Video: Hamilton A Doubt For Canadian Grand Prix (The Independent)

* Lewis Hamilton's F1 Records

He later revealed