Hamilton takes dominant Canadian GP victory

A dominant performance from Lewis Hamilton has seen the Mercedes driver claim his sixth Canadian Grand Prix victory.

The Englishman led every one of the event’s 70-laps, heading home team-mate Valtteri Bottas for a Mercedes 1-2 while Daniel Ricciardo finished third.

A tough race for Ferrari, which saw Vettel pick up damage at the first corner and Raikkonen drop to sixth following an early mistake, with Vettel’s championship advantage shrinking to just 12 points.

A lightning start from Max Verstappen saw the Red Bull driver split the two Ferraris off the line before sailing around the outside of Vettel as the field headed into the first corner, climbing to second behind Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel’s front wing came into contact with Verstappen’s left-rear in the move, forcing the German into the pits on Lap 5.

The safety car made an early appearance following an incident between Carlos Sainz and Felipe Massa when the Toro Rosso driver lost control on the approach to Turn 3 following contact with Romain Grosjean, spearing Sainz off the road and into the hapless Massa.

Both were eliminated on the spot while the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat was handed a drive-through penalty after he reclaimed his grid spot having stalled as the field pulled away on the warmup lap.

Bizarrely, the stewards then handed Kvyat a ten-second time penalty, claiming the initial drive-through was the incorrect, effectively penalising the Russian a second time for the same incident.

At the safety car restart Verstappen immediately attacked Hamilton for the lead, though was unable to make a move stick and found himself defending to third placed Valtteri Bottas.

His time at the front was short, however, rolling to a halt on lap eleven on the exit of Turn 2, the virtual safety car called to allow the stricken Red Bull to be cleared.

A bad start and an early mistake saw Kimi Raikkonen fall behind Sergio Perez’s Force India in what would become a three-way battle for third with Daniel Ricciardo after the early drama had settled.

It prompted Ferrari to pit the Finn early, removing him from the fight and dropping him back into free air in an attempt to leapfrog those he had been racing with later in the race.

Red Bull immediately covered off the move, pitting Ricciardo on the following lap from third place as the Australian rejoined in sixth, and still ahead of Raikkonen.

A lap later Perez was in the lane too, emerging back on track alongside Ricciardo before dropping in behind the Red Bull in sixth place, which would become fourth once those ahead completed their stops.

A second stop for Raikkonen on lap 41 dropped the Ferrari to seventh as Ferrari gambled that fresh tyres in the final 25 laps would outweigh the time loss suffered by pitting.

Five laps later they also opted to stop Vettel for a second time, pulling him out of the scrap for third place with Ricciardo and the Force Indias, dropping him behind Raikkonen in seventh.

Out front, the two Mercedes found themselves in a commanding position, Bottas pitted on lap 23 from second and rejoined third behind Esteban Ocon, who was on a long opening stint.

So too was race leader Hamilton, who held a sufficient advantage that he was able to stop and rejoin without losing the lead on lap 32.

Discussions at Force India centered on swapping Ocon and Perez on track in an attempt to pass Ricciardo for third before the fresh-booted Ferraris rejoined the group in the final laps, a discussion Perez vehemently disagreed with.

A brake issue late in the race for Raikkonen allowed Vettel to easily pass with ten laps remaining, the German catching the third place battle ahead by more than a second a lap.

With six laps remaining, Vettel was on the back of Ocon, who hadn’t found a way by Perez despite instruction from the team asking the Mexican to move aside.

Instead, Perez defended ferociously against his team-mate, wrongfooting the Frenchman and allowing Vettel to pounce into Turn 1 before quickly, taking fourth place at the end of lap 68 in a move Force India had tried desperately to avoid.

Ricciardo meanwhile had taken the opportunity to scamper clear to claim third, the gap too large for Vettel to bridge in the closing laps despite his fresher tyres.

Further back, Fernando Alonso retired from the race with three laps remaining, the Spaniard climbing from his car and into the grandstand where he was embraced by the crowd.

For Hamilton, on the tenth anniversary of his first grand prix win, it was a perfect weekend. The Englishman converting pole position into victory, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap to complete the grand slam.

Result: Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix

Championship Standings