Hamilton dominates in Montrealposted in F111 | 06 | 2017
LEWIS HAMILTON DOMINATED the Canadian Grand Prix to slash Formula 1 World Championship leader Sebastian Vettel’s advantage to just 12 points. Hamilton led from start-to-finish to claim the 56th grand prix win of his career. (Related: Hamilton — Win a 'great blow' to Ferrari)
Starting from the 65th pole position of his career, equalling that of the legendary Ayrton Senna, Hamilton also led home Mercedes first 1-2 of the season, finishing 19.783secs ahead of his team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completed the top three.
Vettel fought back to finish fourth, having been forced to pit early after sustaining damage at the start when his front wing was clipped by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who, having started fifth, exited Turn 1 in second behind Hamilton.
The safety car made an appearance at the end of the opening lap following an incident involving Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean.
Sainz appeared to move across the Haas of Grosjean on the straight after Turn 2. The contact pitched the Toro Rosso into a spin approaching Turn 3 and Sainz violently collected the Williams of an innocent Felipe Massa. Thankfully both drivers were uninjured, but both were immediately forced to retire their cars. Grosjean had to pit for a new front wing.
On the start, Hamilton held off an attack from Verstappen, but the Dutchamn’s challenge ended disappointingly when he had to pull off the track at Turn 2 soon afterwards with a mechanical problem, prompting a virtual safety car.
Bottas was promoted to second, but the Finn was unable to live with the pace of his Mercedes team-mate as Hamilton controlled the race.
Behind fourth-placed Vettel, Sergio Perez finished immediately ahead of his irate Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon. The 20-year-old Frenchman was clearly quicker than Perez and, as Vettel closed in on the pair, the team asked Perez to let Ocon pass.
The Mexican insisted the team let them race. Ultimately it proved costly as their wheel-to-wheel fight allowed Vettel to get a run and dive down the inside of Ocon into the first corner in a bold move.
Vettel then pushed on after Perez, running off track briefly at Turns 8 and 9 but then making a pass stick at the final chicane for fourth. Kimi Raikkonen nursed his Ferrari — which struggled with brake issues towards the end of the race — to seventh, just ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Renault.
Canadian Lance Stroll, racing for the first time in his home grand prix after a difficult start to the season, scored his first points on F1 when he brought his Williams home in ninth place. Stroll became the first Canadian not named Villeneuve to score F1 World Championship points. The top 10 was rounded off by Grosjean.
But there was further disappointment and frustration for Fernando Alosno. The Spaniard had looked on course to score his first points for McLaren this season, having at one stage run fourth due to his late pitstop.
Late in the race he was following the Williams of Stroll before he was forced to retire with an engine problem on the penultimate lap. Alonso then climbed into the grandstand to meet fans.
And there was a bizarre Canadian GP for Daniil Kvyat. The Russian was forced to have a push start after failing to get his Toro Rosso off the line for the formation lap.
Stewards initially handed him a drivethrough penalty for regaining his grid slot, before subsequently giving him a further time penalty as the stewards deemed their first sanction was "incorrect”. Just to complete Kvyat’s misery, he was ultimately forced to retire having had a chaotic pitstop just after complaining of vibrations.
Formula 1 — Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Result:
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes - Mercedes 70 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes - Mercedes +19.783s
3. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull - TAG +35.297s
4. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari - Ferrari +35.907s
5. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +40.476s
6. Esteban Ocon FRA Force India-Mercedes +40.716s
7. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari - Ferrari +58.632s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Renault - Renault +1m 00.374
9. Lance Stroll CAN Williams - Mercedes +1 lap
10. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
11. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault - Renault +1 lap
12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber - Ferrari +1 lap
14. Stoffel Vandoorne BEL McLaren-Honda +1 lap
15. Pascal Wehrlein GER Sauber - Ferrari +1 lap
Retired:
16. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 67 laps completed
17. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Renault 55 laps completed
18. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull - TAG 7 laps completed
19. Carlos Sainz ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 0 laps completed
20. Felipe Massa BRA Williams - Mercedes 0 laps completed
Related: Vettel leads Ferrari 1-2 at Monaco
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Jim McGill