Hamilton holds off Vettel to win Canadian GP

Hamilton wins for the 5th time in Canada

Ferrari made another mistake that required Sebastian Vettel to make an extra pitstop and Lewis Hamilton did the rest to win the Canadian GP in Montreal Sunday for Mercedes.

Vettel made an excellent start from third to take the lead in the first corner and easily keep the Mercedes at bay until Ferrari brought him in during a virtual safety car and that extra pitstop was the race. What were they thinking?

Valtteri Bottas came home 3rd while Max Verstappen held off Nico Rosberg for 4th.

It was Hamilton's 5th Canadian GP win and he won comfortably despite Vettel closing in the final 15 laps.

After seven of the 21 races this year, Hamilton is now just nine points behind Rosberg, who spun near the end trying to pass Max Verstappen for fourth.

Valtteri Bottas also managed just a one-stop strategy to claim third in his Williams, scoring both his and the team's first podium since Mexico last year.

Behind Vettel, Hamilton held the inside line into Turn 1 where it appeared Hamilton jinked the wheel to the right and he and Rosberg bumped wheels forcing Rosberg to go off the track, dropping him to ninth.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene has admitted that Ferrari made a mistake by putting its drivers onto a two-stop strategy in Canada.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Vettel, who started third, jumped ahead of Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg off the line to control the early stages of the race.

Vettel pitted early, however, and ultimately completed a two-stop race, while Hamilton stayed out longer to move back ahead and take the win.

Vettel took second, with Kimi Raikkonen back in sixth.

"We overestimated the degradation on the tires, so this is the reason why we called [Vettel] in and it was the wrong decision," Arrivabene explained to Sky Sports after the Grand Prix.

When pushed on whether he is concerned by the number of ill-fated strategic calls at Ferrari this season, he added: "Come on, we don't have to make the story bigger than what it is.

"Today we made a mistake, but in other races everybody makes a mistake."

Although it missed out on victory in Montreal, Ferrari strengthened its second position in the Constructors' Championship, moving 17 points clear of third-placed Red Bull.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen managed to hold off Rosberg to finish fourth, whose attempt at a pass into the final chicane on lap 69 ended with him spinning off track, albeit managing to keep his engine running.

Rosberg had a shot at third earlier in the race, but he suffered a slow puncture to his right-rear tire with 19 laps remaining that dropped him to seventh at the time.

Kimi Raikkonen was sixth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, the only two other drivers to finish on the same lap as Hamilton.

QUOTES

Mercedes GP

Lewis Hamilton (1st):
I don't know what happened at the start. My practice start before the formation lap was perfect and I thought "this is going to be a breeze, getting off the line". But when it came around for real it felt like I was going nowhere, so I need to figure out what happened there. I then got massive understeer into Turn One with cars attacking from all sides and had an unfortunate tap with Nico. After that it was just about trying to hunt down Sebastian. He was lightning on the first lap and we both had good pace from there. Other than one small lockup into Turn 10 I didn't make any mistakes all race, so I was really happy with that. It was very much about managing tires today and the team were spot on with the strategy call. I really enjoyed the race – everything went unbelievably smoothly. Every time Sebastian closed up I just had enough to keep the gap. I was just so in the groove. Over the last 10-15 laps all I could think of was Muhammad Ali – float like a butterfly, sting like a bee – because it really felt like I was floating. For me, and everyone I'm sure, he was such an inspirational figure, so that one was for him. I won my first ever race here in 2007 and this feels just as great. It's such a blessing. Thanks to everyone who came out today. We come here every year and have the best week.

Nico Rosberg (5th):
Today's race was really tough. Starting at the beginning, Lewis had a bad start, mine was decent and Sebastian got a super start. So, I was alongside Lewis and tried around the outside. I had to try the move or accept I'd be behind him. In Barcelona it worked but this time it didn't. It was a hard maneuver from him but that's racing and I need to do a better job next time. I lost a lot of places going down the escape road and that cost me a shot at the race. From there I did my best to fight back and I there was a chance of a podium – but then I got the puncture and had to pit again – dammit! I was pushing hard after that to regain the positions but it was a massive mission managing the car with brake warnings coming on and running low on fuel. It was a good battle with Max – again, on the limit but good racing. I tried everything to get past him and had a massive spin at the end. On that final lap I just about managed to drag it round for P5 ahead of Kimi, so a disappointing result as our car was awesome today but that's how it goes sometimes. I've got two days at home now to get ready and go for it again in Baku.

Paddy Lowe:
An eventful and entertaining race from start to finish. It was far from the perfect start, of course. We knew it was going to be tricky with such cold conditions, as it's difficult enough to warm the tires up at this circuit even on a hot day. Sebastian, however, had an outstanding start, coming straight past both of our drivers well before they ran out of road at turn two. From there, it was very much a recovery drive for us. We opted to put both cars on a one stop strategy once both Ferraris appeared to have committed very early to a two stop. This worked well and played a big part in the victory for Lewis. For Nico, however, a late puncture forced a second stop. It looks like he also collected some debris in one of his radiators, as he had overheating throughout the race. While this may not necessarily have affected his performance, it would have been quite a big distraction to manage. A podium was a possibility for him today – but unfortunately it didn't work out. Our congratulations to Lewis for yet another Canadian grand prix victory – and also to the team in the garage and on the pit wall, who were flawless in their pit stops and strategy calls.

Toto Wolff, Technical Director:
That was a fantastic, action-packed race like we expect in Montreal – and a sensational drive from Lewis to take the win. As we went into today's race, it wasn't clear whether one stop or two stops would be the way to go in the cold conditions and depending on how the tires warmed up. But when Sebastian stopped behind the VSC, then it was clear that making just one stop was our best chance of winning – and then it was up to Lewis to keep the tires alive, stretch the stints and do the pace we needed. He did a brilliant job of that and, when we could see from other cars on older soft tires that they were holding on well, it was clear that the win was really on. As for Nico, his day was defined by Turn One and the fight-back from there. Lewis reported on the radio that he had understeer and cold front tires going into the corner – and there was some risk for Nico to be running on the outside line. It was a hard move and clearly you don't want or expect to come out of Turn 2 with cars in 2nd and 9th positions when you start from the front row; but to be honest, these discussions after each race give me a feeling a little bit of deja vu. After that, Nico got his head down and did a fantastic job; he was on course for the podium before he suffered a slow puncture, which meant we brought him in for a second stop, then he was managing the car and also marginal on fuel, so he couldn't attack every lap. He had a great battle with Verstappen, who was defending very well, then lost the car under braking into the final chicane, fighting hard for every point. From the team's perspective, a number of factors meant we didn't take a double podium, though we did score the most points of any team today. But the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull showed that the competition is right there with us – and we need to get everything right in order to maintain our position at the front.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel (2nd):

Kimi Raikkonen (6th):

Maurizio Arrivabene, Team Principal:

Williams-Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas (3rd): "I'm very happy with what we achieved as a team today. It's a shame with what happened to Felipe, but this gives us a big motivation boost for the next few races. I think today shows that we are a strong team who can deliver good results. Our strategy was great and our pitstop was really good, yet again. It was definitely one of my best races. I'm really pleased with today and looking forward to the next race."

Felipe Massa (DNF, ): "Of course I'm very disappointed not to finish the race because of a mechanical issue that we had. It's a race where we're supposed to score good points with both cars, but unfortunately we didn't with mine. So we need to concentrate on the next race now as it's a shame that it ended like this."

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: "I think that was a really good race for us with a well-deserved podium. As we expected, the pace of the car in these conditions was good. We gave away very little to the frontrunners and we beat Red Bull on track, which is really positive. The strategy was absolutely spot on. When other teams were doing two stops, we held our nerve and stuck with our one-stop strategy as planned, and it all worked out very well for us. Valtteri drove a great race and the two pitstops that the pit crew did were really great as well. There's a bitter aftertaste with the fact that we could have had both cars up there. Felipe would have finished anywhere from fourth to sixth so that's a lot of points we've lost there with the water system issue that caused the temperatures to rise. We went through a series of counter measures to try and get round it, but none of them worked. We therefore had to take the decision to retire the car because the power unit is right at the start of its life. Overall I think it's a really positive result for the team. We've extended the gap to the people behind us, and even with one car out of the points we've lost very little to third place. We've got lots of good races coming up now; Azerbaijan, Austria, Silverstone, they're all positive races. We have to look forward now and keep this momentum going."

Red Bull-Tag Heuer

Max Verstappen (4th): "We did what we could today and that was a great job. We wanted to finish on the podium in front of the Williams but soon realized we were suffering with a bit too much tire degradation. I think a little bit of rain could have helped us today. At the beginning I saved my tires and fuel as I knew I could not stay with the front two. When Daniel got close behind I then decided it was time to push. I am very satisfied with my performance but also with the new power unit, you could see it was hard for the Mercedes to try and pass on the long straight so we are making good progress. The last ten laps I really enjoyed, I would actually say they were the hardest ten laps of my life. I was in fourth for a very long time so didn't want to give up that position. It was a very hard battle at the end of the race, his [Rosberg] pace was very strong but we managed to keep ahead and then the last lap was pretty spectacular. After Monaco it's nice to leave this race with a big smile on my face. Now looking ahead to Baku it's a new experience for everyone so we have to wait and see how the grip levels are but today was definitely positive for us."

Daniel Ricciardo (7th): "The start initially was okay, the Mercedes were really slow so there wasn't really anywhere to go and then out of Turn 2 with Rosberg coming back on, I had to go on the inside, Max was on the outside and then I lost a position there. Then we were a bit quicker than Max on the first stint with the ultra softs and I said I could be quicker if I had clean air, but after my first pit stop I locked the softs and ruined that set of tires. I came in again and had traffic to Kimi, we were able to stay with him but damaging the tires too much to really make an impact and pass. I think we didn't have the best race today, fortunately in seven days we'll get another chance. We definitely need to make it a better Sunday in Baku. I'm always excited to go to a new track. It's a street circuit as well so it should be fun."

Christian Horner, Sporting Director: "I think the cool conditions in today's race were a key factor. Max drove a strong race, defending vigorously at the end against Rosberg to claim fourth place. Unfortunately we just didn't quite have the range on the tires today to be able to do a one-stop, so the two-stop was the strategy that we had to adopt. Daniel dropped a place at the start and then was running in tandem with Max before the virtual safety car. After the restart he pitted for the soft tire being one of the first to pit. Unfortunately a big lock-up a few laps later flat-spotted that tire, necessitating another stop dropping him behind Kimi and unfortunately we couldn't find a way past in the remaining laps. Overall a respectable performance at this kind of circuit and I look forward to the new track in one week's time."

Force India-Mercedes

Nico Hulkenberg (8th): "I'm happy to score points, but at the same time I was hoping for a bit more from the race because I really believed we could challenge the top six. For some reason the car didn't feel as good today as it did during practice and qualifying. Maybe it's because the conditions were so cold and windy, which meant we lost the sweet spot and the car was not easy to drive. That's something we need to look at in more detail and understand. At the start I didn't get off the line very well, but I had a great first lap and recovered some positions. Then, the story of my race was simply tire management. I think we made the right calls with the tire strategy because even though we wanted to try and one stop it just wasn't possible in the end."

Sergio Perez (10th): "It was a difficult race and looking back I don't think we chose the optimum strategy. We tried to go down a different route compared to everyone else, but the cooler track conditions didn't help: it was very difficult to get heat into the soft tires during the first stint and that cost me a few positions at the start. I got stuck behind the two McLarens and that hurt my race. I lost a few seconds at the final stop when I briefly stalled the car and that dropped me behind Kvyat, but I managed to get the position back with an overtake going into turn one. In any case, to bring both cars home inside the points is a good result for the team, especially when the weekend doesn't really go your way. We gave it our best and we have come home with points in the bag."

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "To come away from Montreal with another double points finish is a very good effort which consolidates our fifth place in the championship. We started the race hoping we could pull off a one-stop strategy with both cars, but with lots of tire graining and high wear rates we opted to switch to a two-stop race. Most of the cars around us did the same, so it was the sensible course of action to cover our bases. Nico's race was pretty non-eventful and he did well in the opening few laps to recover the ground he lost when he bogged down at the start. Sergio's race was compromised by the slow warm-up of the soft tires, which dropped him behind both McLarens and cost him quite a bit of time. To recover and score the final point was a good effort. After the chilly conditions of Montreal, we look forward to the weather that awaits us in Baku next week."

Renault

Kevin Magnussen (16th):

Jolyon Palmer (DNF, ):

Alan Permane, Chief Race Engineer:

Nick Chester, Technical Director:

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

Carlos Sainz (9th): "A really good race for me today here in Montreal! If you had told me before the race that I would have finished in P9 after starting P20, I would've probably signed immediately! I'm really happy to have made it back into the points, I enjoyed it a lot out there. We chose the right moment for our first pit-stop, going for the undercut, and I then did five or six qualifying laps on the Soft tire, which allowed me to overtake five or six cars and keep up with the Force India. Even if I hadn't made yesterday's mistake in qualifying, more than a P8 this weekend was impossible, so we can be happy and satisfied with our weekend. A result like today's shows that we are strong and that we are constantly improving. Today we did the right strategy and good pit-stops, so I'd like to congratulate the whole team for this weekend, it's been great!"

Daniil Kvyat (12th): "If I say the truth, it was quite a boring race today. We were trying to fight for that last point with Perez, but they were just that bit faster and we didn't manage to get in front of him. We then switched to the Ultrasoft tires for the last stint, but the set didn't quite give us what we expected and they got destroyed while battling with the other cars around us. Unfortunately, I spent most of my race stuck behind a car and in traffic… Luckily the next race is just around the corner, so we can start thinking of that straight away and forget about today. But looking at the positives, it was a clean weekend for me, something which I needed. We were able to finish the race, as well as get important data for myself and the team, to learn as much as we can. We now need to start showing some performance and I hope we do this starting from Baku next week."

Franz Tost, Team Principal: "If we take into consideration where we started, to finish today's race within the points is a great result. The team and the drivers did a really good job. Carlos drove a fantastic race. He overtook a few of his rivals during the first lap and thanks to a very good strategy and fast pit-stops, he was able to gain a total of 11 positions, scoring two valuable points for the team. On the other hand, Daniil suffered a little bit on the Ultrasoft in the last stint, but taking into account that this is a fast circuit that doesn't suit our car that well, we showed quite a good performance in general. The car was fast, the tires worked well and we are now looking forward to the new track in Azerbaijan."

Sauber-Ferrari

Marcus Ericsson (15th): "For me it was a good race from the start to the finish. I think the first stint on ultrasoft tires was not ideal, as I struggled a lot with the grip. Our initial plan was a one stop strategy, but we then had to revert to a two stopper. Once we got onto the soft tires for the next two stints of the race, I had a good run and was able to pass Kevin (Magnussen) and Pascal (Wehrlein). Overall a good effort, as we also came close to Haas."

Felipe Nasr (18th): "It was a disappointing race for me. My race start was ok, but then suddenly in Turn 3 I was hit from behind. It was very unfortunate and an unnecessary move. This compromised my race from there on. I tried my best to recover, and in the end I was able to put in decent lap times on the soft tires. That's how racing goes sometimes, but now I look forward to Baku. I am always up for new challenges."

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "Starting from these positions is always difficult. Therefore, it was even more important for the team and the drivers to stay focused without making any mistakes. Marcus put in a good performance. It was tough for Felipe after the collision with a Renault."

McLaren-Honda

Fernando Alonso (11th): "A tough race – we didn't have the pace to be competitive today. I enquired about the possibility of fitting fresh tires for the last few laps, but I guess it was a little too much of a risk: at that point we were 11th and stood to score a point or two at the end if something were to have happened ahead of us. Still, I'd done more than 50 laps on those tires – and the two-stoppers were a lot faster than me. I guess we were a bit unlucky – we really needed some rain or a Safety Car to put us back in the fight. Ultimately, I think our strategy was the right one – it was the quickest way home. Anyway, we'll now work hard to try to improve the pace for the next race."

Jenson Button (DNF, Engine): "I radioed in to say I had a terminal problem, and I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a lot of smoke and sparks. I had no warning – the car just failed as I came out of the hairpin. The engine was still running, but I turned it off anyway. It's a shame, since I was saving a lot of fuel at the time, and I had DRS on every lap too, so I could save even more fuel. That could have made a massive difference later in the race. It's so often the way, though, isn't it? You save a lot of fuel for later in the race, but it doesn't last…"

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Bluntly, today was a day to forget. Having qualified adequately yesterday, both our drivers started this afternoon's race well enough, and they both ran pretty solidly in the early stages. After just nine laps, however, Jenson was forced to retire his car, owing to a fault whose exact nature we're still in the process of determining. Thereafter, Fernando did as well as he could, but, in the absence of the rain that we'd half-expected might come, he was unable to finish higher than 11th. Clearly, the fact that we're therefore leaving Canada with no world championship points to add to our tally is disappointing. However, one of the upsides of such setbacks is that, in Formula 1, there's always another race just around the corner – in this case just a few days away in fact. Already, therefore, we've turned our attention to the challenge of a brand-new circuit, in Baku, where we hope to put up a better show than we did here in Montreal today. Finally, on behalf of all at McLaren-Honda, I want to extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected, and grieving, in the wake of the appalling atrocity that occurred in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of this morning."

Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda: "It was a disappointing result to miss out on points today, although Fernando had put in a strategic, very long stint on Back-Up tires to mix up the race. The power-hungry nature of this circuit means that it was always going to be difficult for us to finish in the points unless there were more lucky opportunities on track. We'll further push to improve our race pace performance going forward. At the moment, our ICE data on Jenson's car isn't showing any signs of issues, so his retirement cause is unknown. We'll investigate this once the car is back in the garage."

Manor GP-Mercedes

Pascal Wehrlein (17th): "I got a very good start and managed to leapfrog Palmer and keep both Saubers behind me before the first pit stop, although we had picked up some damage to the floor when we arrived at the grid and I was losing lap time. By the time we got to the final stop I was struggling with the tires and that allowed Ericsson to get past. I was still able to finish ahead of Nasr, which is positive, although it's disappointing not to be able to hold off both. I'm looking forward to Baku when we will hopefully get the chance to show more of our improvement."

Rio Haryanto (19th): "The first part of the race went well for me. I was keeping up with my team-mate and also with Palmer and Magnussen ahead. At the first pit stop I expected to rejoin the race and be racing with Ericsson but we had a problem which slowed the stop and I came out behind Nasr instead. For most of the race I was catching Nasr all the time but the blue flags meant that I would catch up then have to drop back again. We tried to go long for the final stint and have a shorter run on the final set of Soft tires but there was nothing more we could do. On the plus side it's another two-car finish for us and I hope we can carry the positives into Baku next week."

Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "We expected to be able to race the Saubers today and that was indeed the case, albeit we made life difficult for Pascal by picking up a small bit of damage to the floor when he arrived at the grid. That cost him quite a bit of lap time so holding off Ericsson for as long as he did – until his second and final pit stop – was all the more pleasing. He got the advantage over Nasr, which was good, but not keeping both behind was a bit of a missed opportunity today because it certainly looked within our grasp. With Rio we also let him down a little with a slow first stop, which set him back and without that he could have finished ahead of Nasr. Although all of that is disappointing, on the positive side we're pleased to see an improvement relative to Sauber."

Haas-Ferrari

Esteban Gutierrez (13th): "It wasn't an easy race. I was struggling a lot to get the tires to work and then at the end of every stint it was difficult to keep the temperature in them, and once you start losing that the car starts to slide and it's like driving on ice. This weekend we knew it was going to be very tough with the cool weather, but now we need to analyze how we can compensate and try to put more emphasis into the tires to make them work to give us an easier race. I didn't enjoy it too much as I'm not feeling very well, but the weekend is now over and I'm looking forward to Baku."

Romain Grosjean (14th): "We're not far from the points. I was up to P11 or so, trying to fight hard and doing everything I could, and then the front wing went. That third pit stop definitely cost us everything we had been working for. We need to look more deeply into that issue to get it sorted. There are plenty of other areas where we can improve but, generally, the more we do, the more we understand the car and the better things get. Flying to Canada and not scoring any points is difficult. I'm sure the next race will be another step, and if we learn more, the better we'll get."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It was a little bit of a disappointing race for us. However, we finished with two cars, so that's certainly a positive. We tried hard and had a few challenges and ended up 13th and 14th. Some races things just don't go as smoothly as you'd hope they would. We struggled with tire management. We had to come in and change them, and then we ended up changing them again. We also had a problem with the front wing on Romain's car near the start. However, we're now focusing on the race next weekend at Baku."

RESULTS

Pos	Driver	Car	Laps	Behind
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes/Mercedes	70	1h31m05.296s
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari/Ferrari	70	5.011s
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	70	46.422s
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	70	53.020s
5	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes/Mercedes	70	1m02.093s
6	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari/Ferrari	70	1m03.017s
7	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	70	1m03.634s
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	69	1 Lap
9	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	69	1 Lap
10	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	69	1 Lap
11	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	69	1 Lap
12	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	69	1 Lap
13	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas/Ferrari	68	2 Laps
14	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	68	2 Laps
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	68	2 Laps
16	Kevin Magnussen	Renault/Renault	68	2 Laps
17	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor/Mercedes	68	2 Laps
18	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	68	2 Laps
19	Rio Haryanto	Manor/Mercedes	68	2 Laps
–	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	35	Retirement
–	Jolyon Palmer	Renault/Renault	16	Water pressure
–	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	9	Engine

Fastest lap

Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 28.997s Lap 49