Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix – his fifth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – while his championship rival Nico Rosberg lost ground and finished in fifth spot.
The Mercedes driver finished five seconds clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had a shot at victory following a fantastic start, but failed to make a two-stop strategy work in comparison to the one-stop for Hamilton.
It means after seven of the 21 races this year, Hamilton is now just nine points from Rosberg, who spun near the end trying to pass Max Verstappen for fourth, with the defending champion taking 34 points out of the latter’s early advantage over the last two Grands Prix.
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 season.
Hamilton made another poor start from pole, while from third on the grid Vettel blasted by the Silver Arrows pair to take the lead.
Behind Vettel, Hamilton held the inside line into Turn 1 where he and Rosberg bumped wheels as the latter attempted to pass around the outside.
The slight collision, however, was enough to force Rosberg to go off the circuit, dropping him to ninth place and facing a battle to fight through the field in the cold conditions.
Rosberg lost another place before the end of lap one to fall to tenth, leaving Vettel and Hamilton to fight for the win and a battle of strategies between Ferrari and Mercedes.
Ferrari caused a surprise when Vettel pitted at the end of lap 11 and under a virtual safety car period caused by Jenson Button’s engine blowing on his McLaren, the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix winner pulling his car onto a grass verge.
In switching from the ultra-soft tyre to the super-soft, it was apparent Vettel would have to pit again with the soft compound being the mandatory set for the race designated by Pirelli.
At that stage Vettel dropped to fourth behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, although come the end of lap 18 he had cleared both to move up to second behind Hamilton.
Six laps later Hamilton made his only pit stop, taking on the soft tyres, leaving him with 46 to the end, with the prediction from Pirelli being it could run for fifty laps.
It was another 13 before Ferrari pitted Vettel again to take on the soft tyres, retaining his second place and emerging 7.8 seconds behind Hamilton.
Vettel closed the gap to 4.3 seconds behind Hamilton after 55 laps, but he locked up into the final chicane on lap 56 and again on lap 61 to drop him to 6.7 seconds adrift, effectively ending his bid for victory.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen managed to fend off Rosberg to finish fourth, whose attempt at a pass into the final chicane on lap 69 ended with him spinning off track, although he kept his engine running.
Rosberg had had a shot at third earlier in the race, but he suffered a slow puncture to his right-rear tyre 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.
Completing the points-scoring positions were Force India duo Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez in eighth and tenth, with Carlos Sainz in between. The Toro Rosso racer started P20 after taking a gearbox penalty before the start.
Also on the list of retirees alongside Button were Renault’s Jolyon Palmer on lap 18 with a water leak and Felipe Massa’s Williams after 37 laps with engine issues.
So a brilliant result for Lewis Hamilton. Fifth victory at the Canadian Grand Prix and now nine points behind his championship rival.
Ferrari’s strategy did not work out for Sebastian Vettel who gave it all in the race.
A new event comes up next at Baku. It’s going to be a fascinating Grand Prix especially in terms of the championship.
Canadian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 1h31m05.296s
2 Sebastian Vettel 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 70 1m02.093s
6 Kimi Raikkonen 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 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 16 Retirement
– Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 9 Engine
Drivers’ standings:
1 Nico Rosberg 116
2 Lewis Hamilton 107
3 Sebastian Vettel 78
4 Daniel Ricciardo 72
5 Kimi Raikkonen 69
6 Max Verstappen 50
7 Valtteri Bottas 44
8 Felipe Massa 37
9 Sergio Perez 24
10 Daniil Kvyat 22
11 Romain Grosjean 22
12 Fernando Alonso 18
13 Nico Hulkenberg 18
14 Carlos Sainz 18
15 Kevin Magnussen 6
16 Jenson Button 5
17 Stoffel Vandoorne 1
18 Esteban Gutierrez 0
19 Jolyon Palmer 0
20 Marcus Ericsson 0
21 Pascal Wehrlein 0
22 Felipe Nasr 0
23 Rio Haryanto 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 223
2 Ferrari 147
3 Red Bull-Renault 130
4 Williams-Mercedes 81
5 Force India-Mercedes 42
6 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 32
7 McLaren-Honda 24
8 Haas-Ferrari 22
9 Renault 6
10 Sauber-Ferrari 0
11 Manor-Mercedes 0
Canadian Grand Prix race review as reported by Formula1.com:
He led into Turn 1, but strategy proved Sebastian Vettel’s undoing in Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2016, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton fought back to defeat the Ferrari driver and win for the fifth time in Montreal. Valtteri Bottas took an impressive third place to give Williams their first podium of 2016.
With championship leader Nico Rosberg only able to manage fifth after first-corner contact with team mate Hamilton and a late-race puncture, the gap between the Mercedes men at the top of the table is now down to just nine points.
Max Verstappen was a fighting fourth for Red Bull, resisting intense pressure from Rosberg in the closing laps and forcing the Mercedes driver into a mistake and a spin on the final tour.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was sixth, while seventh went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull, with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez completing the top ten, split by the Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, who came from 20th on the grid to secure ninth place.
Hamilton might have messed up another start, but when it mattered on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve he “floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee” as he overcame Ferrari’s most consistent and convincing challenge since Malaysia 2015.
Hamilton dedicated the win to the late Muhammad Ali, out of respect for the inspiration the boxing legend provided during his early career.
It was Rosberg who appeared to have made the slightly better getaway as he moved alongside Hamilton, but then Vettel came boiling off the line to grab the lead ahead of both Silver Arrows as they left the grid.
The German leapt away and appeared to have a lock on the race, as a touch between Hamilton and Rosberg in Turn 1 left the second Mercedes driver down in ninth place.
But when he made his first pit stop, on the 11th lap, Ferrari put Vettel on to the supersoft Pirellis, committing him to a second stop later on as use of the soft tyre was mandatory here.
Hamilton led for the next 13 laps, dropping to second again as he switched to soft rubber. When Vettel then pitted for softs on the 37th lap, the battle was well and truly on.
Vettel rejoined only 7.8s behind the Mercedes, and victory seemed assured, but Hamilton was having none of it. Vettel got the gap down to 4.3s by the 55th lap, but then a mistake at the final corner cost him time, as did another five laps later. By then it was clear that Ferrari’s strategy of using Pirelli’s optimum tyre choice was not going to work. It had been based on 40 degrees C track temperature, but in the race that never went beyond 23 degrees.
Vettel nevertheless finished an honourable second, five seconds adrift, having shown sufficient speed with Ferrari’s revised turbocharger to suggest that the rest of the season will be a fantastic fight.
Behind them, Bottas made fine use of Williams’ single-stop strategy to take the final podium slot. Red Bull should have been there, but like Ferrari they chose to pit Verstappen and Ricciardo twice. At one stage when he was running third and Ricciardo fourth, the Dutchman was told not to hold up his team mate but it never came to that as the Australian never got close enough to challenge. Later, he dropped behind Raikkonen’s Ferrari after a slow second tyre stop.
In the end Verstappen finished a fine fourth, 6.5s behind Bottas, after a dramatic defence against Rosberg. After his early incident the German had a poor middle part of the race with undisclosed warnings of mechanical problems in his cockpit, and a slow right rear puncture. Verstappen was much harder to pass than Ricciardo had been, however, and resisted strongly on the 63rd and 64th laps. Rosberg counter-attacked on the penultimate lap, and actually squeaked ahead going into the final corner, only immediately to spin unprompted and hand back the place. He was very lucky to keep fifth, as Raikkonen and his constant shadow Ricciardo were within a second of passing him.
Hulkenberg took eighth for Force India ahead of Sainz, who drove a great race from 20th on the grid after a five-place grid drop for a gearbox change because of his qualifying accident, and Perez won the final point for Force India after a great scrap with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat.
Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean brought their Haas cars home 13th and 14th respectively, ahead of Marcus Ericsson’s one-stopping Sauber and Kevin Magnussen’s Renault, as the Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Rio Haryanto sandwiched Felipe Nasr’s Sauber. Nasr was delayed after spinning in Turn 3 on the opening lap following contact with Magnussen.
Jenson Button was the first of three retirements, pulling over on lap 11 after his McLaren’s Honda engine let go. Fellow Briton Jolyon Palmer was next up, bringing his Renault into the garage with a water leak on lap 19. And Felipe Massa made a terminal visit to the Williams pit on lap 38.
Rosberg continues to lead the title chase, but what was once a 43-point lead has been decimated to only nine over Hamilton, with Vettel third on 78 from Ricciardo on 72, Raikkonen on 69 and Verstappen on 50. In the constructors’ stakes Mercedes extend their lead with 223 points over Ferrari’s 147, with Red Bull third on 130.
The paddock now moves rapidly to Azerbaijan and the inaugural race at the new Baku City Circuit, the 2016 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe, next Sunday.
Sebastian Vettel says Ferrari was surprised by how long Pirelli’s Formula 1 tyres could last in the Canadian Grand Prix, after he lost out on victory to Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel stormed into the lead at the start of the race, getting the jump on both Mercedes drivers as the lights went out.
But with Ferrari believing a one-stop race would not be possible, Vettel pitted early for a middle stint on super-softs before taking the mandatory soft compound, while Hamilton made a one-stop race work to win.
Speaking about two-stopping, Vettel said: “That was the plan, we committed fairly early.
“It was probably the right thing to do in terms of getting to the chequered flag the quickest way.
“We lost track position – we didn’t expect the tyres would last so long.
“I was surprised how long the super-soft lasted and then the soft lasted until the end – we could have kept going on it.
“Degradation wasn’t as high as expected, maybe that is where we lost the race.”
Vettel also dismissed comparisons to the Australian Grand Prix , where Ferrari’s tyre strategy during a red flag period cost him victory.
“[The comparison] is not true – in Australia, with hindsight, you do a different strategy,” he said.
“[Today] we committed early hoping the virtual safety car [which ended as he pitted] gives us an advantage and makes a two-stop favourable.
“I will always defend our strategies. Others favoured two stops [as well], with hindsight maybe they would do it different.
“Put yourself on the pitwall, to make that decision is tricky.
“I wouldn’t criticise the team because the guys are on the money and reacting very well.”
Source: Autosport.com
Championship leader Nico Rosberg was ‘pissed off’ with his team-mate at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the news story.
Nico Rosberg has revealed he was “pissed off” with Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton making contact with him at the first corner.
After Sebastian Vettel jumped into the lead, Hamilton was on the inside line into Turn 1 with Rosberg on the outside into the left-hander.
They continued round the corner but Hamilton understeered into Rosberg at the exit, forcing Rosberg to take to the runoff area and drop to ninth after rejoining.
“Sebastian had a great start and I had a decent one and Lewis had a really bad one and my position was on the outside,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.
“In Barcelona, I gave it a go around the outside of Lewis and it worked out really well.
“I went for the same today and he did a really hard racing manoeuvre and we touched and I was off.
“I was very pissed off in the moment, but that’s racing and it’s my job to make sure I’m in front after a battle like that next time.”
Hamilton blamed a lack of front-end grip in the left-hander for the incident.
“I got to Turn 1 and had understeer,” said Hamilton.
“It was very close with me and Nico. It was non-intentional.
“Fortunately, neither car was damaged.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff agreed it was a hard move by Hamilton and was disappointed with the ground that was lost as a result.
“It was a hard manoeuvre,” said Wolff.
“Lewis said that he had an understeer, [and] that’s what I would say.
“From the team’s perspective, you are starting one and two, you come out of Turn 1 two and nine that is not pleasant.
I have a deja vu, we are having these discussions after every race.”
However, Wolff did add that the driver on the inside can dictate the corner.
“Turn 1 in Canada is a difficult one, there is a concrete runoff area,” he said.
“If there would be a wall, probably we wouldn’t have the discussion.
“But then if you are on the inside, you dictate the line.”