Canadian GP: Four times the charm for Hamilton

[Chloe Hewitt]

From his fourth Canadian pole position, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claims his fourth Canadian Grand Prix victory - and his fourth victory of the season - in what was a relatively quiet race in Montreal.

The race had the smallest margin of victory all season, with little competition between Hamilton and teammate Rosberg; largely due to the fact Hamilton was having to lift and coast whilst Rosberg was having to protect his rear brakes. Hamilton was also hindered due to flat-spotting his tyres on his outlap as his teammate pitted, bringing the Mercedes pair closer together on the track compared with the standings before their pit stops were taken.

Whilst Hamilton may have won the race, the main talking point was that of Sebastian Vettel having started down in 18th, after a MGU-K issue in qualifying and a five grid penalty for overtaking under red flag conditions during FP3. The Ferrari driver managed to work his way up to fifth - despite a botched pitstop on lap 7 (6.6 seconds) and pitting for a second time on lap 36 - luckily for the German and Ferrari, Vettel's pace was good enough that he was able to pump in fastest laps without suffering high levels of tyre degradation. Vettel's battle also brought a close moment with fellow German Nico Hulkenberg on lap 45 when the two came very close to making contact, although it did at first look as though they did; prompting Vettel to radio his team with the message "did not touch" and resulting in Hulkenberg spinning due to riding over the kerb. The stewards decided no action was warranted.

Furthermore, due to a spin after his pitstop Kimi Raikkonen lost out on a podium finish with fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas taking up the mantel instead; additionally, this was also the first podium this season that did not feature a Ferrari driver.

It was another disappointing day for McLaren, after Fernando Alonso voiced his displeasure from early on it was only too apparent that the Spaniard would ultimately have to retire - becoming the first retirement in the race. Rather ironically Jenson Button had been told that the issue that was being faced by Alonso would not affect him, before he too had to retire his MP4-30. This result marks the second double retirement for team this season, with the other having come in Malaysia.

It was a relatively quiet race for Max Verstappen who, having started down in 19th after his 15-place grid penalty, finished 14th in an uneventful race. This is likely to be due to the power unit disadvantage that Canada poses for the Renault powered teams - with Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat being the highest finishing Renault powered car in ninth place. It was a less than stellar race for 2014 winner Daniel Ricciardo who finished a lowly 13th, not the usual performance that we are used to seeing from the Australian; who joked post race "I am laughing because I don't want to cry."

Romain Grosjean was handed a five second penalty after making contact with Will Stevens whilst lapping the Manor driver, puncturing the Lotus' tyre and damaging the Brits front wing in the process. Though the Frenchman claimed that the Briton hit him, he subsequently apologised to Stevens' and Lotus for the mistake that he made. Furthermore, Stevens' teammate Merhi had to retire on lap 63 which was the first retirement for a Manor driver all season.

Lastly, Hamilton has now surpassed Nigel Mansell's record of 2,089 laps led by a British driver on lap 16, when he raced his 2,090th lap in the lead of a Formula One Grand Prix.

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 70 laps 1hr 31m 53.145s
2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +2.2s
3. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +40.6s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +45.6s
5. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +49.9s
6. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +56.3s
7. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes +1m 06.6s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault +1 lap
10. Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes +1 lap
11. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1 lap
12. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
13. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap
16. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
17. Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari +4 laps

Rtd Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari 59 laps completed
Rtd Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda 56 laps completed
Rtd Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 46 laps completed​

 

[Blkout]

Disclaimer: I'm a big Hamilton fan.

However...Vettel drove an amazing race! From 18th to 5th even with a botched pit stop was nothing short of extraordinary. Much credit also goes to Bottas for getting Williams on the podium this year, but that being said, Kimi made a mistake and it cost him a podium finish which has to hurt.

Not a terribly exciting race other than watching Vettel make up lost ground.

 

[Torcano]

Honda has just destroyed McLaren by this point, I highly doubt Alonso would want to stay for another season in F1 at this rate. Atleast Honda brought in tons of monies to help drown out the pain of abject failure... so much for the legendary reunion of the two brands. xD

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Romain Grosjean was handed a five second penalty after making contact with Will Stevens whilst lapping the Manor driver, puncturing the Lotus' tyre and damaging the Brits front wing in the process.

Five whole seconds? Max Verstappen also made contact with Grosjean and didn't even damage his wing at the Monaco incident and got a five place grid penalty. Not fair

On a more serious note: that was the most boring Canadian Grand Prix in years, apart from the finishing results of Vettel and Massa. Ferrari actually managed to minimize their losses this weekend. Didn't expect that anymore after the qualification.

McLaren-Honda's struggle is becoming extremely painful too watch.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Sad times I tidied up my desk and stuff most of the time during the race. F1 has really reached another level of booringness.
As a simracer I can appreciate drivers going for it even if the race itself is not a stunner. But it seems like everytime Hamilton and Mercedes just purely control the race. The cars might be fast in qualy, but not in the race.
I saw the feature with FI and Martin Brundle on youtube and it seemed like he goz annoyed after spending one minute with the race energy level.
In WEC they have to save fuel as well, but it always makes the impression that the drivers are really pushin and there is racing

 

[Darren Bentley]

I'm amazed you managed to write a report this long on the race

 

[Dux]

Wasnt happy with the quals but i knew i would be with the race. Grande Vettel

 

[vee10]

Marginal on fuel, here's a idea you stupid FIA why don't you allow different fuel loads for different races. At least then we still have a limit but we don't have to hear-

Lift and coast. Three words that don't belong in F1.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

Marginal on fuel, here's a idea you stupid FIA why don't you allow different fuel loads for different races. At least then we still have a limit but we don't have to hear-

Lift and coast. Three words that don't belong in F1.

But they cant do it this season, because teams will have only a 105kg fuel tank.

 

[vee10]

But they cant do it this season, because teams will have only a 105kg fuel tank.

I know that it will not happen, but surely this should have been thought through properly.

I'm sure it's not beyond F1 engineers to fit a bigger fuel tank/cell anyway.

Or knock a few laps off race distance. I am sick of it.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

I know that it will not happen, but surely this should have been thought through properly.

I'm sure it's not beyond F1 engineers to fit a bigger fuel tank/cell anyway.

Or knock a few laps off race distance. I am sick of it.

Agree, but the FIA will never knock off laps (tracks could argue for a refund) and F1 cars are tightly packaged. If they have the space to fit in a fuel tank with 15 or 20kg more capacity the engineers did a bad job.

 

[vee10]

Agree, but the FIA will never knock off laps (tracks could argue for a refund) and F1 cars are tightly packaged. If they have the space to fit in a fuel tank with 15 or 20kg more capacity the engineers did a bad job.

Problems not solutions Frederic

I totally agree that it is now unfeasible but this is a situation that should never have arisen. As a fan I have no interest in fuel consumption in F1, especially as they have just used a tankers worth of oil to actually get to Canada. What a joke.

 

[Tony Holder]

Missed half the race, and what I saw wasn't worth watching. Truly a shame.

 

[Blkout]

Watching the groundhog dodge oncoming traffic was entertaining though.

 

[James Cook]

Honda has just destroyed McLaren by this point, I highly doubt Alonso would want to stay for another season in F1 at this rate. Atleast Honda brought in tons of monies to help drown out the pain of abject failure... so much for the legendary reunion of the two brands. xD

McLaren is destroying McLaren. They've been on a downward trajectory for a few years, pre-Honda.

 

[Blkout]

I'm looking forward to seeing what Haas does in F1 next year. I certainly hope they aren't seriously looking at Danica Patrick though. Not trying to sound sexist, she's obviously talented for a woman in motorsports, but she stands no chance of doing anything for Haas in F1 other than attracting attention as she's done in every other motorsport she's been part of.

 

[James Cook]

I'm looking forward to seeing what Haas does in F1 next year. I certainly hope they aren't seriously looking at Danica Patrick though. Not trying to sound sexist, she's obviously talented for a woman in motorsports, but she stands no chance of doing anything for Haas in F1 other than attracting attention as she's done in every other motorsport she's been part of.

Do you think they will look at Alex Rossi as I can see them wanting one American driver?

 

[Blkout]

Do you think they will look at Alex Rossi as I can see them wanting one American driver?

I believe they want an American driver, but I'd place my bets on them picking a seasoned European driver to start with just to make sure they get some good feedback on their car. Not sure how long Button or Alonso's contract is with McLaren-Honda but it wouldn't surprise me to see either of them in the Haas car initially or even Kimi since all signs point to Ferrari getting rid of him after this season.

They could run Rossi along with one of the Europeans I mentioned above. There's probably a few more European candidates as well, but those three seem like good candidates.

 

[the_sigman]

I'm looking forward to seeing what Haas does in F1 next year. I certainly hope they aren't seriously looking at Danica Patrick though. Not trying to sound sexist, she's obviously talented for a woman in motorsports, but she stands no chance of doing anything for Haas in F1 other than attracting attention as she's done in every other motorsport she's been part of.

Ηaas can't get Danica because of the new Super License rules

 

[Blkout]

Ηaas can't get Danica because of the new Super License rules

Well, that would seem to be the case, but they sure keep throwing her name out there.