A delighted Lewis Hamilton made it a magnificent record seven different winners in seven races this year on Sunday when he drove with flawless speed and control to win the Canadian Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old Briton produced a magnificently judged performance in a race that passed off smoothly despite a weekend of student protests and police action resulting in about 60 arrests in the city, to seize his first win of the year.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Lotus came home second after an equally well-judged race to finish ahead of third-placed Mexican Sergio Perez of Sauber.
Photo: EPA
Hamilton’s triumph came five years to the day after he had claimed his maiden F1 victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and was his third win at what must be one of his favorite circuits.
It was his 18th career victory and it hoisted him back into serious contention for the drivers’ title in this year of unexpected results and unpredictable racing. Hamilton, who now leads with 88 points, said: “I knew today would be a tough, tough race.”
“I loved every single minute of it and I’m really very, very grateful. I never had a doubt in mind that there would not be a possibility to win,” he said. “But right now, it’s still sinking in. It’s been five years since I first won here, but it feels just as good. I’m massively proud of the team for continuing to push. It feels great to finally be here on the top step. It feels like one of best races I’ve had for a very long time.”
Photo: AFP
“I was thinking they [Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso] were falling behind and I assumed they were doing a one-stop so I decided to keep pushing. We had a couple of problems during the stops, they may have been my fault I don’t know, but otherwise it was a great race,” he added.
Hamilton, still wearing his helmet, celebrated by embracing his girlfriend, former Pussycat Dolls pop singer Nicole Scherzinger, and soaking McLaren team chief Martin Whitmarsh in champagne on the podium.
Grosjean was delighted with his best-ever F1 result and said: “”We thought about going for one stop and seeing what happened. Then suddenly I went past Fernando Alonso, who was slowing, and I was second. It was a crazy race. The team did a fantastic job in giving me a car that was good on its tires. We knew with the heat today we would be better. It’s fantastic.”
Perez said: “When you start 15th, you don’t expect to get a podium finish, but we went off very aggressively and I managed to overtake a few cars — the tire degradation was not bad for me and I managed to keep moving up the field so this is a great boost for the team.”
Defending German double-world champion Vettel of Red Bull finished fourth after a late-second pit stop ahead of two-time champion Alonso of Ferrari and sixth-placed Nico Rosberg of Mercedes.
Australian Mark Webber was seventh in the second Red Bull ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, in the second Lotus, and Japanese Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber and Felipe Massa for Ferrari.
“Winner, winner! Well done you guys, thank you, thank you,” Hamilton said on team radio during his slowing down lap after finishing clear of Grosjean by more than 2.5 seconds.
Hamilton’s McLaren teammate, 2009 champion Jenson Button, endured another troubled race and finished 16th, while seven-time champion Michael Schumacher was forced into early retirement by mechanical problems with his Mercedes.
On another hot day in Montreal, police reported the arrests of about 30 protesters in the hours before the race as Canadian students rallying for months over tuition hikes used the Formula One showpiece to highlight their cause.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but