Lewis Hamilton put Monaco misery behind him on Sunday with a controlled Canadian Grand Prix victory that sent the Formula One world champion 17 points clear of Mercedes teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg.
The Briton’s fourth victory in seven races this season, and fourth career win in Canada, denied Rosberg a third triumph in a row and provided the perfect response to losing out in the showcase race two weeks ago.
There he had been leading comfortably from pole only to lose out after a needless late pit stop when the safety car was deployed.
Photo: Tom Boland, The Canadian Press via AP
There was no need for the safety car on Sunday, at a circuit that has seen it plenty of times in the past, and there was little in the way of drama either — other than a startled groundhog appearing on the track — as Hamilton led from pole.
Rosberg was never close enough to attack, finishing 2.2 seconds behind after having to manage his brakes while Hamilton also had to coast at times to save fuel.
The rest of the field was in another race entirely, with Hamilton lapping all but six of the competitors behind him at the circuit where he took his first Formula One win in 2007 with McLaren.
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas was third for Williams, a massive 40.6 seconds behind Hamilton, to become the first driver from outside Mercedes or Ferrari to appear on the podium this year.
“I love Montreal,” Hamilton told the crowd as he stood on the podium after his 37th career win. “Nico was quick, but I felt like I always had it under control.”
“Did I need this?” he asked the spectators to raucous cheers. “I think so.”
On his way to victory, Hamilton also replaced 1992 champion Nigel Mansell as the British driver to lead the most laps in Formula One history.
Bottas moved up one place from where he started, beating fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen after the Ferrari driver spun following a pit stop, and looked forward to more podium appearances.
“I think we really needed this result,” Bottas said. “Like, last year we saw that it really boosts confidence. We know again now that we are a top team and that we can fight for podiums.”
Raikkonen finished fourth, ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel who fought his way through the field from 18th at the start.
Bottas’ Brazilian teammate, Felipe Massa, finished sixth after starting 15th, and provided some of the more memorable overtaking.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado scored his first points of the season for Lotus in seventh place and Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg limbered up for his Le Mans 24 Hours debut next weekend with eighth place for Force India.
Russian Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Red Bull and Frenchman Romain Grosjean took the final point for Lotus after a late coming together with Manor Marussia’s Will Stevens.
Neither of the McLarens finished the race, with Spain’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso expressing his frustration over the radio at being told to save fuel.
“Already I have big problems now. Driving with this, looking like amateur. So I race and then I concentrate on the fuel,” Alonso told his race engineer.
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