Canadian GP: Hamilton dominates, dramas for Vettel and Verstappen

7 years, 5 months ago - 12 June 2017, Motorsport
Canadian GP: Hamilton dominates, dramas for Vettel and Verstappen
Lewis Hamilton slashed Formula 1 rival Sebastian Vettel's championship lead with a dominant victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal.

Hamilton led away from pole and remained unchallenged throughout the 70-lap race to cross the line 19.7 seconds clear of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium, with Vettel recovering to fourth place having dropped to last following contact at the start.

Max Verstappen made a lightening getaway from fifth, going around the outside of Vettel at the start to take second behind Hamilton.

But with Bottas simultaneously attacking Vettel on the inside, the latter found himself squeezed and damaged his front wing when he clipped Verstappen's left-rear.

The German continued but was later forced to pit when part of the wing broke off, dropping him to 18th and last.

The race had been neutralised on the opening lap, when the safety car was called into action following a collision between Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean.

Sainz appeared to move across on Grosjean, causing contact that pitched the former into a spin on the approach to Turn 3.

The out-of-control Toro Rosso collected an innocent Felipe Massa, with both being forced into retirement while Grosjean recovered to the pits for a new front wing.

Hamilton held off an attack from Verstappen at the safety car restart but that challenge ended when the Red Bull driver pulled off track at Turn 2.

Bottas inherited second, but did not have the pace to challenge his teammate in the first stint.

Both Mercedes chose a one-stop strategy, with the duo swapping the ultrasofts for the supersofts for the second stint.

Hamilton was able to control the pace at the front, gradually building a gap to his teammate to clinch his third win of the season and sixth in Canada.

He moved to within 13 points of championship leader Vettel with Mercedes achieving its first one-two of the season.

Ferrari decided to switch to a two-stop strategy, setting up a dramatic finish with Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel on fresh tyres.

Vettel passed Raikkonen when the latter went off at the chicane citing brake problems and then gave chase of the Force Indias.

Force India had asked Perez to move over for Ocon, who was running on a different strategy, but the Mexican asked the team to let them race.

It proved costly as Vettel dived down the inside of Ocon - who was baulked by Perez into the final chicane - into Turn 1, with the latter taking to the run-off.

Vettel pushed on after Perez, running off track briefly at Turns 8 and 9, and then making a pass stick at the final chicane for fourth.

Perez and Ocon finished fifth and sixth respectively, with Raikkonen nursing his Ferrari home in seventh.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth while Lance Stroll scored the first points of his F1 career with ninth in front of his home crowd.

Fernando Alonso was set to complete the top 10 and gift McLaren-Honda its first point of 2017 but he retired on the penultimate lap.

That moved Romain Grosjean into the final point-paying position.

FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2017 - RACE RESULT

09-11 Jun 2017 Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montréal

144Lewis HamiltonMERCEDES701:33:05.15425
277Valtteri BottasMERCEDES70+19.783s18
33Daniel RicciardoRED BULL RACING TAG HEUER70+35.297s15
45Sebastian VettelFERRARI70+35.907s12
511Sergio PerezFORCE INDIA MERCEDES70+40.476s10
631Esteban OconFORCE INDIA MERCEDES70+40.716s8
77Kimi RäikkönenFERRARI70+58.632s6
827Nico HulkenbergRENAULT70+60.374s4
918Lance StrollWILLIAMS MERCEDES69+1 lap2
108Romain GrosjeanHAAS FERRARI69+1 lap1
1130Jolyon PalmerRENAULT69+1 lap0
1220Kevin MagnussenHAAS FERRARI69+1 lap0
139Marcus EricssonSAUBER FERRARI69+1 lap0
142Stoffel VandoorneMCLAREN HONDA69+1 lap0
1594Pascal WehrleinSAUBER FERRARI68+2 laps0
1614Fernando AlonsoMCLAREN HONDA66DNF0
NC26Daniil KvyatTORO ROSSO54DNF0
NC33Max VerstappenRED BULL RACING TAG HEUER10DNF0
NC19Felipe MassaWILLIAMS MERCEDES0DNF0
NC55Carlos SainzTORO ROSSO0DNF0

2017 DRIVER STANDINGS

1Sebastian VettelGERFERRARI141
2Lewis HamiltonGBRMERCEDES129
3Valtteri BottasFINMERCEDES93
4Kimi RäikkönenFINFERRARI73
5Daniel RicciardoAUSRED BULL RACING TAG HEUER67
6Max VerstappenNEDRED BULL RACING TAG HEUER45
7Sergio PerezMEXFORCE INDIA MERCEDES44
8Esteban OconFRAFORCE INDIA MERCEDES27
9Carlos SainzESPTORO ROSSO25
10Felipe MassaBRAWILLIAMS MERCEDES20
11Nico HulkenbergGERRENAULT18
12Romain GrosjeanFRAHAAS FERRARI10
13Kevin MagnussenDENHAAS FERRARI5
14Pascal WehrleinGERSAUBER FERRARI4
15Daniil KvyatRUSTORO ROSSO4
16Lance StrollCANWILLIAMS MERCEDES2
17Jolyon PalmerGBRRENAULT0
18Marcus EricssonSWESAUBER FERRARI0
19Fernando AlonsoESPMCLAREN HONDA0
20Antonio GiovinazziITASAUBER FERRARI0
21Stoffel VandoorneBELMCLAREN HONDA0

2017 CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS

1MERCEDES222
2FERRARI214
3RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER112
4FORCE INDIA MERCEDES71
5TORO ROSSO29
6WILLIAMS MERCEDES22
7RENAULT18
8HAAS FERRARI15
9SAUBER FERRARI4
10MCLAREN HONDA0