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IT was a case of déjà vu for delighted Lewis Hamilton who dominated the Canadian Grand Prix – a race he had won a decade earlier, again starting from pole position, in his first season in the top formula, writes Stan Szecowka.
The British former champion controlled the race from start to finish, leading home team-mate Valtteri Bottas to cut Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s title lead to 12 points after the championship leader could only finish fourth.
Hamilton took his 56th career victory, his sixth at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and third of the 2017 season. No wonder he was delighted after also scoring his fourth career Grand Slam, fastest lap and leading every lap of the grand prix. It should be noted that he had also equalled his hero, the late Ayrton Senna’s mark of 65 pole positions.
What a difference one race can make after the disappointment of finishing seventh in his last outing at Monaco. “It’s been such an incredible weekend,” said Hamilton. “I just couldn’t be happier with how it’s gone and I’m so grateful for this result.
“We came away from Monaco and we were scratching our heads, but we pulled together and look what we achieved. We came here with a much better understanding of the car and we delivered a real blow to the Ferraris.
“Valtteri did a fantastic job too and this is our first one-two finish together. We’ve scored a big load of solid points and it’s well deserved.
“It’s crazy to think I had my first pole and win here 10 years ago. The race actually felt very reminiscent of 2007, in terms of how it unfolded.
“It’s a long race here, especially when you’re out there on your own, but I knew the car would hold together and it did perfectly.”
Bottas agreed: “I’ve never seen a group of people so determined to win and to get back on top, so to get the one-two finish, it’s amazing.”
The duo was helped by the chaos and controversy left by the cars behind.
Vettel dropped to the back when he needed to change his front wing, damaged by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the start. He recovered well with some aggressive overtaking on a two-stop strategy and caught the battle for third place.
Verstappen made an electrifying getaway from fifth place, threaded his way between the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Bottas and swept around the outside of Vettel into the first corner.
But the Dutchman slightly misjudged the move, and his left rear wheel clipped Vettel’s front wing as he claimed the corner.
Shortly afterwards, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz tangled with Haas’ Romain Grosjean on the curving straight between the notorious Turns Two and Three.
The Spaniard lost control, spinning down the inside of the track and side-swiping Felipe Massa’s Williams in Turn Three, forcing Fernando Alonso’s McLaren on to the grass in avoidance.
That brought out the safety car for four laps but Ferrari waited until the restart on lap five to bring in Vettel and change his front wing and fit a set of super-soft tyres.
Force India will not be a happy home, either, as Perez refused requests to allow Ocon past in the closing stages so he could try to tackle Ricciardo. Perez spent the entire race behind Ricciardo without ever getting close enough to make a passing move.
It was decided by the team that Ocon, who appeared to have stronger pace, should be allowed to try to make progress. But Perez, who brings millions in sponsorship money to the team, had other ideas.
The Mexican demanded management ‘let them race’ and it led to a heart-in-mouth climax to the race for the team. There were several dicey moments as Vettel closed in, with Ocon’s attempted pass into the final chicane allowing the Ferrari to close up and pass the Frenchman into the first corner on lap 65.
Ocon missed the corner, and took to the escape road, but charged back onto Perez’s tail. They raced side-by-side into the last corner on the last lap, Perez defending hard, and holding his team-mate off. Ocon was not amused. “This is not fair, guys,” he said over the radio.
Red Bull’s Ricciardo was happy to have secured another third-place finish, his third in a row, although her admitted that he ‘only had fun’ when he saw the chequered flag. “I couldn’t afford to make any mistakes,” he added. “Concentration was getting tough. It was great to be on the podium”
Behind the Force Indias, Raikkonen nursed his Ferrari home with brake problems in the closing stages, ahead of Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Canadian Lance Stroll, who scored the first points of his debut season for Williams at his home race.
Stroll was holding off McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in the closing laps. The Spaniard appeared set for the team’s first point of the year for 10th place but he retired with yet another Honda engine failure with two laps to go.
The Spaniard threw his cockpit protection out of the car, got out and jumped straight into the crowd to pose for pictures with fans. That will only increase the tensions at McLaren, where divorce from Honda appears to be on the cards in just the third year of a long-term contract.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place in two weeks’ time shares many characteristics with Montreal - long straights, slow corners and low-grip asphalt. Hamilton will go there determined to further eat into Vettel’s lead and make amends for the mess he made of that race last year.
