adminMERCEDES’ Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix after a tense strategic battle with Sebastian Vettel’s revived Ferrari yesterday. Vettel looked in control of the race after vaulting into the lead from third on the grid with a blistering start. But Ferrari surrendered the lead by pitting during a caution period, and Hamilton – doing one pit stop to Vettel’s two — controlled the race.
He cut his title deficit to Nico Rosberg, who was fifth, to nine points. Vettel took the lead with one of the best getaways for years – the Ferrari catapulted past both Mercedes within the space of about 100m and was well clear by the time they reached Turn One, despite the short run.
Behind him, the Mercedes were side by side going into the corner, with Hamilton on the inside.
They touched slightly on the exit and Rosberg was forced to take to the grass, but this appeared merely a function of their narrowing trajectories rather than an especially aggressive defence from Hamilton, of the sort that angered Rosberg at times last year.
But Rosberg was clearly aggrieved, saying afterwards: “Sebastian had a great start, I had a decent one, Lewis had slow one. In Spain I went for the outside and made it work. Here, I went for the outside again and he did a real hard racing manoeuvre and I was off. I was [angry] at the time but that’s racing.”
Vettel tried to build a lead in the early laps, but Hamilton was able to hold him easily, staying just over a second behind. — BBC Sport
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