Formula One made the first of three stops in North America this weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The weekend saw three main teams dominate the time charts and three teams shared the podium.
The weekend started with a familiar story: Mercedes on top of the time charts. Lewis Hamilton proved that he was the fastest on Friday, leading both of the free practice sessions. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, was behind him in the first free practice session. Felipe Massa’s practice came to a premature end after only 25 minutes in free practice one when he crashed in turn one due to a DRS issue. Jenson Button was locked up in the garage for most of the session, as mechanical issues prevented the car from leaving the garage. Many teams had a chance to top the leaderboard in the second free practice session, with multiple lead changes throughout. Hamilton topped the session, with Vettel ending up in the middle of a Mercedes sandwich.
Saturday morning was chaotic, as teams rushed to get out on the track for some dry laps before the rain appeared. Shortly into the session, there was a light rain on the circuit. Ferrari completed the session with Vettel on top of the leaderboard. Max Verstappen was second fastest in free practice three, with Nico Rosberg right behind. The session was cut short by an accident involving Kevin Magnussen in the second chicane. Qualifying saw the Mercedes teammates return to the top, locking out the front row of the grid. Kevin Magnussen wasn’t in qualifying due to the damage from his FP3 accident. There was a red flag shortly into the start of the second qualifying session after Carlos Sainz fell victim to The Wall of Champions.
Sebastian Vettel was able to take the lead before the first corner, having a better start than the Mercedes drivers. Nico Rosberg was unfortunate during the first lap, as minor contact with his teammate in the first corner forced him to cut the corner and drop to P10. Vettel gave the lead to Hamilton after only ten laps, pitting for tyres. Pit strategy was the deciding factor in Vettel’s race, as Hamilton’s one-stop strategy was quicker than Vettel’s two-stop. Ferrari had good pace, but it wasn’t enough to catch Hamilton for the lead. Rosberg had a spin during the penultimate lap at the final corner while attempting to overtake the Red Bull. Hamilton cruised to victory with Vettel more than five seconds behind. Valtteri Bottas gave Williams their first podium of the season, although he was a stunning 46 seconds behind the leader.
Hamilton’s race victory puts him only seven points behind his teammate in the World Drivers’ Championship. The teams will head straight to Asia for the European Grand Prix in Azerbaijan next weekend.
