F1 2017: Hamilton Comes Closer To Championship Lead With Canadian GP Win

By Sameer Contractor

1 mins read

Published on June 12, 2017

Highlights

Lewis Hamilton led through the 70-lap race with Bottas finishing second
Vettel dropped to last after contact in Lap 1, but recovered to fourth
Hamilton also matched to Ayrton Senna's number of poles at Montreal

Lewis Hamilton showed some incredible pace this weekend at Montreal in the 2017 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix as he managed to come closer to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the championship standings. Having equalled the number of poles as Ayrton Senna in qualifying on Saturday, the Briton had his focus set on the win and remained unchallenged throughout the 70-lap race. Coming in second was Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, albeit with a 19.7-second gap over Hamilton, while Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull took a podium finishing in third place. Vettel, on the other hand, managed to finish fourth after a contact pushed the German to last initially in the race. It was Mercedes' first 1-2 win this season Lewis Hamilton was at the pole at Montreal on Sunday and planning to give him a tough fight was Sebastian Vettel in second place followed by Bottas in third. But the Mercedes driver was in no mood to lose out on his advantage so easily. Hamilton pulled away cleanly at the start of the race and there was no catching up with him from there. However, Vettel was under fire from Max Verstappen of Red Bull as he made a quick getaway from fifth and was looking to overtake Vettel in the opening lap. However, with Bottas also attacking Vettel on the inside on Turn 1, the Ferrari driver was in a fix and ended up damaging front wing against the Red Bull's rear wheel. The incident prompted a stop for repairs as Vettel's wing eventual broke off later and pushed him to last. Replays: see how the #CanadianGP's dramatic first-lap Sainz/Massa collision happened #F1 pic.twitter.com/CLhoA97Xhp — Formula 1 (@F1) June 11, 2017 undefined The first lap also saw the horrific crash between Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean, which prompted for the safety car on track. Sainz made a contact with Grosjean that pushed the former into a spin at Turn 3. The Torro Rosso driver spun out of control and even gobbled Felipe Massa of Williams F1 in the process. Both drivers had to retire from the race, while Grosjean had a get a new front wing, pushing him at the back. There was also a duel between Force India's Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon after the team as Perez to move for Ocon. However, the Mexican refused to budge and asked the team to let them race instead. However, the same could barely avert Vettel's charge on the Indian team as the Ferrari driver passed both drivers to take fourth. Perez and Ocon had to settle for fifth and sixth respectively, while Kimi Raikkonen after starting fourth on grid finished at seventh. Not the best day for both Ferraris Renault's Nico Hulkenburg finished eighth in the race, while Lance Stroll of Williams scored his first ever points in ninth place. For McLaren, the Canadian GP wasn't any better than its previous outings despite a ray of hope this time. Making his comeback after IndyCar 500, Fernando Alonso looked optimistic at finishing his race in tenth place but had to retire on the penultimate lap, shattering all hopes. Alonso's retirement did work out for Grosjean, who took up the tenth place instead. Force India picked up crucial points with Perez and Ocon finishing 5th and 6th respectively With a much sought after win, Lewis Hamilton has closed the gap between him and Vettel down to just 12 points. Bottas comes in third with 93 points. The difference is as close in the constructors championship as well, as Mercedes leads the standings with 222 points followed by Ferrari with 214 points. Red Bull is a distant third with 112 points. Hamilton will be looking to snatch that lead from Vettel at Azerbaijan where the next race will be held from 23rd-25th June 2017.