Canada fly Hammy closing in on Vettel
LEWIS HAMILTON led the Canadian Grand Prix from start to finish to push closer to Sebastian Vettel at the top of the standings.
The British driver drove the perfect race to come home ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Vettel could finish only fourth in his Ferrari, behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, meaning the German’s championship lead was cut in half to 12 points.
This was the perfect response from Hamilton after he struggled to seventh at the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight ago.
Fresh from sealing the 65th pole position of his career, to draw level with the tally of his boyhood hero Ayrton Senna, the 32-year-old led every lap to win in Canada for the sixth time in his career. 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 and caught the battle for third place, where Ricciardo was leading the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, with seven laps to go. Vettel passed Ocon with four laps remaining. Going off track a few corners later dropped him back from Perez but he made an aggressive move into the last corner with two laps to go.
Fernando Alonso suffered another setback that summed up his miserable season.
His engine gave up with two laps left while running in 10th place. McLaren are the only team yet to score a point this season.
Hamilton said: “I had my first pole here and my first win here. To repeat it is incredibly special.”
And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “Hamilton has been stellar. I have seen him drive well but this is been one of the best I have seen in four years.
“We will be fighting hard with Ferrari until the end of the season.”