Lewis Hamilton recorded his fourth victory of the season with a comprehensive display in Canada.
The Mercedes driver controlled the race from pole position to extend his lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to 17 points over his team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Rosberg assumed the role of chaser after failing to find a way past Hamilton at the start, and was ultimately unable to provide an answer to the Englishman’s pace.
Despite losing touch with Hamilton in the early stages, Rosberg was able to close the gap during the solitary round of pit stops. However, the impending threat never materialised and the reigning world champion consolidated his advantage to secure victory by 2.2 seconds.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas usurped fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen for third place – his first podium of the season – after the Ferrari driver made a rotation at the exit of the hairpin.
Bar Raikkonen’s mishap, the race yielded a positive outcome for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel fought off a pre-race grid penalty to follow his team-mate home in fifth.
Felipe Massa, another driver plagued by misfortune during qualifying, made the expected surge through the field from 15th on the grid to finish sixth overall, ten seconds ahead of Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus.
Nico Hulkenberg, the first of the lapped runners, finished eighth. The Force India driver, who will be competing at Le Mans next week, had a smooth race interrupted by an altercation with Vettel at the final chicane. Vettel, who was executing his charge through the field from the back of the grid, made an audacious move on the outside of his German compatriot, forcing Hulkenberg off-line and into a rotation, although both were able to resume without damage.
Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean was unable to make a profit from his fifth place grid position after cutting across the nose of Marussia’s Will Stevens upon entry into the same chicane.
The brief contact between the two caused both to sustain front wing damage, although the cost would be heavier for Grosjean who was subsequently handed a five second post-race penalty for his misjudgement.
Sergio Perez concluded an uneventful race in 11th, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniel Ricciardo in the Renault-backed Toro Rosso and Red Bull respectively. The high speed nature of the Montreal track played against the Renault customers, with Daniil Kvyat the best placed in ninth.
McLaren endured yet another challenging race day, as both cars were forced to retire. Fernando Alonso had the best run of the two Honda powered machines, but was critical of his team’s decision to call for a fuel saving strategy during the race when he exclaimed “Already I have big problems now. Driving with this and looking like amateurs,” over the radio. He later said that his reply to the team was made in view of the timing of the fuel-saving call, above anything else.
Hamilton’s victory – the 37th of his career – places him 17 points ahead of Rosberg in the drivers’ championship, with Vettel’s recovery drive keeping him a further 26 points back. The championship will head back to Europe on June 21 for the Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring.
2015 Canadian Grand Prix Results
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