The Overview I

Lewis Hamilton won his fifth Canadian Grand Prix championship as he defeated Sebastian Vettel in a touch and go battle decided by tire strategies and brakes. Each driver displayed dominance and despair in equal measures, with Hamilton fortunate that Ferrari chose a weaker tire strategy. Vettel’s Ferrari, having traded a small amount of aero downforce for straight-line speed, creating a braking disadvantage for him in the closing ten laps that allowed Hamilton to regain a lead he was rapidly losing to the great German. Vettel had opted for the fastest race strategy with a two stop, while Hamilton once again found a way to make the tyres last for a long final stint to hold out for victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Vettel had catapulted into the lead off the line by jumping both pole sitter Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg. Both the Mercedes’ duo seemed to have overheated their clutches. As Vettel screamed into Turn 1, Rosberg and Hamilton replayed their Spanish GP drama. Rosberg chose to go around the outside of Hamilton but the three-time World Champion “understeered” into Rosberg’s left front wheel, forcing Rosberg to take the escape runoff area; he dropped to 10th place by the end of the first lap.