Hamilton also won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix on his way to become world champion, which is becoming more of a reality for him in 2016.
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“It doesn’t matter how far you were ahead, as long as you’re ahead”, said Hamilton, who will be on the pole in Montreal for the fifth time. Having qualified in 5th place he finished 4th, and a massive 53 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton.
Massa brought out the first red flag of the weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after losing control at turn one, destroying the rear wing as the vehicle rammed backwards into the hoarding that fronted a tyre wall. Vettel spent the rest of the race unsuccessfully trying to catch up.
With Mercedes opting for a one-stop with Hamilton, Vettel re-inherited the lead when the world champion came into the pits, but ceded position again with his second stop.
Growing up in Britain and setting his sights on a sport that had few black role models, Hamilton said Ali was someone he latched onto as a child.
Vettel had to settle for second with Finland’s Valtteri Bottas earning Williams’ first podium this year.
While Hamilton went on to win the race, Rosberg-who successfully passed his team-mate around the outside of the first corner in May’s Spanish GP-could only recover to fifth after suffering a slow puncture and later spinning at the final chicane while battling Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the penultimate lap.
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”, Hamilton said over the radio.
“The last 15 laps all I could think of was him and the Rumble in the Jungle”, said Hamilton. “This time I really don’t understand because practices have been good, the formation lap was wonderful, dropped the clutch and the thing pulled away perfectly. The last 30 laps I was just flat out, maybe pushing a little bit too hard at times but I felt great and that’s what racing should be about”. “That’s a decision we do as a team”.
Hamilton added about Muhammad Ali: “Obviously, in Formula One, there was no one of the same colour as us as a family, so it was another athlete for me to look up to”. “Kept in hindsight, it’s always easy”. Rosberg has 116 with Hamilton on 107 after seven of 21 races.
The Red Bull driver finished seventh at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, with a bungled pit stop costing him key positions for the third race in a row.
In P1, Vettel controlled the race until lap 11 when McLaren’s Jenson Button pulled over at the side of the track with a blown power unit.
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Vettel took the lead with a great start to the race from P3.
