Lewis Hamilton took his fifth career Canadian Grand Prix win to close the gap to championship-leading Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to just nine points as the German finished fifth.
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Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton won the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after starting at the pole.
The pair beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel into third, while Red Bull duo Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finished fourth and fifth.
While other drivers were defenceless against championship leader Nico Rosberg, Spanish Grand Prix victor Max Verstappen put in an incredible show of defensive driving to keep the Mercedes man at bay.
But Hamilton, who won his first race of the season in Monaco a fortnight ago, did not believe his performance was up to scratch despite posting the fastest lap seen in Montreal since 2004.
After the race, Hamilton dedicated the win to Muhammad Ali.
Ferrari caused a surprise when Vettel pitted at the end of lap 11 and under a virtual safety auto period caused by Jenson Button’s engine blowing on his McLaren, the Briton pulling his vehicle onto a grass verge.
Vettel pitted for tyres just as the Virtual Safety Car period ended, gifting Hamilton the lead.
The session was suspended, and then abandoned, and Magnussen’s Renault mechanics will face a race against time to get his auto in a fit shape for qualifying.
“I had a bad start and I don’t know why”, said Hamilton.
The collision was not on the scale of their crash in Barcelona last month, which took both of them out, but proved a huge setback for Rosberg who dropped to 10th with Hamilton staying second. Very close with me and Nico. Both Jenson Button and Jolyon Palmer failed to make it to the end of the race after suffering mechanical issues.
After Sebastian Vettel jumped into the lead, Hamilton was on the inside line into Turn 1 with Rosberg on the outside into the left-hander.
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Verstappen managed to hold onto fourth and late in the race the teenager showed great determination and skill in fending off sustained attacks from a hard-charging Nico Rosberg, who was recovering for a mid-race puncture. “Obviously, in Formula One, there was no one of the same color as us as a family, so it was another athlete for me to look up to”, he said. “I tried to pull it out of the bag but it just didn’t work out”, rued Rosberg. “In the end it’s my job to make sure I’m in front after a battle like that next time”, said Rosberg, who came out of the shuffling in 10th.
