Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has dedicated his second victory of the season at Canadian Grand Prix to legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, who passed away at the age of 74 after losing his long-standing battle against Parkinson’s disease.
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“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.
Leaving from the pole position, Hamilton gave up the lead on Sebastian Vettel’s audacious move at the start, but then regained it midway through the race when the German went to pit row.
Their troubles, rooted in excessive tyre degradation, allowed Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, driving well on a one-stop strategy, to take an unexpected third.
“Lewis obviously didn’t care so he made up quite a bit of time, about half a second, but I didn’t do that couple that favour to say goodbye for good”, the four times Formula One world champion told reporters.
Despite the strategy decision having opened the door for Hamilton to triumph, Arrivabene said that Ferrari had actually had a hugely encouraging weekend in Canada.
Vettel tried to build a lead in the early laps, but Hamilton was able to hold him easily, staying just over a second behind.
He cut his title deficit to Nico Rosberg, who was fifth, to nine points. It was very windy today, I maybe struggled with the wind behind.
Opting to make one pit stop while Vettel made two proved to be the difference as Hamilton edged Vettel by five seconds in the 70-lap race.
Wolff also revealed that Mercedes will be looking into their starts after Vettel out-paced both Mercedes drivers to Turn 1.
“I never really dedicate wins to anyone, but it’s someone that’s really inspired me so much throughout my life”, said Hamilton, who climbed on top of his vehicle following the win to engage in shadow boxing before jumping to the ground to entertain with the Muhammad Ali shuffle.
Hamilton’s team-mate Rosberg got the worse of a battle with Hamilton into the first corner after Vettel’s stunning getaway and slipped down to ninth on the first lap.
And if his Mercedes teammate keeps going in the opposite direction. “Kept in hindsight, it’s always easy”. Moves on Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and then the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen promoted Rosberg to fifth before an embarrassing spin with one lap remaining curtailed his progression.
Jenson Button, who won here in 2011 with a last lap pass of Vettel in the rain, lost power on Lap 11 and pulled out of the race.
“The whole race was so complicated”, Rosberg said. His McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso started 10th and finished 11th, holding on at the end in the hope that he would pick up a point if one of the cars ahead found trouble. “Here, I went for the outside again and he did a real hard racing manoeuvre and I was off. I was pissed off at the time but that’s racing”.
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“I was just floating out there, the vehicle was really floating”, he said of his 45th career victory in Formula One.
