Lewis Hamilton secured his second win of the season as he fended off the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari arrived at the Canadian Grand Prix weekend with a series of engine upgrades. And Ferrari made full advantage of the power increase as it ran Mercedes close during qualifying with Vettel ending up third on the grid a few tenths from securing pole position for Sunday’s race.

Vettel did beat both of the Mercedes ahead of him as the red lights went out and the race got underway. The Ferrari driver sprinted off the line and into the lead wrong footing both of the Mercedes ahead of him. However during the race Ferrari’s qualifying speed would mirror its race and strategy form, just not quite enough to ultimately beat the Mercedes.

Hamilton and Rosberg, first and second respectively, made poor starts and Vettel didn’t need to be asked to take advantage. Vettel flew around the outside of Hamilton and into the lead by turn 1.

Hamilton conceded the racing line to Vettel in order to defend his second place from Rosberg. The two were side-by-side going into first corner and made the lightest of contact only one driver, Hamilton, made it round.

Rosberg was forced to veer into the run-off area to avoid a secondary impact. This dropped Rosberg down the order and he would stay in the mid-field for much of the race eventually finishing a distant 5th.

Meanwhile Vettel sailed off into the lead chased down by Hamilton, both the Mercedes and Ferrari pulled away from the rest of the field and in the end the race turned into a two horse race for the lead and ultimately the victory.

Vettel chose to do two pit-stops while Hamilton opted for one and as the race drew near to an end the last quarter of the 70 lap race meant Hamilton would be on the theoretically slower soft-tyres. Vettel would have the benefit of an extra stop and a fresher and faster set of supersoft tyres.

However the supersofts are prone to wearing more quickly compared to the soft-tyres and in the closing stages of the race, having made his second pitstop Vettel found himself some 8 seconds behind Hamilton.

Hamilton slowed his pace to conserve the life of his tyres whereas Vettel began closing the gap. But about 10 laps from the finish Hamilton began to match and then beat Vettel’s pace and in the end had more than enough pace to cover the Ferrari’s brief quest for glory.

Hamilton’s victory means he is now 9 points behind Rosberg’s lead in the overall drivers championship. Ferrari have made a step forward but still lack the ultimate pace to beat the Mercedes.

2016 Canadian Grand Prix Result: