Lewis Hamilton Wins Canadian Grand Prix After Vettel Penalty Demotion

By James Broughton, June 10, 2019

Sebastian Vettel finally showed up to the 2019 Formula One championship at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, victory was “stolen” from him after FIA race stewards handed Vettel a 5-second penalty for contravening driving etiquette. Thus, victory fell into the hands of Lewis Hamilton who pushed Vettel hard during the 70 lap race. At Canada Ferrari turned up with a fast package, perhaps for one race at least. Vettel secured pole position with Hamilton in second and Charles Leclerc third. Renault also showed speed with Ricciardo securing 4th. Valtteri Bottas 2.0 had a messy qualifying and could only muster 6th during qualifying.

The race began with the usual frenzied start, places were gained positions lost. But after three laps it fell into a professional pattern. The top three, Vettel, Hamilton and Leclerc looked evenly matched. Renault had also showed improved form thanks to Ricciardo’s 4th place start but still could not match Ferrari or Mercedes for outright pace. Neither could the Red Bull Hondas. Valtteri Bottas found himself battling the Ricciardo for the first part of the race and as a consequence lost touch with the front three.

After 40 laps and with final pitstops completed Hamilton and Vettel were racing among themselves. Leclerc had opted for a longer tyre strategy and was not a contender. At the front Vettel had built up a small but comfortable lead over Hamilton. Soon Hamilton began to press, by now the Mercedes driver was looking for a way past but Vettel had enough speed in hand to keep Hamilton at bay.

Vettel looked in control but lap 48 unraveled the pressure Hamilton was asserting. Leading into Turn 3 Vettel lost the rear of his Ferrari and cut across grass run-off area, rejoined the track and found Hamilton breathing down his exhaust pipes. Hamilton was squeezed into the wall and had to brake to avoid Vettel as the Ferrari driver scrambled to regain control.

The Turn 3 section is essentially a high-speed chicane, it’s not an overtaking zone. The exit is walled so if you get it wrong either by taking too much kerb or too much speed then a bump in the wall or a crash is the only outcome. Vettel was lucky in that he didn’t even make the corner and used the run off zone as an escape route.

2019 Canadian Grand Prix Ricciardo all smiles

Hamilton had enough time to see what was happening and in hindsight should have waited to see where Vettel was heading. But the racers instinct took hold, Hamilton sensed an opportunity to take the lead. And this is where the controversy happened. The race stewards adjudged Vettel had rejoined the track unsafely forcing Hamilton to take evasive action.

Vettel was handed a 5-second penalty and despite crossing the line first he was demoted to second, handing victory to Hamilton. After the race, Vettel was understandably upset and angry. It’s a difficult one to call. Vettel argued that he was still regaining control of his car when he left the track and blocked Hamilton inadvertently.

But in the end, the stewards made their decision and it has to be noted that it was Vettel who made the unforced error. Had he not done so he would have secured victory instead of leaving Canada at the heart of an unsolved controversy.

2019 Canadian Grand Prix Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Laps	Time/Retired	PTS
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	70	1:29:07.084	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	70	+3.658s	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	70	+4.696s	15
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	70	+51.043s	13
5	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	70	+57.655s	10
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	69	+1 lap	8
7	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	69	+1 lap	6
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull Racing Honda	69	+1 lap	4
9	18	Lance Stroll	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	69	+1 lap	2
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda	69	+1 lap	1
11	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	69	+1 lap	0
12	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	69	+1 lap	0
13	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	69	+1 lap	0
14	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	69	+1 lap	0
15	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	69	+1 lap	0
16	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	68	+2 laps	0
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	68	+2 laps	0
18	88	Robert Kubica	Williams Mercedes	67	+3 laps	0
NC	23	Alexander Albon	Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda	59	DNF	0
NC	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	8	DNF	0

Note – Magnussen was required to start the race from the pit lane due to a change of chassis after qualifying. Vettel received a post-race five-second time penalty for rejoining the track unsafely and forcing another car off track. Bottas scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.