After the uncertainties of Monaco Lewis Hamilton cruised to victory at the Canadian Grand Prix leading from start to finish. The race was blighted by a number of incidents that led to the safety car being deployed but Hamilton kept his cool as he reduced the points gap to Sebastian Vettel to 12 points. Starting from pole with title rival Vettel in second Hamilton made an excellent start and and retained position, from that moment on Hamilton was never really troubled.

Behind him Sebastian Vettel conceded position and dropped down to 4th by the first corner being out-dragged by 5th place Verstappen and 3rd place Bottas. Vettel would have to make an unscheduled pitstop a few laps later to change his front wing which had picked up minor damage after a minor collision.

He should have made the stop during the first safety car period, the race was yellow flagged on the opening lap after a collision between Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sianz Jr which saw Sianz Jr ricochet uncontrollably into an unsuspecting Felipe Massa just as Williams driver was making his way round turn three.

When the safety car was called in Hamilton sped away and from this point on the race victory was assured as it seemed easy. Behind him Verstappen held firm until his Red Bull gave up on lap 11. Bottas was promoted to 2nd but couldn’t match the pace of Hamilton.

By now Sebastian Vettel had dropped down to 18th but didn’t have any trouble finishing the race in 4th position, a shrewd strategy, unbridled pace and a number of safety cars ensured Vettel could stay in touch and limit any damage to his championship lead, but he had to work for it.

In the closing laps he was in 7th place behind the two Force India’s who were battling for honours amongst themselves. Inevitably Vettel’s Ferrari had the pace but the Force India’s had track position and in the end allowed Vettel a decent shot at securing 4th place the Ferrari driver eventually muscled his way past both Ocon and Perez.

Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, looked set for a possible podium scrap with eventual third place finisher Daniel Ricciardo. However a brake issue in the closing stages of the race meant that he limped home in 7th position.

Hamilton’s race win in Canada was as easy as his race in Monaco was difficult. The result appears to underscore that Mercedes have found consistent race pace that has been missing thus far. With both Ferrari and Mercedes so closely matched in terms of performance this years championship really is about the driver.

Canadian Grand Prix, 2017 Results