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Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix. --- 14:01: Hamilton takes his place at the front of the grid. The rest of the pack filters in and now we are moments away from lights out.... --- 14:00: The formation lap starts and everyone gets away - although there was a Sauber dawdling off the line. He gets to keep his place as long as he gets going before the last car passes him, which he avoids. --- 13:59: Nice message from Hamilton before the race, thanking his team for the quick fix after he hit the tyre barriers in the wet on Friday afternoon. --- 13:59: Prediction time from me. Hamilton win, Raikkonen second, Rosberg third. Maldonado into the Wall of Champions. Wall of Champions hastily re-named. --- 13:58: With everyone saying "Canada always delivers!" I've got a horrible feeling this one won't deliver. Though I can't remember ever seeing a dull race here, so maybe I'm just being pessimist. --- 15:57: If only Honda's engines worked as well as their social media team. --- 13:55: Air temperature currently 20 degrees Celsius, track temperature 39 degrees. --- 13:53: No four-stoppers like in 2010, then. This race needs Raikkonen or Bottas to get ahead of one or both Mercedes drivers going into the first corner to really open up the strategy calls. --- 13:52: Strategy-wise, here is what Pirelli had to say: "The tyre nominations and surface conditions in Canada mean that a variety of different strategies are possible. However, a one-stop strategy looks most likely at the end of Qualifying, even though two stops also viable. A two-stop strategy for the 70-lap race is likely to be: start on supersoft, change to supersoft again on lap 15, then soft from lap 40. A number of variations on this theme are also possible, including running the soft in the middle stint" --- 13:50: Ten minutes until lights out in Montreal. --- 13:48: If you don't get that Naked Gun reference then add "watch Naked Gun" to your list of things to do next week. --- 13:47: "Oh Canada" belting out from the start of the grid as part of the tradition which started last year. I'm more familiar with this being sung by Terrance and Phillip on South Park. --- 13:44: One key point to watch this weekend is brakes. A loss of MGU-K in both Mercedes drivers last year gave Ricciardo a shot at victory, which he took. This is one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar so you'll hear more than one gripe about that from the drivers later. --- 13:43: *Insert generic Pacino quote here* --- 13:40: Do you want to hear the thoughts of Button's new power unit, his fourth of the season? Of course you do.
Honda hasn't confirmed if they power unit is actually the one tweeting. --- 13:39: In case you couldn't tell from qualifying, it's pretty handy to have a Mercedes power unit. The top seven teams through the speed trap yesterday were Mercedes cars. Only Raikkonen, Kvyat and Ricciardo made it into the top ten without Mercedes power. --- 13:37: Speaking of the grid, grid girls are back - for those of you who care. Vettel - who complained about having to park behind "George or Dave" in Monaco - said Canada has his favourite grid girls, so at least he has something to feel good about before the race. --- 13:35: The story of qualifying was Sebastian Vettel's failure to make it out of Q1. There was a lot of confusion about who would be starting where with grid penalties to serve, but provisional pole has Vettel at 18th, Verstappen at 19th and Button, who was due to start in the pit lane, starting 20th. He does have to serve a drive/through penalty in the race however. --- 13:34: --- 13:30: It's a clear day in Montreal. Can anyone challenge Mercedes for victory today? Ferrari fans have good reason to feel optimistic - Kimi Raikkonen's long run pace was comparable to Mercedes on Friday. But, as always with free practice, we don't know fuel loads and plenty of other variables at play. |
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Lap 1 |
Good start from Hamilton, who leads into Turn 1. Raikkonen gets along the inside of Rosberg through Turn 1 but the Mercedes driver has the inside line for the next corner. The top ten all unchanged on the first lap. Possibly contact between Raikkonen and Bottas in that opening corner. |
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Lap 2 |
Hamilton already one second clear. Button dives straight into the pits to serve that drive-through penalty, makes sense to take it so early. Hulkenberg has got ahead of Maldonado for sixth. Vettel has already dispatched the two Manors and is up to 16th. |
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Lap 3 |
Fastest lap from the race leader, a 1:19.511, as he stretches the gap out to 1.3s. Raikkonen just clinging on to Rosberg, he's within a second of the Mercedes man but does not have superior straight-line speed which will hurt through the final sector. Vettel dispatches Nasr's Sauber and then Sainz at the hairpin. Massa the next man up the road - Vettel making light work of the traffic at the moment. |
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Lap 4 |
Alonso throws it up the inside line of Massa at Turn 1 but the Williams driver keeps 12th through Turn 2. Alonso now has the Ferrari he gave up to Vettel breathing down his gearbox. Vettel dives down the inside of Alonso at the hairpin but locks up and goes far too deep. Alonso undercuts him but Vettel breezes past down the backstraight with the benefit of DRS. The German alreadyt up to 13th. |
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Lap 5 |
Rosberg posts a fastest lap, a 1:19.056. He's still not shaking Raikkonen, who is eight tenths behind the German. Seeing a replay of the start again, remarkable job from all the drivers to keep those cars away from contact. |
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Lap 6 |
Hamilton responds to Rosberg's last lap with a fastest lap of his own, going purple in all three sectors. His last lap a 1:19.089 and the lead is now two seconds. Massa all over the back of Ericsson's Sauber, with Vettel all over the back of Massa. Massa has the soft tyre, the cars either side have the supersoft tyre. Ferrari v Mercedes power down the backstraight, both using DRS. Ericsson managing to keep both at bay. |
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Lap 7 |
Vettel peels off into the pit lane - very, very early. Slow stop! Delay on the left rear! Was that a puncture or a two stopper? Either way, a slow stop not what Ferrari would have wanted. |
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Lap 8 |
Massa struggling to get past the Ferrari-powered Sauber of Ericsson. Sauber does not have the upgraded Ferrari power unit this weekend but is still proving a handful for Massa. |
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Lap 9 |
Massa throws it down the outside of Ericsson at Turn 1, they go through the next turn side-by-side and eventually he makes it stick through Turn 4. Class driving from both drivers, Ericsson did well to give Massa enough space. Replays show their rear wheels kissed coming out of Turn 2. No quarter given. "Nice job Felipe," comes the call from Williams. That moves him up to 11th. |
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Lap 10 |
The lead out in front nearly three seconds. Raikkonen has dropped back by 1.4s behind Rosberg. Purple first sector from Vettel on his new soft tyres, and then purple in the middle sector. He's down in 17th but the other teams will take note of how quickly he's getting those warmed up. |
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Lap 11 |
Verstappen eases past Nasr through Turn 1. Fastest lap from Vettel, a 1:18.645. Replays show Perez passing Ricciardo with the aid of DRS on the approach to the final chicane. |
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Lap 12 |
Red Bull tells Kvyat his rear brakes are running warm. Not unusual round here. The Russian currently up in eighth position. Vettel still flying out there, his sector times are still going purple. The bad news is he's 46 seconds behind Hamilton. |
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Lap 13 |
Raikkonen posts his personal best lap of the race but he's now 2.4s behind Rosberg. He's still lapping in the same times as the two Mercedes drivers. "My front left tyre looks pretty ugly," complains Hulkenberg. He's still sixth but struggling to shake the Lotus of Maldonado. |
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Lap 14 |
Hamilton posts a fastest lap as the three men behind him do their personal bests of the day. Hamilton's lap time a 1:18.331. His lead is three seconds. We see Massa easing past Ricciardo on the back straight - Mercedes power + DRS seems a bit unfair when the car in front has a Renault engine. |
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Lap 15 |
Raikkonen hanging on to Rosberg's lap times currently but you can't help but feel Mercedes has more in the tank. Bottas tells Williams he has between 15 and 20 laps left on his current set of tyres. Amazing they can be so specific with that feedback. |
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Lap 16 |
Massa uses the DRS to dispatch Perez into the final chicane. No repeat of their collision last year. Massa now up to ninth, he's lapping quicker than the next four cars up the road. |
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Lap 17 |
Hamilton posts a fastest lap again, a 1:18.051. The world champion looks pretty comfortable out there as he starts the 18th lap of the day. The closest gaps out there are between Hulkenberg and Maldonado (battle for sixth, 0.7s) and Alonso and Verstappen (battle for 14th, 0.9s). Massa started on the soft tyre so he'll be very handy later on with the supersoft tyre. |
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Lap 18 |
Maldonado the latest man to pit. Massa now reeling in Kvyat's Red Bull. McLaren already telling to Alonso to do some fuel saving, it seems. He's got Vettel all over his tail again. |
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Lap 19 |
Massa was unable to get past Kvyat on that lap but he's even closer this time around, the gap just over two tenths. Verstappen has Alonso and Vettel right up behind him, though Vettel gets a little wide through Turn 6 and I think touches the grass. DRS opens for Vettel and he accelerates alongside Alonso but the Spaniard is having none of it, holding firm through the final chicane and forcing the German across the sausage kerb. |
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Lap 20 |
"OK, touch the front right corner, I touched with Alonso," reports Vettel. Massa has passed Kvyat for seventh. Vettel tries it again with the DRS and Alonso again closes the door through the final chicane. He eventually has to yield through Turn 1 and finally Vettel is released into 15th. |
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Lap 21 |
Out in front, Hamilton leads by 3.6s. Rosberg has pulled out 5.6s on Raikkonen, who is 4.1s ahead of Bottas. There is then a ten second gap to Grosjean in fifth. Raikkonen starting to complain about his front left. Time for another Ferrari pit stop? Could be forced into a two-stopper... |
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Lap 22 |
Vettel passes Verstappen on the inside as they approach the chicane, again with the help of DRS. That puts him back up to 14th. Hamilton laps Button's McLaren, 23 laps into this race. That would have been painful for the 2009 world champion. Replays show Maldonado passing Ericsson around the outside on the entry to Turn 1. Tidy move. |
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Lap 23 |
Vettel gets past the other Toro Rosso of Sainz, he's flying through the field and is getting closer and closer to the top ten. A shot from Alonso v Vettel earlier:
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Lap 24 |
Amazing to see the overhead shot of Vettel easing past Ericsson with DRS. Ricciardo pits for soft tyres. Alonso still being told to fuel at McLaren, he doesn't sound happy about it: "I don't want, I don't want!" Alonso starting to sound frustrated and who can blame him - no performance, no reliability, and now he needs to save fuel. He is basically asking McLaren to let him go and race. |
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Lap 25 |
Earlier on, Button told McLaren "You won't believe how early I'm lifting off." Honda's problems getting more and more magnified at every race. Perez pits for soft tyres and re-joins ahead of Ricciardo in 15th. Seemed to be a slow exit from the pit lane itself for the Mexican driver. Hulkenberg still doing a mighty job in the other Force India, he's sixth. |
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Lap 26 |
Vettel now scything up behind Maldonado. Vettel significantly faster - by nearly a second - despite both having the same tyre. I wouldn't be surprised to see this race end Mercedes - Mercedes - Ferrari - Ferrari at this rate. |
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Lap 27 |
Raikkonen pits from third. "We are looking like amateurs!" Alonso complains to McLaren. Oh dear. Rosberg told to push hard now that Raikkonen has pitted. He had five seconds in hand before the Finn's stop. Big spin for Raikkonen at the hairpin! He gets his car pointed the right way and fends off the Manor of Stevens as he tries to un lap himself. That could change the complexion of the podium battle. |
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Lap 28 |
"That's exactly the same as what happened last year!" says an exacerbated Raikkonen. I remember the incident he was talking about - a sudden surge or power coming out of a slow corner. A problem he's struggled with throughout this V6 turbo era. Great shot of a Ferrari mechanic watching that moment with an arm outstretched. |
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Lap 29 |
Rosberg posts a mighty 1:17.970. Mercedes on a different planet at the moment. Bottas pits from third, slow left rear but he gets out comfortably ahead of Raikkonen and that will have been thanks to the spin at thelast lap. Meanwhile, Vettel is scrapping with Maldonado through Turn 1 but can't find a way by. |
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Lap 30 |
Hamilton pits from the lead. Very smooth stop from Mercedes - 2.8s in the box. The advantage was so big he has come out ahead of Bottas in third. Replays show Rosberg locking the right front and running deep at the hairpin. Vettel passes Maldonado at Turn 2, that's seventh place. |
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Lap 31 |
Rosberg pits from second and feeds back out behind Hamilton - that's not a huge gap. Replays show Vettel passing Maldonado at the final chicane, not Turn 2. He passed him down the inside and Maldonado had to bail out across the run-off area. Seeing replays of Hamilton locking up coming into the hairpin, not a good way to treat those new soft tyres. |
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Lap 32 |
Hamilton's lead now only 2.3s. The race for victory far from over. In third, Bottas posts a personal best lap - he's two seconds ahead of fellow Finn Raikkonen. No podium for Williams since the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year. Alonso pits for some new tyres. Make sure no-one waves a red flag in front of the Spaniard's face, he's been absolutely laying into McLaren on his radio so far this afternoon. |
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Lap 33 |
Rosberg really, really flying. Has Hamilton done damage to his front right from the lock up? Kvyat flies past Verstappen at the final chicane, tidy move for 10th. |
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Lap 34 |
The gap now just 1.1s. Rosberg on the verge of DRS range now. Yet to hear any radio from Hamilton but he responds with a personal best first sector.
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Lap 35 |
Hamilton responds with a lap two tenths quicker than Rosberg, opening up a 1.5s cushion. Seems Hamilton is turning on those tyres finally. Vettel 0.5s down on Grosjean, with Massa another half second up the road. If he gets past both these drivers he'll be fifth but you have to think he'll stop again considering how early he came in. |
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Lap 36 |
Grosjean dives down the inside of Massa into the final chicane. Vettel does pit for soft tyres. He's come out behind Hulkenberg and ahead of Kvyat. |
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Lap 37 |
Normality being restored out in front, Hamilton leads by 1.8s. Replays show a groundhog scampering across the track as Massa approached. Bill Murray nowhere to be seen. |
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Lap 38 |
Hamilton has stretched the gap out to 2.3s. Rosberg being warned about "critical" brake wear. Dejavu from last year? Massa pits for supersofts. He'll be very pacey on those. He gets out just ahead of Kvyat. "Vettel doesn't have to stop again," Force India tells Hulkenberg. In other words, don't let him past. |
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Lap 39 |
Another slow stop for Williams, seemed like there was another problem at the back of the car. This is shaping up nicely for a Vettel/Massa ding dong later on. "Massa on option ahead, that's a long way for him to go," Red Bull tells Kvyat as Ricciardo gets very, very close to his team-mate and has to bail out across the final chicane. Replays show how close the Red Bulls were to making contact. Ricciardo doing well to get out of the way. |
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Lap 40 |
The gap out in front has come down again, Rosberg within two seconds of Hamilton. Hamilton being asked to do a bit of fuel saving through lift-and-coast. Eugh. Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda looking a bit grim in the Mercedes garage - but that's not unusual for a pair of Austrians. |
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Lap 41 |
Raikkonen pits for the second time this afternoon. Supersofts go onto his car. He'll emerge well ahead of Grosjean. Looked like Raikkonen really overshot his pit box, he's not doing himself any favours today. "Ok Lewis, Nico a little bit safer on fuel but a little bit more critical on brakes." Not difficult to see why people are being put off F1. Save fuel, save brakes. |
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Lap 42 |
Vettel doesn't have the straightline speed to out-drag the Force India of Hulkenberg, even with DRS, but he's right up behind his compatriot coming through Turn 2. |
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Lap 43 |
Vettel much closer to Hulkenberg this time around but can't get close enough in either DRS zone. This isn't doing Vettel any favours, Massa is getting closer and closer |
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Lap 44 |
Contact between Vettel and Hulkenberg at the final corner! Hulkenberg takes the long way around to go through the bollard. Hulkenberg struggling for grip, will be interesting to see replays. "Where is Hulkenberg, I did not touch him, I did not touch him," says Vettel. Ferrari tells him he spun. The replay shows the four-time world champion is correct. Looks like he spun as he went over the first kerb. Vettel had to bail across the sausage kerbs. |
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Lap 45 |
That's cost Hulkenberg two places as Massa also got by. Kvyat coming up fast too. Hulkenberg tells Force India he had no choice but to bail out otherwise they would have made contact. |
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Lap 46 |
Rosberg just a second behind Hamilton. "You've done a really good job with brakes there," says Rosberg. He's told to keep doing the same so he has "margin to attack" at the end of the race. Game on? |
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Lap 47 |
Retirement for Alonso! He comes on the radio to complain about a lack of power. What an awful weekend in Montreal for McLaren and is this the weekend Alonso finally lost his patience? His radio messages earlier were not those of a man happy with the progress being made. |
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Lap 48 |
Rosberg moving out of Hamilton's slip stream as they come down the pit straight, part of the procedure he's going through to keep his brakes cool. Button told there's no reason Alonso's retirement should impact him. He's still in 17th. How I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that debrief later tonight. |
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Lap 49 |
The FIA confirms its taken no further action for the incident between Vettel and Hulkenberg. Makes sense.
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Lap 50 |
Replays of Rosberg going in a bit hot at the hairpin, though he won't have lost too much time.
That's a good explanation for why Rosberg keeps moving out of Hamilton's slipstream, something I explained earlier. Grosjean pits from fifth. Looks like the Lotus mechanics weren't ready for him - there's a Manor in there too. Contact between those two? Replay shows Grosjean clumsily overtaking Stevens (lapping him) but turning in too early. Puncture to the left rear and he went straight from the run-off area into the pit lane. "He hit me, he hit me!" complains Grosjean. |
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Lap 51 |
Ironic to see a flash of 2012 Grosjean after the comments he made about Verstappen on Thursday. Can't see what else Stevens could have done. "He cuts across me every time he passes me. What does he want me to do, go off the track?" says Stevens. Hard not to agree with the Manor driver, he didn't do anything wrong there. The incident is being investigated, the stewards confirm. |
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Lap 52 |
Five-second penalty for Grosjean, which will be added on to his time at the end of the race. He's emerged behind Perez in 11th. Rosberg turns out his best lap of the race, a 1:17.803. The gap back around the one-second mark. |
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Lap 53 |
All of that has promoted Maldonado to fifth. Vettel just 3.4s down the road, though. |
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Lap 54 |
Hamilton responds with a personal best of his own, a 1:17.651. Unless Rosberg has a lot more up his sleeve, Hamilton looks comfortable out in front.
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Lap 55 |
What a difference a year makes. Ricciardo has just been passed for 12th by Sainz. The Australian has not sounded happy with things at Red Bull this season and today will hardly help his current mood. Grosjean reeling in Perez as he eyes a point. He'll need to gain a five-second advantage as well with that penalty hanging over his head. |
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Lap 56 |
"At this rate Raikkonen will catch us just after the race," says Williams to Bottas. He looks good for his first podium of the season. Grosjean has a look down the inside of Perez but decides against a move. Vettel right up behind Maldonado down the back straight and he eases past the Lotus man on the run down to the final chicane. He's now fifth, just one place behind Raikkonen. Great drive from the Ferrari but it shows you the speed they have at their disposal. |
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Lap 57 |
"Kimi in front of you, racing Kimi," Vettel says. He's 12.8s down, so he needs to gain a second a lap on the Finn. Hamilton has restored 1.5s out in front. Button has been told to save more fuel in the McLaren-Honda. |
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Lap 58 |
And now Button is told to retire the car! After the "high" of scoring a point in Canada, this weekend has been an unmitigated low for McLaren-Honda. Lots of questions to be posed to the Japanese outfit after this weekend. |
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Lap 59 |
"I suggest we introduce a little bit of lift and cost," Peter Bonnington tells Hamilton. He then tells him 50m should be enough. Looks like they want to give him some fuel in hand for Rosberg's attack late on. |
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Lap 60 |
Verstappen having a sniff at Ericsson but can't find a way past the Sauber at Turn 1. |
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Lap 61 |
We're riding on board with Verstappen on the FOM broadcast. He's still not close enough to make a move on Ericsson. Grosjean now right behind Kvyat in the battle for ninth. |
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Lap 62 |
Hamilton leads by 1.2s. If Rosberg wants to do anything, he needs to do it soon. Eight laps left. The Mercedes drivers just exchanging fast laps at the moment. |
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Lap 63 |
Merhi pulls in to the Manor box to retire.
Massa breezes past Maldonado for sixth. Maldonado on for his first points since the US Grand Prix last year and understandable didn't put up much of a fight. |
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Lap 64 |
Grosjean being told about his time penalty, he needs to pass Kvyat and then gain that buffer to keep the place. Personal best lap from Rosberg to narrow the gap out in front to 1.2s. |
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Lap 65 |
And Hamilton responds with a personal best of his own. They're keeping it moderately entertaining out in front, at least. Grosjean not able to find a way past Kvyat as of yet. "How is the other car on fuel," Rosberg says. "Nico I can't comment, I can't comment," comes the response from Mike Ross.
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Lap 66 |
And the gap is back to two seconds out in front. Unless Bottas loses 6.7s in the next four laps, he's about to score his first podium of the season. Hulkenberg still churning out the personal best laps, he's currently 8th. |
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Lap 67 |
That's all she wrote folks, it would seem. Rosberg now 3.4s down on Hamilton. |
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Lap 68 |
Replays show Hamilton still locking up heavily at the hairpin, though I think that was from a lap or two ago. Hamilton two laps away from moving 17 points clear of his team-mate. |
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Lap 69 |
"So we need 100 metres lift and cost," Hamilton told now. He asks why he still needs to be saving fuel and he's told it's because he's extended the gap. "Lift and coast" the story of this race for a number of drivers. Niki Lauda blowing kisses to Toto Wolff as the cameras returns to the Mercedes garage. They'll have plenty more to laugh about in about two minutes - another one-two. |
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Lap 70 |
Lewis Hamilton wins the Canadian Grand Prix for the fourth time in his career. Rosberg comes home second. Bottas third for Williams - a well-earned podium for the Grove team. The Ferrari's finish fourth and fifth, though what could Raikkonen have done without that spin at the hairpin? We've got a Sauber stopped at Turn 1. He'll be classified 14th despite finishing a lap down. |
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"Thank you very much, good lad," Rob Smedley tells Bottas. Ferrari, take note. There's no clattering of the #1 sign this time as Hamilton pulls into parc ferme. He claps as he climbs from the cockpit. Unfortunately my pre-race prediction of a dull Canadian GP came true. Dominant display from Mercedes, it's hard to see the narrative changing in Austria or Great Britain. Rosberg looks happy despite finishing second. He congratulates Hamilton on victory, he probably realises second was the maximum today. He's still the main challenger for the title this year. Alll smiles on the podium for Hamilton as he celebrates victory number four of the season. He is on an absolute roll and it's hard to see this rich vein of form ending any time soon. |
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