Three-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton made it back-to-back victories in Canada over the weekend.
Hamilton’s fifth victory in Montreal, a feat only bettered by Michael Schumacher’s seven wins, came on the back of his victory at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Much like the victory at Monte Carlo it needed a bit of luck with his team-mate and needed a great tyre strategy to beat the opposition.
But once again it came together for the reigning Formula One World Champion.
‘I had another really bad start, I’m not quite sure why, I think probably I overheated my clutch. Sebastian [Vettel] and Nico [Rosberg] got quite a good run down to Turn One, tyres are cold, big understeer, and I feel very grateful that me and Nico didn’t damage anything on our cars. And otherwise it was just trying to chase this guy [Vettel] down. He was so quick out there. The car felt fantastic and it was set up just right with great work from the engineers and mechanics. Hamilton told formula1.com.
The start saw the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel take the lead down the inside of turn one, whilst Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg attempted to go around the outside of the first turn.
Hamilton, understeer and all, kept the racing line and the two Merc’s clashed wheels.
Rosberg took to the grass to be swamped by the pack, eventually finding himself in tenth place, whilst Hamilton maintained second place.
Ferrari’s upgraded turbo engine appeared to give Sebastian Vettel a level playing field to compete with Hamilton and it wasn’t until the first pit-stop that the race began to unfold.
Vettel opting for a two stop, with Hamilton sticking to a one stop.
Vettel was the quicker of the two, but a couple of mistakes enabled Hamilton to maintain a five second buffer until the end of the Grand Prix.
‘There’s a long, long way to go [in the championship]. These guys are getting faster and faster at Ferrari and Red Bull, so collectively as a team we’re just going to keep our heads down and keep pushing.
On the tyre strategy Hamilton added: ‘The team obviously told us what the tyres could do, how far they would go. I wasn’t really sure how far the ultrasoft would go. I had already seen graining earlier when I was behind Sebastian. So I was a little bit nervous about it, but it seemed to last, which was great. I could have kept going on the ultrasoft, which was interesting; I had a good pace. Then we swapped. It was a long stint on the information we got before that that tyre could last quite a long time and it was just a beauty. I didn’t have to push too much on the tyre at the beginning, just looking after them, but very conscious that this guy [Vettel] behind was pushing. I was really enjoying the race with him, you know, just battling times here and there. He was so quick and it’s great to see how quick they are and they are really giving us a run for our money, and I just happened to be on a one stop.
Hamilton is keeping his head down and pushing
