Mercedes drivers set the standard heading to Azerbaijan GP

Lewis Hamilton is to the Canadian Grand Prix what Rafael Nadal is to the French Open, or so it seems after the Briton executed a scintillating drive to win his sixth race in Montreal and third in a row.

Hamilton has a great start to thank for winning the eventful race on Sunday which came exactly 10 years after his first ever pole and victory on the same track.

It was Sebastian Vettel’s turn to experience a fairly bad start which saw the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Mercedes of Valterri Bottas get the upper hand seconds into the race.

Verstappen left evidence of the pass when he clipped the right front wing of the Ferrari as he swept past. This led Vettel to pit early in the race for a change of the nose and on re-joining the track in 18th position, he had fallen close to half a minute behind Hamilton, the race leader.

Verstappen’s lightning start held the promise of an unpredictable race, coming in to disrupt the rhythm of the Mercs and the Ferraris, but all the bravado involved in taking him from fifth to second by the first turn was nullified when he retired on the eleventh lap.

By the 17th lap, the difference between championship leader, Vettel and race leader, Hamilton, was 37 seconds, giving Hamilton a sound mental cushion to focus on the clear road ahead without pressure that the Ferraris were lurking by.

Further back, Vettel began hauling in the second half of the field, taking some time to overtake Canadian Lance Stroll.

Vettel had the disadvantage of having his use of DRS negated by Stroll having the same available for him to overtake, but it was only a matter of time before the Ferrari made the better of the Williams. Stroll, in his home grand prix, was having the race of his life.

Early stops for Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez meant that by the 30th lap, Force India’s Esteban Ocon was second behind Hamilton, though the race leader was out on his own.

Ocon pitted on the 32nd lap after keeping Bottas at bay and unlike Raikkonen who needed to pit again, he could race to the end.

Perez in fourth position was doing a good job of hunting down Ricciardo ahead of him.

With Ocon’s tyres being 13-laps fresher than those for Perez, Force India wanted Perez to let Ocon pass in order to gun for a podium position.

Despite about a third of the race left and with Force India indicating to Perez that they would switch back positions if Ocon was unable to overtake Ricciardo, the Mexican had other ideas.

He maintained his position. All the while, Ricciardo was able to keep his pace which meant that though Ocon gained on Perez, the Force India’s were not close enough to overtake the Red Bull.

As Force India’s team orders were being flouted, the Ferraris were closing in on them. Vettel overtook his teammate when he ran wide at a turn on the 60th lap, eliminating a potentially explosive predicament of futile team orders and abundant tension.

The ‘squabble’ between Ocon and Perez gave Vettel the opportunity to pass Ocon and soon after, Perez.

Overtaking Ricciardo was however asking for too much and the Australian finished third.

McLaren Honda yet again ‘gifted’ double world champion Fernando Alonso with another engine failure two laps from the finish which saw the Spaniard take to the stands as adoring fans commiserated with him.

In Canada, Hamilton equalled Ayrton Senna’s record of 65 pole positions, made the fastest lap, led in every lap, won the race and cut Vettel’s lead by 13 points to 12, capping a perfect weekend for the Brit.

With Bottas finishing second, the Mercs set themselves apart, fomenting a gripe that Ferrari will want to settle in Azerbaijan.