Lewis took his 45th career victory today - his fifth at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and second of the 2016 season so far. Nico recovered to P5 after an eventful race which saw him take to the grass at the first corner and pick up a puncture in the closing stages.
Nico (116) leads the Drivers' Championship by nine points from Lewis (107) in P2. Mercedes AMG Petronas (223) lead Ferrari (147) by 76 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: That was a fantastic, action-packed race like we expect in Montreal - and a sensational drive from Lewis to take the win. As we went into today's race, it wasn't clear whether one stop or two stops would be the way to go in the cold conditions and depending on how the tyres warmed up. But when Sebastian stopped behind the VSC, then it was clear that making just one stop was our best chance of winning - and then it was up to Lewis to keep the tyres alive, stretch the stints and do the pace we needed. He did a brilliant job of that and, when we could see from other cars on older soft tyres that they were holding on well, it was clear that the win was really on. As for Nico, his day was defined by Turn One and the fight-back from there. Lewis reported on the radio that he had understeer and cold front tyres going into the corner - and there was some risk for Nico to be running on the outside line. It was a hard move and clearly you don't want or expect to come out of Turn 2 with cars in 2nd and 9th positions when you start from the front row; but to be honest, these discussions after each race give me a feeling a little bit of deja vu. After that, Nico got his head down and did a fantastic job; he was on course for the podium before he suffered a slow puncture, which meant we brought him in for a second stop, then he was managing the car and also marginal on fuel, so he couldn't attack every lap. He had a great battle with Verstappen, who was defending very well, then lost the car under braking into the final chicane, fighting hard for every point. From the team's perspective, a number of factors meant we didn't take a double podium, though we did score the most points of any team today. But the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull showed that the competition is right there with us - and we need to get everything right in order to maintain our position at the front.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): An eventful and entertaining race from start to finish. It was far from the perfect start, of course. We knew it was going to be tricky with such cold conditions, as it's difficult enough to warm the tyres up at this circuit even on a hot day. Sebastian, however, had an outstanding start, coming straight past both of our drivers well before they ran out of road at turn two. From there, it was very much a recovery drive for us. We opted to put both cars on a one stop strategy once both Ferraris appeared to have committed very early to a two stop. This worked well and played a big part in the victory for Lewis. For Nico, however, a late puncture forced a second stop. It looks like he also collected some debris in one of his radiators, as he had overheating throughout the race. While this may not necessarily have affected his performance, it would have been quite a big distraction to manage. A podium was a possibility for him today - but unfortunately it didn't work out. Our congratulations to Lewis for yet another Canadian grand prix victory - and also to the team in the garage and on the pit wall, who were flawless in their pit stops and strategy calls.
Maurizio Arrivabene: Today, Sebastian had a stunning start and a great race, showing that this cars has muscle. Kimi suffered perhaps a bit too much when he was on fuel saving mode, losing temperature in his tires in the process and struggling to recover. As far as race strategies are concerned, we tried to take advantage of the Virtual Safety car period, which lasted way less than expected. It could have proved a very good move, taking into account the predicted rate of degradation on the Ultrasoft tires: but this degradation did not materialize in the end. Nevertheless, I am happy for Seb's second place in the race, mostly on account of the committment from the whole team after Monaco. Now we must keep working with humility but even more determination, and finally aim for wins.
Valtteri Bottas claimed the team's first podium of the season, finishing third in today's Canadian Grand Prix. Felipe Massa was forced to retire following a water system issue that caused his power unit to overheat on lap 36. Valtteri had a good start and managed to gain a position as a result of Rosberg going straight on at Turn 1. He made his only pitstop of the race on lap 23. Following his stop he was able to pass Ricciardo for fourth making his strategy work to move into third after Vesptappen stopped on lap 46.
Felipe was running seventh before his only pitstop of the race on lap 22. He was managing his tyres well before being forced to retire. The team collected 15 points to extend the gap to fifth-placed Force India to 39 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: I think that was a really good race for us with a well-deserved podium. As we expected, the pace of the car in these conditions was good. We gave away very little to the frontrunners and we beat Red Bull on track, which is really positive. The strategy was absolutely spot on. When other teams were doing two stops, we held our nerve and stuck with our one-stop strategy as planned, and it all worked out very well for us. Valtteri drove a great race and the two pitstops that the pit crew did were really great as well. There's a bitter aftertaste with the fact that we could have had both cars up there. Felipe would have finished anywhere from fourth to sixth so that's a lot of points we've lost there with the water system issue that caused the temperatures to rise. We went through a series of counter measures to try and get round it, but none of them worked. We therefore had to take the decision to retire the car because the power unit is right at the start of its life. Overall I think it's a really positive result for the team. We've extended the gap to the people behind us, and even with one car out of the points we've lost very little to third place. We've got lots of good races coming up now; Azerbaijan, Austria, Silverstone, they're all positive races. We have to look forward now and keep this momentum going.
Christian Horner, Team Principal: "I think the cool conditions in today's race were a key factor. Max drove a strong race, defending vigorously at the end against Rosberg to claim fourth place. Unfortunately we just didn't quite have the range on the tyres today to be able to do a one-stop, so the two-stop was the strategy that we had to adopt. Daniel dropped a place at the start and then was running in tandem with Max before the virtual safety car. After the restart he pitted for the soft tyre being one of the first to pit. Unfortunately a big lock-up a few laps later flat-spotted that tyre, necessitating another stop dropping him behind Kimi and unfortunately we couldn't find a way past in the remaining laps. Overall a respectable performance at this kind of circuit and I look forward to the new track in one week's time."
Both Sahara Force India cars finished inside the top ten today with Nico Hulkenberg racing to eighth place ahead of Sergio Perez in tenth.
Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: "To come away from Montreal with another double points finish is a very good effort which consolidates our fifth place in the championship. We started the race hoping we could pull off a one-stop strategy with both cars, but with lots of tyre graining and high wear rates we opted to switch to a two-stop race. Most of the cars around us did the same, so it was the sensible course of action to cover our bases. Nico's race was pretty non-eventful and he did well in the opening few laps to recover the ground he lost when he bogged down at the start. Sergio's race was compromised by the slow warm-up of the soft tyres, which dropped him behind both McLarens and cost him quite a bit of time. To recover and score the final point was a good effort. After the chilly conditions of Montreal, we look forward to the weather that awaits us in Baku next week."
Renault Sport Formula One Team contested a hard-fought Canadian Grand Prix with Kevin Magnussen finishing in sixteenth and Jolyon Palmer retiring due to a water leak. Kevin started from last position following yesterday's liaison with the wall and ran to a one-stop strategy. Jolyon made a promising start however loss of water pressure meant the team had to retire the car with 16 laps completed.
Kevin started the race in P22 as one of only two runners starting on Pirelli's yellow soft tyres. He changed to the purple ultrasoft tyres on lap 39. Jolyon started the race in P16 on ultrasoft tyres. He retired from the race on lap 17 due to a water leak.
Fred Vasseur, Racing Director: "Another weekend where all the team have all worked hard and progress has been made however it is not represented in the results. Jolyon has been much happier with his car this weekend and had decent potential in the race. It's a great shame we had to retire him so early and we are investigating the cause of the water pressure loss. Kevin had it all to do from the back of the grid so delivered solidly given the circumstances. The cold conditions in Canada certainly haven't suited us. Baku will be far hotter so we're hoping for a much needed change of fortunes."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "If we take into consideration where we started, to finish today's race within the points is a great result. The team and the drivers did a really good job. Carlos drove a fantastic race. He overtook a few of his rivals during the first lap and thanks to a very good strategy and fast pit-stops, he was able to gain a total of 11 positions, scoring two valuable points for the team. On the other hand, Daniil suffered a little bit on the Ultrasoft in the last stint, but taking into account that this is a fast circuit that doesn't suit our car that well, we showed quite a good performance in general. The car was fast, the tyres worked well and we are now looking forward to the new track in Azerbaijan."
The Sauber F1 Team ended the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in P15 (Marcus Ericsson) and P18 (Felipe Nasr). Ericsson and Nasr started from P21 and P18, however, the race for the Brazilian was already compromised on the first lap after a collision with a Renault. The floor of Nasr's Sauber C35-Ferrari was damaged. Now the Swiss Team travels to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where the European Grand Prix will take place next weekend.
Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: "Starting from these positions is always difficult. Therefore, it was even more important for the team and the drivers to stay focused without making any mistakes. Marcus put in a good performance. It was tough for Felipe after the collision with a Renault."
After several races that have demonstrated steadily building momentum, this afternoon's grand prix was a disappointing one for the whole McLaren-Honda team.
Fernando Alonso capitalised on the first-corner confusion to move swiftly up to eighth place, but he was soon overwhelmed by the faster cars behind him, who demoted him to 10th in short order. He switched from the Option tyre to the Back-Up tyre on lap 17, and took it to the end of the race - a commendable achievement. He ultimately finished 11th.
Jenson Button retired on lap nine while running in 11th position. The team is still investigating the cause of his retirement.
Eric Boullier, Racing Director: "Bluntly, today was a day to forget. Having qualified adequately yesterday, both our drivers started this afternoon's race well enough, and they both ran pretty solidly in the early stages.
"After just nine laps, however, Jenson was forced to retire his car, owing to a fault whose exact nature we're still in the process of determining.
"Thereafter, Fernando did as well as he could, but, in the absence of the rain that we'd half-expected might come, he was unable to finish higher than 11th.
"Clearly, the fact that we're therefore leaving Canada with no world championship points to add to our tally is disappointing.
"However, one of the upsides of such setbacks is that, in Formula 1, there's always another race just around the corner - in this case just a few days away in fact.
"Already, therefore, we've turned our attention to the challenge of a brand-new circuit, in Baku, where we hope to put up a better show than we did here in Montreal today.
"Finally, on behalf of all at McLaren-Honda, I want to extend our heartfelt sympathies to all those affected, and grieving, in the wake of the appalling atrocity that occurred in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of this morning."
Yusuke Hasegawa, Honda R&D Co Ltd Head of F1 Project & Executive Chief Engineer: "It was a disappointing result to miss out on points today, although Fernando had put in a strategic, very long stint on Back-Up tyres to mix up the race.
"The power-hungry nature of this circuit means that it was always going to be difficult for us to finish in the points unless there were more lucky opportunities on track. We'll further push to improve our race pace performance going forward.
"At the moment, our ICE data on Jenson's car isn't showing any signs of issues, so his retirement cause is unknown. We'll investigate this once the car is back in the garage."
Dave Ryan, Racing Director: "We expected to be able to race the Saubers today and that was indeed the case, albeit we made life difficult for Pascal by picking up a small bit of damage to the floor when he arrived at the grid. That cost him quite a bit of lap time so holding off Ericsson for as long as he did - until his second and final pit stop - was all the more pleasing. He got the advantage over Nasr, which was good, but not keeping both behind was a bit of a missed opportunity today because it certainly looked within our grasp. With Rio we also let him down a little with a slow first stop, which set him back and without that he could have finished ahead of Nasr. Although all of that is disappointing, on the positive side we're pleased to see an improvement relative to Sauber."
Haas F1 Team drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean finished 13th and 14th, respectively, in the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
Both went into the 70-lap race around the 4.361-kilometer (2.710-mile), 14-turn circuit ready for a one-stop strategy, but the team was also ready to adapt and move to a two-stop strategy if circumstances warranted. Turns out, they did.
Each driver picked up a position before the race even began, as Toro Rosso's Daniil Kyvat, who qualified 13th on Saturday in front of Gutierrez and Grosjean, served a three-place grid penalty stemming from the previous Monaco Grand Prix. With Kyvat dropping to 16th, Gutierrez and Grosjean moved up to 13th and 14th, respectively.
From the drop of the green flag, grip was at a premium throughout the Canadian Grand Prix, as the air temperature was a consistent and cool 12 degrees Celsius (54 degrees Fahrenheit). Both Gutierrez and Grosjean started the race on the Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tire with the intent to go 19 laps before pitting for a new set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft tires that would take them to the finish. But after judging lap times and tire wear as the race came upon lap 10, it became clear a two-stop strategy was necessary.
Gutierrez was first in on lap 13, followed by Grosjean on lap 17. Both drivers hung right outside the top-10 until their second round of pit stops. Grosjean opened the second round, pitting on lap 39 for a used set of Purple ultrasofts. Gutierrez did the same on lap 41. After all of the pit stops had cycled through, Grosjean was 13th and Gutierrez was 14th.
Grosjean, however, had to pit one final time on lap 46 due to a broken front wing, which finally succumbed to damage sustained on the opening lap. With a new nose and another set of used ultrasofts, Grosjean returned to the race, one spot behind his teammate in 14th. Twenty-four laps later, the checkered flag dropped, with Gutierrez and Grosjean in the same spots, 13th and 14th, respectively.
After seven of 21 races, Haas F1 Team remains eighth in the constructor standings with 22 points, two points behind seventh-place McLaren and 16 points ahead of ninth-place Renault.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a little bit of a disappointing race for us. However, we finished with two cars, so that's certainly a positive. We tried hard and had a few challenges and ended up 13th and 14th. Some races things just don't go as smoothly as you'd hope they would. We struggled with tire management. We had to come in and change them, and then we ended up changing them again. We also had a problem with the front wing on Romain's car near the start. However, we're now focusing on the race next weekend at Baku."
The Canadian Grand Prix got underway in some of the coldest conditions seen recently during a race weekend, with track temperatures of just 20 degrees centigrade: putting the accent on tyre warm-up and management. There was a wide variety of one and two stop strategies, with polesitter Lewis Hamilton stopping just once in his Mercedes, but holding off the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, which stopped twice, having beaten Hamilton off the line to lead into the first corner.
Hamilton made his sole stop on lap 24, re-emerging in second place behind Vettel. Once Vettel made his second stop, he had a six-second deficit to try and make up to Hamilton in 33 laps, using soft tyres that were 13 laps younger than those on the Mercedes.
Despite the cold conditions, Nico Rosberg set the fastest lap of the race on the soft tyre, 10 laps from the end, lapping his Mercedes 1.4 seconds quicker than the 2015 fastest lap, which was set on supersoft.
Valtteri Bottas took the first podium of the season for Williams by using a similar strategy to Hamilton, while the remainder of the top 10 stopped twice, after starting on the ultrasoft - the fastest compound by around 0.6s per lap.
An alternative strategy was run by Force India's Sergio Perez, who started on the soft tyre and completed a long first stint of 31 laps before making his sole stop for supersofts. The most impressive climber was Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, who used a two-stop strategy (finishing the race on the rapid ultrasoft) to end up ninth, after starting 20th on the grid.
Paul Hembery: "Thanks to differing race strategies, we saw a grandstand finish, with the two-stopping Vettel closing in on the one-stopping Hamilton. Cool track temperatures made tyre management crucial, with some teams also switching strategies as it became clear that this might be quicker. Most drivers in fact stopped twice, compared to the one-stop race last year in Canada. Key to making a one-stopper work was looking after the tyres as effectively as possible, which Hamilton and Bottas both did brilliantly."
Truthometer
We predicted a one-stop strategy as being the best option for this race in the normal course of events, starting on ultrasoft and changing to soft on lap 25. Hamilton followed our pattern almost exactly as predicted, stopping on lap 24.
