Lewis Hamilton Wins Canadian Grand Prix
LEWIS HAMILTON cut Sebastian Vettel's lead at the top of the F1 World Drivers' Championship to 12 points as he won the Canadian Grand Prix for the fifth time.
Hamilton had the shortest run to Turn One of any track on the F1 season to defend his pole position from Vettel, but the Ferrari ended up looking backwards not forwards off the line.
Verstappen got a perfect launch from fifth on the grid and got round Kimi Raikkonen, taking Vettel round the outside but also took some of the Ferrari front wing with him.
It was deemed a racing incident but it left the championship leader limping and while he tried to stay out, he was forced to pit early that ended his chances of challenging for the win.
But the racing actually lasted just three corners after the start. Carlos Sainz moved over into the path of Romain Grosjean and the contact sent the Toro Rosso flying into Turn Three backwards, collecting Williams' Felipe Massa on the way through.
Both cars were out of the race and the safety car came out to neutralise the race and allow Verstappen to settle in second ahead of Bottas.
But disaster struck 10 laps later when the Dutchman's battery failed and he suffered a complete shutdown.
The youngster punched the air in frustration and with good reason after such a good start.
It promoted Bottas back up to second, a place he would only sacrifice briefly when he pitted and the Force India of Esteban Ocon stayed out longer on his first stint.
The pink cars of Ocon and Sergio Perez both showed excellent pace and found themselves able to race Daniel Ricciardo for third, both sitting just behind the Australian but also both aware that Raikkonen and Vettel were on their way up the road.
The team wanted to put Ocon ahead of Perez for him to try to overtake Riccardo but the former McLaren driver all but refused to do so with 15 laps to go.
Behind them, team-mates Vettel and Raikkonen appeared to have been allowed to race but a mistake by the Finn with 10 laps left allowed the championship leader through.
Things went from bad to worse for Raikkonen as his energy record system started to fail, costing him as much as seven seconds a lap.
Vettel meanwhile caught the train of Ricciardo, Perez and Ocon with seven laps left.
Eventually, the Ferrari and two Force Indias went three wide into Turn One and Ocon, who had got past Perez, was the big loser and Vettel moved up into fifth place.
And three laps later, the German got past Perez too into the final chicane albeit without enough time left in the race to catch the Red Bull of Ricciardo.
Canadian Grand Prix 2017 Top 10
1st Lewis Hamilton, 2nd Valtteri Bottas, 3rd Daniel Ricciardo, 4th Sebastian Vettel, 5th Sergio Perez, 6th Esteban Ocon, 7th Kimi Raikkonen, 8th Nico Hulkenberg, 9th Lance Stroll, 10th Romain Grosjean.
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