Categories: FeatureFeatures

Canadian Grand Prix review

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Lewis Hamilton bounced back from his Monaco disappointment with his fourth Canadian Grand Prix victory as Ferrari failed to make its expected step in performance. F1i looks back at how the race weekend unfolded and opens itself up to future ridicule by checking just how accurate its podium prediction was…

The race in 100 words

Starting from pole, Hamilton led in to Turn 1 and had the pace to respond whenever team-mate Nico Rosberg threatened. Rosberg was often a second behind his team-mate but never within DRS range, and was unable to mount a serious attack. Kimi Raikkonen spun after his pit stop to hand third place to Valtteri Bottas as Williams displayed strong pace, with Felipe Massa following Sebastian Vettel in climbing through the field - Vettel coming home fifth behind his team-mate. Red Bull and McLaren had weekends to forget, with the latter failing to get either car to the finish.

Driver of the weekend

Valtteri Bottas gets the nod this week after what Rob Smedley described as a “flawless” drive to third place. Bottas got the most out of his Williams in qualifying to put himself on the second row and was keeping Raikkonen honest before his fellow Finn spun at the hairpin straight after a pit stop. Once in third place, Bottas never looked troubled and delivered Williams with its first podium of the season, one race earlier than in 2014.

Move of the race

The other Williams driver claims this accolade after some really impressive driving from both Felipe Massa and Marcus Ericsson. As in all good moves, two willing participants were required and Massa was given room when he attacked around the outside of Turn 1. Ericsson wouldn't give up the place easy, however, and Massa was fighting oversteer through Turn 2 as the Sauber edged back ahead around the outside. Eventually Massa completed the move in to Turn 3 on his way up to sixth place.

Prediction accuracy

Podium: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Valtteri Bottas

F1i’s pre-race prediction: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Sebastian Vettel, 3. Kimi Raikkonen

Weekend recap

Friday

Hamilton crashes after setting fastest time

Gallery

Saturday

Hamilton takes Canada pole as Vettel hits trouble

Gallery

Sunday

Hamilton holds off Rosberg to win in Canada

Gallery

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.