Sebastian Vettel has delivered a first Canadian Grand Prix win for Ferrari in 14 years to snatch the lead in the Formula One world championship.
Vettel claimed his 50th career victory largely untroubled from pole position on Sunday with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen following him onto the podium in Montreal.
Previous standings leader Lewis Hamilton struggled all day in his Mercedes and had to settle for fifth, behind Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull.
Vettel now has 121 points after seven season races with Hamilton on 120 and Bottas 86. The French Grand Prix is next on the calendar on June 24.
“To have a race like we had today is unbelievable,” Vettel said in his first television interview. “After a long stretch without a win here, we’re all happy.
“Everybody will have a blast tonight. [But] there’s still a long way to go [in the championship].”
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has been kind to Hamilton in the past but starting from fourth, he never looked like challenging for a record-equalling seventh win in Canada.
Instead it was Vettel who dominated from the start, pulling away from Bottas and Verstappen who narrowly avoided a clash on the first lap.
“A good race,” Verstappen said. “We had to pit early as the hypersofts were pretty much gone but we had good pace on the supersofts. In the last few laps, we were really competitive.”
Home favourite Lance Stroll was not so lucky as his Williams seemed to block out the Toro Rosso of New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley, who rebounded off the wall into the Canadian to end both their races and bring out the safety car.
Both Red Bulls were on the quicker hypersoft tyres from the start, with Ferrari and Mercedes on ultras, but could not make their rubber advantage count.
Ricciardo passed Hamilton having pitted better on lap 18 and when Vettel finally pitted from the front after lap 37, he returned to lead Bottas by 5.7 seconds with the Finn having dived in just before.
Though the gap narrowed, Bottas made a needless 56th-lap error by clipping the curb on turn one to end his slim chances and Vettel had no problem in seeing out the rest of the 70-lap contest to take victory.
It was a first Ferrari win in Canada since Michael Schumacher’s victory in 2004.
