Starting in Row Two, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel got what is arguably the best start of the year so far at the beginning of a race, leaping past both Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix. But Vettel was unable to make the lead hold up for the entire race and eventually the defending Formula One champion Hamilton won the battle of the worn-down tires to beat Vettel by nearly eight seconds. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas claimed the third and final podium position.
Vettel started the race by jumping past the Mercedes of both Hamilton and Rosberg as if they were standing still and immediately opened up a big first lap lead before making a minor mistake on Turn 13 and giving back a second of his lead as a result. Hamilton and Rosberg briefly collided trying to keep up with Vettel, knocking Rosberg back a few spots. Still, Vettel’s good start allowed him to lead for the first 12 laps when Ferrari decided to bring him in for a tactical pit stop. The move allowed Hamilton to take the lead for the next 12 laps before he too came in for a pit stop and relinquished the lead to Vettel.
Vettel would lead for another 12 laps before pitting for the final time and ceding the lead to Hamilton who, as it turns out, would makes his tires last for the remainder of the race. Rosberg, meanwhile, having dropped back to 10th in the race start fracas with Hamilton, could only work his way back up to fifth by the end of the race. Three cars did not finish the race but only seven cars finished on the lead lap.
With the results, Rosberg leads the F1 standings with 116 points to 107 points for Hamilton and 78 points for Vettel.
The 2016 Formula One season continues with the European Grand Prix at Baku in Azerbaijan on June 19, 2015.
2016 Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – 70 laps – 190 miles
1 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari
3 Valtteri Bottas – Williams
4 Max Verstappen – Red Bull
5 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
6 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
7 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull
8 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso
10 Sergio Perez – Force India
11 Fernando Alonso – McLaren
12 Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso
13 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
14 Romain Grosjean – Haas
15 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
16 Kevin Magnussen – Renault
17 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
18 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
19 Rio Haryanto – Manor
20 Felipe Massa – Williams
21 Jolyon Palmer – Renault
22 Jenson Button – McLaren