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Canadian GP: Hamilton dominates, dramas for Vettel and Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton slashed Formula 1 rival Sebastian Vettel's championship lead with a dominant victory in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal.

Race winner Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz F1 W08  leads at the start of the race
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF70H pit stop
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB13 retires from the race
Jolyon Palmer, Renault Sport F1 Team RS17., passes Lance Stroll, Williams FW40
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W08, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB13, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG F1 W08, Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF70H, Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB13 and Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H at a restart
Marcus Ericsson, Sauber C36, brings up the rear of a midfield straggle at the start
Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari SF70H, Felipe Massa, Williams FW40, Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM10 and Esteban Ocon, Sahara Force India F1 VJM10

Hamilton led away from pole and remained unchallenged throughout the 70-lap race to cross the line 19.7 seconds clear of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium, with Vettel recovering to fourth place having dropped to last following contact at the start.

Max Verstappen made a lightening getaway from fifth, going around the outside of Vettel at the start to take second behind Hamilton.

But with Bottas simultaneously attacking Vettel on the inside, the latter found himself squeezed and damaged his front wing when he clipped Verstappen's left-rear.

The German continued but was later forced to pit when part of the wing broke off, dropping him to 18th and last.

The race had been neutralised on the opening lap, when the safety car was called into action following a collision between Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean.

Sainz appeared to move across on Grosjean, causing contact that pitched the former into a spin on the approach to Turn 3.

The out-of-control Toro Rosso collected an innocent Felipe Massa, with both being forced into retirement while Grosjean recovered to the pits for a new front wing.

Hamilton held off an attack from Verstappen at the safety car restart but that challenge ended when the Red Bull driver pulled off track at Turn 2.

Bottas inherited second, but did not have the pace to challenge his teammate in the first stint.

Both Mercedes chose a one-stop strategy, with the duo swapping the ultrasofts for the supersofts for the second stint.

Hamilton was able to control the pace at the front, gradually building a gap to his teammate to clinch his third win of the season and sixth in Canada.

He moved to within 13 points of championship leader Vettel with Mercedes achieving its first one-two of the season.

Ferrari decided to switch to a two-stop strategy, setting up a dramatic finish with Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel on fresh tyres.

Vettel passed Raikkonen when the latter went off at the chicane citing brake problems and then gave chase of the Force Indias.

Force India had asked Perez to move over for Ocon, who was running on a different strategy, but the Mexican asked the team to let them race.

It proved costly as Vettel dived down the inside of Ocon - who was baulked by Perez into the final chicane - into Turn 1, with the latter taking to the run-off.

Vettel pushed on after Perez, running off track briefly at Turns 8 and 9, and then making a pass stick at the final chicane for fourth.

Perez and Ocon finished fifth and sixth respectively, with Raikkonen nursing his Ferrari home in seventh.

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth while Lance Stroll scored the first points of his F1 career with ninth in front of his home crowd.

Fernando Alonso was set to complete the top 10 and gift McLaren-Honda its first point of 2017 but he retired on the penultimate lap.

That moved Romain Grosjean into the final point-paying position.

ClaDriverChassisEngineGap
1 united_kingdom Lewis Hamilton  Mercedes Mercedes 1:33'05.153
2 finland Valtteri Bottas  Mercedes Mercedes 19.783
3 australia Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull TAG 35.297
4 germany Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari Ferrari 35.907
5 mexico Sergio Perez  Force India Mercedes 40.476
6 france Esteban Ocon  Force India Mercedes 40.716
7 finland Kimi Raikkonen  Ferrari Ferrari 58.632
8 germany Nico Hulkenberg  Renault Renault 1'00.374
9 canada Lance Stroll  Williams Mercedes 1 lap
10 france Romain Grosjean  Haas Ferrari 1 lap
11 united_kingdom Jolyon Palmer  Renault Renault 1 lap
12 denmark Kevin Magnussen  Haas Ferrari 1 lap
13 sweden Marcus Ericsson  Sauber Ferrari 1 lap
14 belgium Stoffel Vandoorne  McLaren Honda 1 lap
15 germany Pascal Wehrlein  Sauber Ferrari 2 laps
16 spain Fernando Alonso  McLaren Honda  
  russia Daniil Kvyat  Toro Rosso Renault  
  netherlands Max Verstappen  Red Bull TAG  
  brazil Felipe Massa  Williams Mercedes  
  spain Carlos Sainz Jr.  Toro Rosso Renault  

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