Lewis Hamilton strolls to sixth Canadian Grand Prix victory as Sebastian Vettel salvages fourth

Lewis Hamilton eased to his sixth career victory at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday (11 June). The three-time world champion, who produced a blistering late lap in qualifying yesterday to equal idol Ayrton Senna with his 65th career pole, led from start to finish in Montreal and crossed the line ahead of Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes one-two.

Hamilton's third victory of the 2017 season after a performance to forget in Monaco saw him trim Sebastian Vettel's world championship lead to 12 points after his key title rival battled back to finish a difficult day in fourth.

"I had my first pole here, I had my first win here 10 years ago so to repeat it this weekend is incredibly special," Hamilton said afterwards. "I really have to thank my team for making this possible.

"The guys back at the factory have worked so hard to really fix what we had in the last race, bring it here and really give it to the Ferraris. I'm over the moon."

An entertaining race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve began in hectic fashion, with Max Verstappen jumping quickly from fifth to second and Vettel falling behind Bottas as Daniel Ricciardo also got in front of Kimi Raikkonen.

The safety car was deployed almost immediately after Carlos Sainz collided with Romain Grosjean and wiped out Felipe Massa before ploughing into the wall at turn three.

Verstappen quickly applied pressure to Hamilton after the restart, but saw his hopes of a podium finish dashed by a battery issue in the hybrid system of his RB13. The teenager appeared to completely lose power and pulled over to the side of the track for his third retirement of the season.

Ferrari began the weekend in fine shape, but endured plenty of issues as Vettel had to pit early on for a new front nose and rejoined the race in 18th. He also sustained a damage floor, while Raikkonen pitted twice and dealt with balance issues.

Vettel climbed back through the field up to sixth and began to apply pressure to the battling Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, who were trying to hunt down Ricciardo in third. He came out behind Raikkonen after his final stop but passed his teammate on lap 61 after the "The Ice Man", forced to settle for a distant seventh, went straight on at the final chicane.

Vettel quickly set about chasing down the pink duo ahead and he got the better of Ocon at turn one, coming down the inside and forcing him wide. Driving like a man possessed, he salvaged fourth place with two laps remaining.

There are likely to be no shortage of heated recriminations in the Force India garage, with the pacier Ocon, who eventually finished behind Perez in sixth, furious that the team did not swap the duo around as he targeted a podium place. Perez had earlier asked to let them race after being told at one stage that he would have to let the Frenchman pass if he did not overtake Ricciardo within three laps.

"This is not fair guys, you cannot do that," Ocon said over the team radio. "That is not fair racing at all."

There was more heartbreak for Fernando Alonso upon his return from the Indianapolis 500, with the 10th-place Spaniard, who did run in fourth for a brief stint, on course to pick up his first point of a difficult season before yet another engine failure forced his exit on lap 68 of 70. Stoffel Vandoorne came home in 14th as McLaren's well-documented problems continued.

There was better news for Williams rookie Lance Stroll, who picked up a first Formula One point in his home race by finishing ninth. Nico Hulkenberg secured eighth for Renault, while Haas' Grosjean rounded out the top 10. Daniil Kvyat, who sustained a rear puncture in qualifying, had issues on the formation lap and was handed an additional 10-second time penalty after an original incorrect sanction. He retired one lap after a disastrous pit stop.