Hamilton resists Rosberg for Canada win

2015 Canadian Grand Prix summary

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Lewis Hamilton took his fourth victory of the season in Canada, leading team mate Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes one-two.

Rosberg kept in close touch with Hamilton in the second half of the race after their single pit stops, but never got close enough to make a bid for the lead.

Valtteri Bottas put Williams on the podium for the first time this year after Kimi Raikkonen, who held the place in the opening stages, spun following his pit stop. Raikkonen crossed the line in fourth place ahead of the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, which had started 18th.

Felipe Massa also mounted a recovery effort having started 15th and moved up to sixth by the flag. The last car he passed was the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado, which finished seventh.

Despite a spin while being passed by Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth for Force India. Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean completed the points scorers, the latter doing so despite a five second time penalty for hitting Will Stevens while lapping him.

The other Manor of Roberto Merhi was one of three cars which failed to make the finish. The other were the two McLaren drivers, who suffered with a lack of straight-line speed and poor fuel consumption.

2015 Canadian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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57 comments on “Hamilton resists Rosberg for Canada win”

  1. Vettel, man of the day, well done! Great drive from Rosberg, too.

    1. Rosberg! What exactly did he do that was good? Hamilton beat him in qualifying and in the race.

      1. You can’t really say HAM was so much better than ROS in the race, because it isn’t true whatsoever.

        1. Matthew Coyne
          7th June 2015, 21:31

          He finished in front of him and had an answer for everything Rosberg tried.

          I’m not sure how that doesn’t = better than Rosberg.

        2. They both had 1 job, stay ahead and get ahead. 1 driver did his job, the other didn’t.
          Are you struggling with this information?

          1. Ok, ROS got ahead in Monaco, HAM didn’t stay ahead. ROS was better. Seriously, your logic is flawed then (if you think like this).

          2. Really don’t want to go back into Monaco but my logic still stands, as it wasn’t Ham’s job to worry about strategy. Had he lost a position on track that would have been his loss.

        3. ham was fuel saving for the second half of the race.but in the first half,was comfortably quicker than nico.nico never once looked like challenging lewis,which was the only thing he had to do,considering nico wasnt under threat from anyone behind him.in monaco lewis built up a 18 second gap,it wasnt even close.its now 6-1 in quali,should be the same race stats too,but because of what happened in monaco ,it isnt.

        4. if it was a great drive from nico,then it was a greater drive from lewis right.

      2. Rosberg is not an elite driver so he is judged by a lower standard.

    2. Rosberg?! Is that typo?

    3. Great drive from Rosberg? Why? He didn’t win the race, he didn’t do anything spectacular, didn’t pressure Lewis. Just drove behind him all 70 laps.

    4. I don’t think it was true that Hamilton wasn’t pressured. He was locking up his tyres right and left aplenty. And 1.5 secs was too small to be on purpose. If he made a slightly bigger error, he would have ended up within DRS range. Rosberg was also on brake/fuel saving at different stages of the race, but it is part of their job anyway. Here and in China Hamilton could have finished behind Rosberg. It was Rosberg who couldn’t grab those chances at qualifying.

      1. Very well said!

      2. Lewis is playing with rosberg.breath that!

  2. Very strange race for me, felt like there wasn’t a single flat out lap by Mercedes on soft tires and they were just struggling to get to the end. Surprising then to hear Rosberg say he pushed… looking for forward to charts to understand better.

    1. Michael Duncan
      7th June 2015, 22:55

      I’m very surprised at two things. 1. I am very very surprised that Mercedes didn’t beat Vettel’s fastest lap, I thought they would have beat his lap, but didn’t. 2. Mercedes is usually more efficient than Ferrari, in fact, every single race at the end of the race Mercedes has used less than Ferrari, where this race, with Vettel pushing every lap cause he needed to come through the field, I don’t think Mercedes pushed every single lap like Vettel did, and Mercedes had used the same amount of fuel as Kimi and used more than Vettel which is very surprising to me as Mercedes usually has used less fuel than Ferrari every race, so I am very surprised.

  3. Race so boring I fell asleep before they completed 20 laps. It was a nice nap though. Hamilton has got this championship in the bag. Williams have done ok and have got a good opportunity to score some good points in the next few races. Alonso’s talent is currently wasted with that bunch of amateurs called Mclaren and Honda. Back to sleep…

  4. I wonder, McLarens pace at the beginning, trying to go to fuel target on the most consuming track of the year seemed like they would have been lapped 3 times and finished just ahead of the Manors… did they just abandon trying to finish in order to not look that bad?

  5. So, eh. The most average of average races I guess. Nothing spectacular except for that one overtake Massa pulled on the Sauber. Was worth three replays apparently, shows what state F1 is in.

    I know they have to save fuel and tyres but is that now also all we can talk about after the race, it properly getting boring. Why didn’t Ted ask Hamilton about those four or five lock ups in the hairpin?

    Rosberg again not up to the mark of Hamilton, another thing we’re slowly getting used to. Lucky for him the Mercedes is good enough to garuantee him second place. Bottas got a lucky podium there, had nothing to do just drive the laps, I’d be worried I’d fall asleep if it weren’t for the pitstops and doubling other cars. Kimi also didn’t do anything spectacular. Vettel had a great race overtaking and taking the right risks. Strategy wise I don’t know, I would’ve started him on the softs, find some free air to punch some 10 laps on the ss and then go on another set of softs, but who am I. Massa also had a great race but in the end he had to nurse the ss like he had to also drive them home to Brazil…

    As I said, average race, nothing new. A proper 6.

    1. Oh, if two cars can start from P15, and last, and still round up the top 6 it’s getting predicatble and the gaps between the teams is just getting ridiculous.

      McLaren, what are Button and Alonso doing. If they don’t have nightmares of the Honda already, they must look at Webber his smile and think ‘I made one hell of a wrong choice here’. ‘I believe in the project’, amateurs yeah…

  6. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
    7th June 2015, 21:04

    Hamilton didn’t actually “resist”. He knows Nico is not a real threat in a real racing circuit. You can expect good things from Nico in Spain (test track at best?) or Monaco (market aisles are wider), but here Nico couldn’t really threat. His best chance to win would have come only if Lewis brakes or something else failed.
    And people said Red Bull winning seasons were boring. This is the same, or worse, than 2011 and 2013.

    1. @omarr-pepper If you say 2011 was more boring than 2014-2015 I’m just assuming you don’t like Vettel or Red Bull. 2011 had some great races to which now I look back with great memories.

      1. 2011 was cheap fun.
        Huge DRS zones and tyres which didn’t resist half dozen of laps.

        It got tired pretty fast.

        1. Rather cheap fun than expensive nothing.

        2. 2011 – 2013 is still better than 2014/15 by a landslide.

          1. 2014 was by miles better than 2011 and 2013 in terms of wheel to wheel racing.

      2. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
        7th June 2015, 21:21

        @xtwl I enjoyed every single win of Vettel (obviously). I’m trying to put myself in his rivals’ fans’ shoes (I guess they didn’t enjoy those seasons that much).

        1. @omarr-pepper I’m a Webber fan in heart and soul. I found them hard to swallow but looking back on them they were gold.

          1. For me one of the best parts was always the qualifying sessions and that last perfect pole laps from Vettel. You can just go back and watch those pole laps again and again. Very rewatchable actually. For some reason Vettel’s last laps are so intense to watch, it is still like that in this boring era. I’m probably waiting for him to do better than 3rd and Ferrari to surprise us. I’m not sure there have been a season this boring since Schumacher. But there was definitely no two seasons in a row this boring during Schumacher period.

    2. It would be boring as a Vet fan, im a Ham fan and i found them years boring too. If Ferrari could get there act together and have a better benchmark in there with Vet we would have alot of answers. Just as people say with Ros, dump Kimi. Kimi was bad last year same this year yet this year the car must be quick if he can get these results.

      1. That is just not true. It is fairly obvious Ferrari is nowhere near Mercedes. In all and any aspects of the car.

    3. I would rather say that this year to follow exactly same car is close to impossible without destroying your front tires.If this was case last year when Niko had advantage on saturday we would watch much better battle for 2014 wdc.Since Ham got better at saturday and has good of the line starts he really has got almost nothing to worry in races.I wont say it would be the same if Niko was starting first but for sure Ham would have much more problems.Remove stupid huge front wings and aero mambo jambo and enable cars to follow eachother more closely.

  7. Kimi’s old catchphrase – “Yes, yes you don’t have to tell me I know what I’m doing!”.

    Kimi’s new catchphrase – “No, no please tell me because I don’t know what I’m doing”.

  8. Vettel is the only one who made this race less boring than it could have been. Started 15 places behind his teammate, had a fecked up 1st pit stop and still finished behind his teammate without SC and with the same amount of pit stops. DotD.

    1. In no way am i taking anything away from him but come on Kimi is embarassing. After 2014 Ric vs Vet we do not even know Ferrari’s limit. Vet is beating Kimi and Kimi is a year older. Last year Kimi was awful same this year. Vet should beat him and he is, very convincingly i may add.

      1. That spin for Raikkonen was a recurring PU issue.

        I don’t know, is Kvyat better than Ricciardo now? Maybe Ricc got Vettel’s car, eh? This year there’s been only 2 weekends clean for both RBR drivers: Monaco and Canada. That guy didn’t even race in Australia lol. Maybe Ricc should ask for a new chassis, because I heard they are looking at the car to understand why Dan was so slower than Dan this race.

        By the way, I don’t think we really need to know Vettel’s limits to see Ferrari’s limits. It is fairly obvious.

    2. Don’t forget Massa.
      Vettel did good, but Kimi did bad too. His stint with primes was too short and far from optimal.
      It was his podium to lose. And he did lose.

  9. 29 years old and 5 seasons in F1 and still making stupid amateur moves. Just goes to prove age and experience doesn’t count as much as talent

    1. @f1freek Who are you talking about?

      1. GRO maybe. Just guessing.

  10. Poor Alo im a Ham fan and hate what as happend. You can call it brave or luck i do not know. But im so glad Mclaren did not win WC in 12. Else Ham would not have this car.

  11. Nothing to say about Kimi.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      7th June 2015, 21:50

      and that’s already too much said!

    2. Do you ppl realize there was the same issue in every outlap at Canada for last 2 years with Ferrari hybrid PU ever since its construction? Instead of pointing fingers at their drivers, Ferrari and their fans should solve their own problems and show some more respect to their drivers.

  12. The softest tyres were more than enough to finish a race on one stop.
    There’s something wrong. It shouldn’t be like this. Not on this track.

    This season has been a real snoozefest. Some guys are exceeding as always, like Hamilton or Vettel. But the gaps between teams are just too big. Lotus showed some pace and it still wasn’t enough to hold Massa and Vettel who came from the back.

  13. If there was ever any doubt that Ferrari should let Kimi go, today’s race is enough proof.

  14. Poor Grojean, goes from being the elder statesmen counseling Verstappen to apologize, then in the race he runs into Stevens and then complains that Stevens ran into him. Glad for Maldonado, solid race.

    Good for Kyvat finishing in the points.

    What happened to Danny Ric? He finished 7 seconds in front of Verstappen who started 19th and had to take a 10 second penalty at his first stop.

    Great job from Vettel – I think Ferrari pulled the trigger too soon bringing him in on lap 8. He may have been on pace for a podium. I watched his interview in the paddock where he was unhappy with his first few laps and not making up more time and that “I need to go look at what I could have done better.” That’s a great attitude in a driver. It’s clear that Vettel is really maximizing the potential of the Ferrari. What could have been if he had a clean weekend.

    Good on Massa for 6th, some nice passing – that Merc engine had some nice grunt. Folks are complaining about the DRS, but the Ferrari was struggling to pass on DRS compared the Williams.

    1. I was surprised Ferrari was able to overtake all those Mercedes PUs even with some DRS assistance.
      I agree with you on all points you made.
      Grosjean apologized by the way.

  15. I really am starting to need some new favourite drivers. Raikkonen spun oddly, Hulkenberg spun avoiding Vettel, Grosjean made a very poor mistake, Verstappen’s race was over before it began due to penalties and Alonso retired once more. Maybe I need to get over myself and accept our new Mercedes overlords.

    1. “accept our new Mercedes overlords” LOL
      They are not even racing though. Where is the fun in that?

  16. Michael Brown
    7th June 2015, 22:17

    Why is it that we never hear Hamilton’s radio response after all of his wins? Seriously, all we get is his engineer going, “Great drive, mate. Well done.” They seemed like a bunch of robots until their Monaco blunder, which was down to them not knowing that they couldn’t overtake at Monaco.

    At least when Vettel was winning, he was really enthusiastic about it.

    1. They did it a lot in the past, but this year only on Malaysia with Vettel and Spain with Rosberg.

      1. Michael Brown
        9th June 2015, 1:14

        I wonder when? I don’t get the feeling that Hamilton is happy after a win.

        1. One of his engineers lost a family member. Lewis felt slightly uncomfortable about showing too much happiness.

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