Lewis Hamilton was in impeccable form once again at the Canadian Grand Prix. The three-time world champion crushed his rivals all weekend in Montreal to record his third win of the 2017 season, and his sixth in total at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve. Hamilton's win coupled with a difficult afternoon for title rival Sebastian Vettel saw him take a 50 percent decrease in the Ferrari man's title advantage. It was a Mercedes GP 1-2 with Valtteri Bottas in the second spot while Daniel Ricciardo claimed a third successive podium finish by taking the third spot for Red Bull Racing.
Here is a round-up of the seventh weekend of the 2017 Formula One season on the sport's first trip of the year to North America.
Hamilton's near-perfect weekend
There is something about Lewis Hamilton and Montreal that connects beautifully. If Hamilton wanted a racetrack in his back garden, he wouldn't mind taking this one with him. On the 10th anniversary of his maiden pole position and victory, Hamilton made it six wins from 10 starts in Canada. Only Michael Schumacher has a better record in history around this place.
His qualifying performance was simply stunning. Lewis broke the track record to take pole position and when Vettel got within four-thousands of a second on his first run, he responded by trimming another three-tenths off it.
It was fitting for Hamilton to achieve his 65th pole position around this place; the scene of his first pole back in 2007. It means he has now equalled the tally set by his hero and idol, Ayrton Senna.
The Senna family had a special surprise for the Mercedes man after qualifying by gifting him a race-worn helmet of Senna's. It didn't quite bring Hamilton to tears but you could sense how much this meant to him - it put him in the perfect mode for the race.
He won't get many easier Sunday afternoons than this one. Helped by an early retirement for Max Verstappen due to electrical trouble and Vettel dropping to the back of the field early because of front wing damage, Hamilton won as he pleased. He beat Bottas by 20 seconds and led every single lap. This was the ideal response after a troubled time in Monaco a fortnight ago.
Vettel did produce a fine drive to recover to fourth and so the battle is well and truly on, but this was Hamilton's near-perfect scenario.
Feeling the Force
Force India should have been delighted with their efforts in Canada. Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon both qualified in the top 10, then raced well to fifth and sixth positions, consolidating their fourth place in the constructors' championship. However, all was not rosy for the pink-liveried cars from Silverstone.
Perez spent the entire afternoon studying the rear end of Ricciardo's gearbox. He looked quicker but just couldn't get past. Ocon was running a different strategy and ran as high as second at one point during the pitstops. He, therefore, had tyres that were 13 laps fresher than those of his more experienced teammate.
The youngster requested for his team to manoeuvre Perez out of the way. There were discussions; some quite heated over the team radio but Perez was not going to play the team orders game.
Did it cost Force India a better result? It might have done, and considering the Mexican spent all day stuck behind Ricciardo, it would have been interesting to see Ocon have a go at the Australian. If he hadn't made the move stick, he would have let Perez back through. I'm not a huge fan of team orders but they are a part of the sport and Perez didn't really think about the team in Montreal. The request came out and he probably should have played the game. He would have come out better for it afterwards.
Another day, another Honda meltdown
What else can be said about Honda in 2017? Their alliance with McLaren goes from bad to worse. Seven races in, no points and a missed opportunity here like in Monaco. Back from his Indy 500 experience, Fernando Alonso was three laps away from stealing a point before once again, his engine blew up. The same thing happened whilst in a strong position two weeks ago at Indianapolis. He went into the crowd at the end to have selfies taken and give his gloves away. You sense he's had enough - both of his current employers and the sport.
What was telling was Honda's brutal lack of power on the Montreal back-straight. It was being left high and dry by all cars that came up to the McLarens.
At one point, Lance Stroll came from at least one second behind exiting the hairpin and was still past Alonso well before the braking zone. Even Theresa May has more power right now than a Honda F1 engine, and that's saying something!
Sorrow for Sainz
There was a lucky escape on the first lap of the Canadian Grand Prix when Carlos Sainz spun across the pack on the approach to turn three. The highly-rated Toro Rosso driver made contact with the Haas of Romain Grosjean and was pitched out of control. He only narrowly missed Nico Hulkenberg and both McLarens before t-boning the innocent Felipe Massa in the Williams. He then made a mess of his chassis against the barrier. Both Sainz and Massa were done for the day, whilst Grosjean had to pit for repairs but recovered to claim the last point of the afternoon.
Replays showed Sainz's guilt. He squeezed Grosjean onto the grass not once, but twice and left the Frenchman with nowhere to go. The move was dangerous and unnecessary. On a weekend where three drivers ended up in hospital at the British Touring Car Championship meeting at Croft after a multiple pile-ups, we were fortunate not to see something similar in Canada.
Sainz was found responsible by the stewards and gets a three-place grid penalty for the next event. He claimed afterwards Grosjean was in his blind spot. Either way, if he'd taken more drivers out, a race ban was a possible offence. He is one of the brightest talents on the grid but needs to work on his spacial awareness. Grosjean knows all too well about this after his own ban following an accident at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix.
Round eight takes place around the streets of Baku in two weeks time. Mercedes regained lost momentum here this weekend but considering how this season is going that might not last.
