Lewis Hamilton maintained Mercedes’ record-winning start to a season on Sunday when he was handed a controversial victory, courtesy of a disputed stewards’ decision to penalise Sebastian Vettel, at the Canadian GP.
The defending five-time World champion overall leader came home second on the track behind Vettel of Ferrari, but was declared the winner because of a five-second penalty for a racing infringement by the German.
Vettel ran off and re-joined across a strip of grass on lap 50, forcing a charging Hamilton off-track towards a wall. The Briton braked to withdraw from his challenge to take the lead, prompting a race stewards’ inquiry, which resulted in the time penalty. “Where could I go?” protested Vettel. “They’re stealing the race from us.”
“No, no, no, not like that,” he repeated on his slow-down lap as Hamilton celebrated. “If there wasn’t a wall, I would have gone past him,” said the Briton.
In a bizarre sequence, Vettel at first refused to attend the post-race interviews and stormed away to the Ferrari motor home before, after persuasion by the Italian team, he returned for the podium ceremonies. As he did so, however, he walked to the parc ferme and moved the numbers used to mark the finishing order — shifting the number one to the blank space for his car, two for Hamilton’s Mercedes and three for Charles Leclerc.
Don’t boo Lewis
When the pro-Ferrari crowd booed Hamilton, Vettel told them to stop. “Don’t boo Lewis — you should boo these decisions, not him,” he said.
It was Hamilton’s record seventh victory in Canada, and the 78th of his career, and extended Mercedes’ season-opening run to seven successive wins.
Vettel ended up classified second ahead of Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, fourth-placed Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Daniel Ricciardo of Renault. Nico Hulkenberg finished seventh in the second Renault ahead of Pierre Gasly of Red Bull, home hero Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso.