F1 - Canadian Grand Prix: Vettel Takes Dominent Win, Stroll & Hartley in Big Lap 1 Crash
Vettel started on pole after winning the qualifying lottery on Saturday, and went on to lead every lap of a 'boring' Canadian Grand Prix, in a race which had promised so much more with Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull all looking in contention to win.
Lap 1 was the only real interesting lap of the race, with Verstappen getting a good start to challenge Bottas into Turn 1. The Fin would ultimately hold the position for the rest of the race, with Verstappen not able to mount a challenge, however Bottas almost lost the position to Verstappen in the confusion at the finish, as he had to back off because of fuel worries. He eventually finished just 0.1 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
It was at Turn 5 where the chaos really happened, with Williams' Lance Stroll loosing the rear of his car on the fast right-hander, drifting into the line of Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley, squeezing him into the tecpro barrier, which had replaced the concrete wall used in previous years. Hartley mounted the barrier before landing perpendicular to the oncoming field, almost rolling, before both he and Stroll hit the barrier on the outside of Turn 6. Both drivers were sent to the circuit's medical centre, with Hartley being sent to a local hospital for further checks. Both drivers are ok.
This comes at a bad time for Hartley, whose seat is under threat after an apparent poor performance this year, with the likes of McLaren reserve and F2 championship leader Lando Norris, Williams reserve and former Canadian GP winner Robert Kubica, and Mercedes protégé and former Manor and Sauber driver Pascal Wehrlein. Before the crash, he had been thrashing his teammate, 2016 F2 champion, Pierre Gasly.
Not much happened for the rest of the race: Renault's Carlos Sainz Jr and Force India's Sergio Perez collided at the restart, and McLaren's Fernando Alonso retired from his 300th grand prix.
However, confusion rang throughout the paddock on lap 69/70, when Canadian model Winnie Harlow waved the checkered flag, causing a backlash on social media for having somebody who isn't interested in F1 being given such an important job. The FIA later revealed that there had been a miscommunication between Race Control and the officials with Harlow on the flag gantry, and Harlow had been told to wave the flag on that lap.
As a result, the official results were taken from lap 68/70, causing Perez to lose a position to Haas' Magnussen, having overtaken him on lap 69, and Red Bull's Ricciardo losing the fastest lap honours to his teammate Verstappen.
Next race: Pirelli Grand Prix de France, Circuit Paul Ricard, 22-24 June 2018
Full results:
1. Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Ferrari)
2. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes AMG)
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
4. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull)
5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG)
6. Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari)
7. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Renault)
9. Esteban Ocon (Force India)
10. Charles Leclerc (Alfa Romeo Sauber)
11. Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso)
12. Romain Grosjean (Haas)
13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
14. Sergio Perez (Force India)
15. Marcus Ericsson (Alfa Romeo Sauber)
16. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren)
17. Sergey Sirotkin (Williams)
DNF. Fernando Alonso (McLaren)
DNF. Lance Stroll (Williams)
DNF. Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Championship Standings:
