F1: Hamilton Wins after Vettel’s Time Penalty in Montreal

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Brandon Dawe
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Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix after Sebastian Vettel was handed a controversial five-second time penalty.

Stewards’ Decision Splits the Paddock

Starting from pole position, Vettel was able to keep his Ferrari in-front heading into Turn 1, and allowing the German to stay ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes.

However, Hamilton was able to close in after they both stopped for the hard tyre, with the Briton applying pressure to Vettel.

Then, at Turn 3, the controversial incident occurred.

Vettel lost the rear of his Ferrari and slid across the grass. When rejoining the track, Vettel experienced oversteer and narrower the gap on the inside line.

Subsequently, Hamilton was forced to brake heavily and avoid a crash between the two of them.

The stewards investigated what took place and decided to give Vettel a controversial five-second time penalty for rejoining the track unsafely.

At the end of the race, the penalty promoted Hamilton into first place and claim his seventh Canadian Grand Prix victory.

Vettel Shows Post-Race Frustration

After the race, Vettel was furious over the stewards decision and refused to take his car to Parc Ferme and skipped the post-race.

He angrily stormed into the Ferrari motor home before eventually making his way to the podium. However, Vettel protested the penalty by changing the podium boards, switching his second place board for Hamilton’s number one.

On the podium, Hamilton thanked the Mercedes team for their work over the weekend, after he experienced engine issues. However, he also expressed empathy towards Vettel and what took place from his perspective:

“That’s absolutely not the way I want to win,” Hamilton said.  “I forced the error and he went wide. We nearly collided, but that’s motor racing.”

While being interviewed by Martin Brundle, Hamilton was booed by fans in the grandstands before Vettel intervened.

Sebastian Vettel control the race out in front, but a five-second time penalty denied him and Ferrari a well-earned victory in Canada. Image sourced from @ShellMotorsport via Twitter.

“The people shouldn’t boo at Lewis,” Vettel stated.

“I really enjoyed the race and the crowd. Lewis was a bit faster, but we were able to keep him behind. Ask the people what they think [about the penalty].”

Leclerc back on the Podium

Charles Leclerc came home third in the second Ferrari team, as drove a quiet race to take his second F1 podium.

“I’m pretty happy with my performance, we were very quick.” the Monegasque driver said.

“The race pace was strong. I’m disappointed for the team. I don’t know what happened [with Seb] but the team deserved a victory today.”

Valtteri Bottas claimed fourth place ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who drove well to recover a result after a bad qualifying.

After starting from fourth for Renault, Daniel Ricciardo put up a fight against Bottas and Verstappen early on in the race. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to hold on and dropped down the order.

After a strong performance in qualifying, Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was unable to compete with the front-runners in Montreal. Image sourced from @RenaultF1Team via Twitter.

However, the Australian was able to hold off team-mate Nico Hülkenberg, as the pair finished sixth and seventh place respectively.

The second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly claimed eighth, while Racing Point’s Lance Stroll completed a strong recovery drive.

Utilising a one-stop strategy help the Canadian driver end up in ninth place in front of his adoring fans.

Danill Kvyat’s late charge saw him pass McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. to take home the final point for Toro Rosso in tenth.

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