F1: Lewis of Montreal: “I’m over the moon!”

“Honestly, I'm so happy,” smiled Hamilton after claiming the P1 starting spot with a flying lap that stopped the clocks at 1:11.459s (the fastest lap ever recorded at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve). “Montreal has been very good to me over the years. It was a great lap, a sexy lap! I can't quite believe that it all came together so well. After such a tough time in Monaco, we learned from our mistakes. I owe this one to all the team back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth. I was just shaking when I was presented with Ayrton's helmet. For many of you, Ayrton was your favorite driver. He was mine too. To receive this and match his record is a great honor.”

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas also performed quite well in qualifying, slotting in on the starting grid in P3.

The night before the Montreal showdown, Hamilton waxed ecstatic about the Grand Prix of Canada when talking with the F1 media corps. “The significance of this race? Well, Formula 1 is obviously made up of a lot of great countries, a lot of great races, but there are the exceptional races and there’s only a few of them. This race is in that few.”

“It's been such an incredible weekend,” exclaimed Hamilton after scoring the 56th F1 victory of his career. “I just couldn't be happier with how it's gone and I'm so grateful for this result. We came away from Monaco and we were scratching our heads, but we pulled together and look what we achieved. We came here with a much better understanding of the car and we delivered a real blow to the Ferraris. Valtteri did a fantastic job too and this is our first one-two finish together. We've scored a big load of solid points and it's well deserved. It's crazy to think I had my first pole and win here 10 years ago. The race actually felt very reminiscent of 2007, in terms of how it unfolded. It's a long race here, especially when you're out there on your own, but I knew the car would hold together and it did perfectly.”

Racing to second overall to slam home Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport Team’s first one-two seep of 2017 was Valtteri Bottas.

“I'm so happy for us as a team to bounce back the way we did this weekend. It's so impressive to see how the team has reacted in the last two weeks - how it's worked and improved. I've never seen a group of people so determined to win and to get back on top, so to get the one-two finish today, it's amazing. I tried my best to be aggressive and to get ahead of the Ferraris off the start and it worked, but I had a bit of a lock-up there which compromised my first stint. I lost some time behind the Red Bull and then the Force India after the stop, so we went for the Soft tire for the second stint, but I didn't quite have the pace. But I brought the car home for some great points.”

“That feels absolutely great. We have finally taken a 1-2 finish and done so at a track that we expected would be difficult for us - and which certainly was for us last year. Lewis delivered a stellar performance this weekend: a pole lap that was almost scary when you watch the onboard, then a totally dominant race. Likewise, Valtteri struggled with the car yesterday but he got everything right today to complete a perfect day for our team.”

Next up is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, in Baku, on the 25th June.

1    Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes            1h33m05.154s
2    Valtteri Bottas        Mercedes            19.783s
3    Daniel Ricciardo        Red Bull/Renault            35.297s
4    Sebastian Vettel        Ferrari                35.907s
5    Sergio Perez        Force India/Mercedes        40.476s
6    Esteban Ocon        Force India/Mercedes        40.716s
7    Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                58.632s
8    Nico Hulkenberg        Renault                1m00.374s
9    Lance Stroll        Williams/Mercedes        1 Lap
10    Romain Grosjean        Haas/Ferrari            1 Lap
11    Jolyon Palmer        Renault                1 Lap
12    Kevin Magnussen        Haas/Ferrari            1 Lap
13    Marcus Ericsson        Sauber/Ferrari            1 Lap
14    Stoffel Vandoorne    McLaren/Honda            1 Lap
15    Pascal Wehrlein        Sauber/Ferrari            2 Laps
16    Fernando Alonso        McLaren/Honda            Power Unit
-    Daniil Kvyat        Toro Rosso/Renault        Wheel
-    Max Verstappen        Red Bull/Renault            Battery
-    Carlos Sainz        Toro Rosso/Renault        Collision
-    Felipe Massa        Williams/Mercedes        Collision