Lewis Hamilton has slashed the deficit to rival Sebastian Vettel in the Formula One championship after a flawless lights-to-flag victory in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.
"It has been an incredible weekend, I couldn't be happier", Hamilton said.
The Briton is arguably the best driver of his generation and he proved it in style by grabbing the Grand Prix title beating the second placed Valtteri Bottas with a staggering lead of 20 seconds. There were some manoeuvres where I almost wanted to close my eyes - but ultimately I think the team and the vehicle deserved more. Williams, however, have produced good performances on the island layout with a driver on the podium for the last two years.
"Wow, I am shaking.I am speechless", an emotional Hamilton said after being presented with Senna's helmet. Both the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had hard opening laps and they could finish only in fourth and seventh, with Vettel's lead in the world championship cut from 25 points to 12.
Four-time champion Vettel now has 141 points, Hamilton has 129 and Finn Bottas 93.
"Today I just really relived my first grand prix win in 2007".
He recovered well with some aggressive overtaking on a two-stop strategy and caught the battle for third place, in which Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was leading the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, with seven laps to go.
"They did such great work analysing what went wrong and giving us a summary and saying this is where we went wrong".
Four tied for lead; sport's top three players sent packing
Holmes among those in the mix. "You take a two-under-par in the first round in the US Open , you re right there". The world No.3 languishes near the bottom of the leaderboard after a round that included two triple-bogeys, .
The Brit racked up his sixth win at Montreal, the track where he claimed his first ever F1 win 10 years ago, and revealed that given his lack of wheel-to-wheel racing this time around, he was able to remember that very first victory.
But on lap 11, Verstappen's Red Bull died at the side of the track, ending his day and leaving Hamilton and Bottas alone in front.
"He looked like he was doing a good job, and I just wanted to acknowledge that". "It doesn't mean it's going to be like that every time, but I think we learned a lot", said Hamilton. His teammate, Kevin Magnussen, finished 12th. "I think the chemistry Valtteri and I have is different". It was a scintillating duel between Hamilton and Vettel, adding another line in what is shaping up as a season long fight.
Meanwhile, Alonso's miserable season took another sorry twist after his engine expired with two laps left, while running in 10th place.
"It's always been a special place for me", said Hamilton. "Got a better understanding of the vehicle, and hopefully that we can put it in the same spot in the following races".
"It was still a challenge but it was a bit like the other races I've had here when it has been well managed from the front".
The safety auto came out on the opening lap when, on the first turn, Romain Grosjean's Haas nudged Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso, which plowed into the side of Stroll's Williams teammate Felipe Massa.
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