Canadian Grand Prix: Hamilton fends off Rosberg

Lewis Hamilton returned to the top step of the podium when he powered to a narrow, but controlled win, at the Canadian Grand Prix over teammate Nico Rosberg as Mercedes (once again!) obliterated the opposition at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Silver Arrows pair were just on another planet, and although Rosberg did a good job to stalk Hamilton for most of the race, he simply did not have the ammo to attack in the end and saw Hamilton extend his lead in the championship to 17 points.

Hammer time came for Hamilton with half-a-dozen laps top go, just when Rosberg would have been primed to make his challenge, but the world champion had it in control stretching what had been a second and a bit gap to three seconds in little time - despite fuel saving 'lift and coast' commands from his pit wall.

Hamilton thus scored his 37th career grand prix victory, his fourth win of 2015 and his fourth at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit, the scene of his maiden F1 win in 2007. Only Michael Schumacher, with seven victories, has won more times on the Ile Notre Dame.

Hamilton said afterwards, "I love Montreal. I love this track, love the city. Fantastic weekend. I didn't feel I had most comfortable balance but I didn't feel under too much pressure. It felt intense, I really enjoyed it. Did I need this? I think so.

"This place is incredible. There are lots of British flags, Canadian flags, Grenada flags and Barbados flags. I won my first race here in 2007 and to be back up here feels very historic for me," added the Briton.

"My lead engineer lost a family member this weekend and to come here and perform like he has has been amazing. I take my hat off to him," said Hamilton.

Rosberg's run of two wins in a row came to an end in Montreal where he did not have the pace in qualifying to match Hamilton and in the race his pursuit of the other silver car was relentless, but still not enough to snatch the win as the winner had all bases covered when it mattered.

"I was pushing like mad but I couldn't quite make it. Second place is still okay. It was just a little bit in qualifying - the race pace was good," said Rosberg of his afternoon's graft.

And added, "I have an electrical power boost for two laps to see if I can attack him, but of course as soon as I do that his engineer tells him and he will do the same. I think I will have to have a word with the team and see if we can keep it a secret."

In third place, Valtteri Bottas scored the first podium of the season for Williams and made it a clean sweep of the top three by Mercedes power.

Bottas capitalised on a mistake made by fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who spun his Ferrari mid-way through the race while in strong contention for third and had top settle for fourth after starting third on the grid.

Bottas said after the race, "I'm really happy for us. It was really good teamwork all weekend. A mistake by Kimi allowed us to make up one position. We really needed this. It really boosts the confidence. We are a top team and we can fight for the podiums."

Behind Raikkonen was teammate Sebastian Vettel, arguably delivering the drive of the day, as he scythed his way through the field from 16th on the grid to fifth by the time the chequered flag waved, and set the fastest lap of the race in the process.

Felipe Massa also recovered well from 17th to finish sixth in the Williams, the Brazilian showing strong pace in the latter half of the race.

Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado scored his first points of his season with a solid drive to seventh, his third points score in three years and a valuable haul for his team, with Romain Grosjean also scoring with his tenth place finish - which might have been better had the Frenchman not tangled needlessly with Manor driver Will Stevens.

Nico Hulkenberg survived a spin in the Force India, when he and Vettel nearly collided in the shadow of the Wall of Champions, but recovered well to finish eighth.

Renault struggled massively this time around in Canada, when a year earlier they won with Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull - what a difference a year makes!

Daniil Kvyat was best of the four Red Bull branded cars with his drive to ninth. Ricciardo was 13th, with the Toro Rosso rookies Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen in 12th and 15th respectively.

Ricciardo summed up his frustration, "I got lapped by a Williams - that explains my day. It was our worst weekend of the year. We have got to understand it but I don't have any answers. I'm laughing because I don't want to cry."

At the end of a largely mundane and predictable race, perhaps the biggest talking point will be the woeful showing by McLaren and Fernando Alonso's desperate reaction to a command from the team's pitwall to save fuel.

The Spaniard said after both McLarens were retired from the race, "When you are in the middle of a battle, fuel is a low priority and you will time later on. After three or four reminders of fuel, I just said let me race and let me have some fun."

On the other end of the spectrum Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said, "It is a fine margin we have. We want them to compete against each other, so you need to watch the brakes and the fuel consumption and this is the fine line we need to walk on."

[highlight ]Canadian Grand Prix, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Sunday, 7 June 2015[/highlight]