Vettel takes 50th win and F1 championship lead in Canada

“I’m just happy. It was a great grand prix to win”.

Canada marked the one-third point of the 21-race 2018 season and Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff described it as a “major wake-up call” for his entire team. “Gilles Villeneuve, the favourite driver of Enzo Ferrari”. “I was just anxious that people don’t jump on the track and start celebrating”.

“There is not really a pattern you can see”, he said. “If that comes together I think we can do quite a big jump and then hopefully the engine and putting it all together will help us to be there tomorrow”.

“It’s 50 for me but after a long stretch that Ferrari didn’t win here, I saw the people around and they were super happy”.

“Our race pace was good yesterday”.

Max Verstappen tops the times in the final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Hamilton had been hoping for a record seventh Canadian Grand Prix pole, at the track where he took his first win in 2007, but instead was out-qualified by Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas who joined Vettel on the front row.

Starting cleanly, Vettel was pulling away from the field when a crash between Brandon Hartley and hometown favourite Lance Stroll brought out the safety vehicle in the very first lap. Hamilton has won the Canadian race six times, including the previous three. The Briton has won the last three on the track that seems to suit the Mercedes auto with its heavy braking after long straightaways and tight chicanes.

Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes was second followed by the Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen and Daniel Riciardo, the victor two weeks ago in Monaco.

Vettel ended Q1 on top ahead of the Finn with Hamilton third, but it was tense for McLaren as twice former champion Fernando Alonso squeezed into Q2 at the end in 14th place ahead of team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.

Hamilton acknowledges Ferrari has the stronger package at the moment but he is confident of bouncing back in the coming rounds with Mercedes’ upgraded power unit set to debut in the next round in France.

Daniel Ricciardo, a victor two weeks ago in Monaco in another race panned for being tiresome, brought his Red Bull in third, just ahead of defending champion Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

“Today was a good day, the vehicle is working very well”.

When it comes to the twisty stuff, 11 of the 14 corners are taken below 100 miles per hour, which makes it particularly hard on the brakes and tires when the cars are coming from the high-speed straights.

The Ferrari man started on pole and lead throughout around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Hamilton had triumphed in each of the past three seasons. Hahaha but so grateful everyone was safe today and no one got hurt! Early on he told his team he was having “dropouts of power” from the auto, which was from the power unit running too hot in the first stint. He also won it in 2011, 2012 and 2013.