Lewis Hamilton takes his fourth win of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix

This evening in Montreal, Lewis Hamilton won his fourth race of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix and also achieved his fourth win at the Montreal circuit ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.

Lewis Hamilton had a great start off line while Kimi Raikkonen tried to squeeze Nico Rosberg but couldn’t do so. Sergio Perez also had a good start and was battling with Daniel Ricciardo for position. As we headed into the next few corners, Sebastian Vettel got by Felipe Nasr on track and at the end of the lap, Jenson Button pitted and served his drive through penalty.

Hamilton led Rosberg on Lap 2 by 1 second.

The first half of the Canadian Grand Prix saw a lot of action taking place down the field with drivers such as Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel battling their way through the grid after problems in qualifying struck the drivers. The battle between Felipe Massa and Marcus Ericsson especially on Lap 9 was brilliant to watch; with both drivers respecting the track and each other and Massa ended up winning the battle and gaining track position; even though Ericsson gave him a run for his money.

We also saw Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen having some great battles in the early stages of the race with Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and he was gaining positions after his penalty from Monaco and an engine change yesterday before qualifying.

Nico Hulkenberg and Pastor Maldonado were also battling for sixth place on the circuit with the Lotus driver slowly gaining on the Force India driver lap by lap.

On Lap 28 of the race, we saw Kimi Raikkonen spin his Ferrari at the hairpin after pitting and rejoining on fresh rubber, he was able to keep the car running and continued on in the race. At the end of Lap 29, Hamilton pitted for new tyres and handed the lead to Nico Rosberg. The next lap saw Vettel passing Maldonado for position after Maldonado ran off the circuit and at the end of the lap, Rosberg also pitted for new tyres.

Lap 31 saw Hamilton retaking the lead of the Canadian GP ahead of his team mate Rosberg and he was never challenged until the end of the race despite the gap decreasing and then increasing in the latter stages of the race.

The action still continued down the grid in the second half of the race with drivers such as Daniil Kvyat, Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel all battling for the best position possible on the track.

On Lap 44, Vettel tried to pass Hulkenberg for track position but there was nearly contact between the two at the final corner which resulted in Hulkenberg spinning but able to continue running in the race.

Sadly, Fernando Alonso officially retired from the race on Lap 47 after suffering with a terminal engine problem.

The stewards then announced on the next lap that no further action would be taken against the incident between Vettel and Hulkenberg four laps previously.

At this stage of the race on Lap 49, Hamilton was still leading Rosberg by 1.3 seconds.

While coming to lap Will Stevens on Lap 50, Lotus driver Romain Grosjean made contact with him at the final corner and this ended up with both drivers having to pit at the end of the lap. The stewards announce that they were investigating the incident between the two drivers. Lap 52 sees Grosjean receiving a five second time penalty for his part in his incident with Stevens that would be added to his race time.

Lap 55 saw Vettel pass Maldonado for fifth place with a great move. On Lap 57, Grosjean passed Perez for tenth place.

At the end of Lap 57, Jenson Button officially retired from the race with problems on his McLaren-Honda yet again, a dismal weekend for the Brit.

Lap 63 and Roberto Merhi also officially retired from the race, which is the first of his career and also the first for Manor F1 this season. There was a battle between Kvyat and Grosjean for ninth place on the track which Kvyat held on to despite Grosjean's best attempts to try and get past the Red Bull driver.

But in the end it was Lewis Hamilton who won the Canadian Grand Prix for the fourth time in his career; as well as his fourth race of the season and also achieving Mercedes' first win as a team at the circuit. Nico Rosberg finished in second place ahead of the Williams driver of Valtteri Bottas in third place who scored his first podium of the season.

Kimi Raikkonen finished in fourth place ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel who put in a great performance to finish in fifth place from eighteenth place on the grid. Vettel finished ahead of Felipe Massa who also had a brilliant race from his poor grid start in qualifying to finish in sixth place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in seventh place and Pastor Maldonado who scored his first points of the season in eighth place.

Daniil Kvyat finished the race in ninth place ahead of Lotus driver Romain Grosjean who picked up the final point in tenth place but a five second penalty needs to be taken into consideration.

Sergio Perez finished just out of the points in eleventh place ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr in twelfth place, Daniel Ricciardo who had a disappointing race in thirteenth place, Marcus Ericsson in fourteenth place and Max Verstappen in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Felipe Nasr finished the race in sixteenth place ahead of Will Stevens in seventeenth place. Roberto Merhi did not finish the race nor did the two McLaren-Honda drivers of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.

The classification of the Canadian GP is as follows:-

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.31.53.145
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 2.285s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 40.665s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 45.625s
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 49.903s
6. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 56.387s
7. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 66.664s
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
9. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 1 lap
10. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 1 lap
11. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1 lap
12. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1lap
13. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1lap
14. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
15. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1 lap
16. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 2 laps
17. Will Stevens, Manor, 4 laps
18. Roberto Merhi, Manor, Not Classified
19. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified
20. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified

Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' Championship with 151 points, Rosberg is second with 134 points, Vettel is third with 108 points, Raikkonen is fourth with 72 points, Bottas is fifth with 57 points, Massa is sixth with 47 points, Ricciardo is seventh with 35 points, Kvyat is eighth with 19 points, Grosjean is eighth with 17 points and Nasr is tenth with 16 points.

Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 285 points, Ferrari is second with 180 points, Williams are third with 104 points, Red Bull are fourth with 54 points, Lotus are fifth with 23 points, Sauber are sixth with 21 points, Force India are seventh with 21 points, Toro Rosso are eighth with 15 points and McLaren-Honda are ninth with 4 points.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa

Another great piece from www.grahamandleigh.co.uk