Lewis Hamilton heads back to Europe the master of Montreal once again, taking his fifth victory in Canada.
For the second race running, the world champion took advantage of an open goal, left by a rival team’s error, proving why he is still, to many, the man at Mercedes.
Compare his mood on the podium on Sunday, to that in China after his team-mate Nico Rosberg opened up a 43-point lead and you’d think the first four races had never happened.
Now Hamilton is around four-fifths closer to the German in the championship, and the momentum couldn’t be further in his favour.
Sure we could put that down to Rosberg enduring the poor luck that Lewis himself had earlier in the year, but perhaps that would be viewing Nico favourably.
What has changed since Rosberg won in China is the competition is now much tighter.
Sure Red Bull and Ferrari were knocking on the door but since Monaco they have smashed that door down and now, at most races, anyone of six men could realistically take the top step on the podium.
When it was just Mercedes alone at the front, a poor race for Hamilton was all it took for Rosberg to win, and when Nico had a bad race he would have likely still finished second, but now the result is much more catastrophic.
Seventh in Monaco and fifth in Canada only have the gap shrink by 34 points and an immediate end to the bleeding is needed in Baku.
Yes, brake issues contributed to the poor result in Monte Carlo, but Rosberg would have only gained one maybe two positions at the most if hadn’t had the second stop in Montreal.
I say maybe because he never really looked like getting past – eventual third-place man – Valtteri Bottas in their wheel-to-wheel battle. Add to that Rosberg’s error attempting to pass Max Verstappen and his weakness at making decisive overtakes is on full show.
Would have Hamilton at worst finished fourth if he had his team-mate’s race? I’m pretty sure the answer is yes.
That is where Lewis will always prove more valuable to Mercedes. The gap isn’t going to get any bigger to the two teams behind, indeed, last weekend should have been one of the Silver Arrows’ strongest circuits!
What about Silverstone, Hungaroring and Hockenheim to come? Not so many straight bits to keep Red Bull back there.
But then this brings me on to the matter of the chasing pack. Ferrari, why oh why did you pit Sebastian Vettel? Just like Red Bull did with Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco they gave Mercedes the one thing they absolutely love, a clear track.
Sure Vettel was faster than Hamilton for much of the race, but the gap was never coming down fast enough to really mount a threat.
If the Ferrari hadn’t jumped the final chicane twice late on, the gap by the checkered flag would have still been two-to-three seconds being generous.
Giving Mercedes a clear track lets them look after the tyres, run in a rhythm and puts no pressure on the pit-wall for them to change anything.
Hamilton himself admitted his team were considering a two-stop strategy for the race, but as soon as they had the chance to control the pace that’s exactly what they did.
Massive kudos has to go to Williams and Bottas. Yes, Montreal is their strongest track, perhaps outside of Monza, and the Finn is something of a specialist, but if it wasn’t for their disappointing single lap pace in qualifying they could have won the race such was their top speed!
It also came at a key moment for Bottas as he has fallen out of favour among those younger drivers being touted for the future.
Hopefully, he can use the confidence gained by this result to refind the form of 2013 and 2014 when he certainly considered by many to be a future world champion.
As for Williams, after Baku they will likely drop down to the fourth best team, but at the power circuits like Canada, and the one expected this weekend in Azerbaijan, it is their chance to exploit Red Bull’s weakness and beat the other guy at Ferrari (sorry Kimi I think it’s time to hang up the helmet).
I will address Daniel Ricciardo in another article here for Read Motorsport, but a quick mention about Max Verstappen.
I had my doubts about the timing of his move to Red Bull. Though I understood the reasoning behind it, his errors in Monaco did seem to back me up..
However, taking advantage of the recovering Rosberg at the start to overtake his team-mate, Max put not a foot wrong en route to what was realistically Red Bull’s best hope for a result.
The Tag Heuer-branded Renault power unit is much improved, but it felt as if perhaps both Max and Ricciardo were having to watch the fuel gauge a little more than the others because at times the pace was there but at others it was not.
The tyres may have played a role also, but it was still not the race many were expecting from those in the RB12’s.
Force India continue to be a team that get the best from their package. While perhaps it wasn’t the optimum race for Nico Hulkenberg or Sergio Perez, eighth and tenth is the best they could have hoped for.
The final points scorer was the ever-impressive Carlos Sainz. Using a 2015-spec Ferrari engine in a car known more for aerodynamic ability, the Spaniard produced an excellent recovery from his unlucky crash in qualifying to go from 20th to ninth.
If it hadn’t been for Bottas, he would have certainly been my driver of the day.
But the last word must go to the race winner Lewis Hamilton. Rejuvenated, more focused than perhaps he might have been a few races ago, while he may still be second in the drivers’ championship he may have just returned to the position of favourite to claim a fourth world title.
As we’ve seen the pendulum can swing very abruptly in a short space of time.
But with Rosberg seeing a much larger challenge from Hamilton and the four drivers breathing down Mercedes’ neck, it’s up to him to rise up under pressure and the answer to that will reveal if he is really world champion material or not.
