Lewis Hamilton cruises to win Canadian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stopped the rot in his title charge as he won the Canadian Grand Prix with an easy jog in this Montreal park, writes Byron Young in Montreal.

But with the sport under siege for its lack of entertainment and unnecessary complexity, it was not the fare the sport’s rulers were looking for.

It was probably the worst Montreal race of recent times.

There were plenty of stars in the audience with celluloid legends Michael Douglas and Al Pacino making an appearance. If the stars were supposed to be the cars it certainly didn’t work out that way.

World champion Hamilton thundered away at the head of the field and was never seriously challenged as he took victory number four of the season.

Teammate Nico Rosberg gradually slipped into the distance and though he closed once never mounted a true challenge. And that will lead to renewed calls for the sport to get its house in order.

Hamilton, though, could celebrate a good day in the office - and a championship back on track.

After successive defeats, including the painful disasters of Monte Carlo, this win was as easy as they come. And he stretched his lead to 17 points after seven of 19 rounds.

Asked on the podium if this result made up for Monaco, Hamilton said: “Did I need this? I think so. My first win, in 2007, was here so to be back up here [on the top step of the podium] is historic.”

There was only one point which the German had looked to be getting anywhere even close.

And it was carefully calculated, with Rosberg being warned just after half distance: “brake wear is now critical. Manage them now before you attack Lewis.”

He would have been well aware that the failure of their hybrid systems caused Hamilton’s brakes to explode last yea and left him to limp home – victory gone.

Behind the Mercedes, their rivals were failing apart.

Kimi Raikkonen spun at turn 10 on lap 28 - his first lap on fresh rubber - to squander any chance of victory for the improved Ferrari car, and Sebastian Vettel, who started on the penultimate row of the grid because of electronic problems, clipped a concrete wall and hit Fernando Alonso.

Seeing the German surge past in his old car while he was being urged to save fuel was probably the final straw for the Spaniard in the stuttering McLaren-Honda challenge.

He raged on the team radio about the lack of speed, reliability and fuel consumption.

It’s not uncommon to have one or two or those – but not all three.

“We look like amateurs,” he ranted.

And it was hard to argue.

Button saw so many parts of his engine changed he had to start from the back of the grid - and with a stop-go penalty as well.

If there has been a worse race in McLaren’s history, it has not been in last three decades.

Told to save fuel, Alonso replied: “I don’t want to.”

His eventual retirement – his third in succession – came after 45 laps.

“I lost power. Nothing is working,” he said.

His teammate’s disasters had started the previous day. Button didn't even get to START qualifying because of various failures and was subsequently hit with a 15-place grid penalty and the stop-go penalty he served the very first time around.

His race was to last only a dozen laps more than Alonso’s.

Romain Grosjean braked after overtaking Will Stevens and was slapped with a five-second grid penalty.

“Where does he want me to go? “ asked an astonished Stevens, who finished 17th.

Later, Hamilton added: “When he [Rosberg] closed, I was fuel saving. So when the gap got to one second I got on to it again. I was quickest all that race weekend as well, not a relief just feels good to continue with good strength and the team to move forwards.”

“It was great throwing it up on the kerbs close to the walls. It’s a bit like a kart track.

“Kimi spun and Seb was not there so we didn’t see Ferrari’s true pace this weekend. Maybe in the next race [Austria on June 21] we will.”

Rosberg admitted: “I was pushing like mad to put the pressure on but he didn’t make any mistakes, fair play. It was a good race but I couldn’t quite make it happen.”

“The start was good but not enough to challenge Lewis."

The sport leaves Canada under a serious cloud this race failed to dispell.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has been one of the sport’s sternest critics of late. He has repeated calls for F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone to take control away from the teams.

“F1 is too complicated, there are too many chefs," said Horner. "The teams represent their own interests - of course they are going to represent their own positions.

“We need strong leadership. Elements of the sport are great. The grandstands are full today - but it can be better.

“Bernie and Jean need to get together and decide what they want F1 to be. Asking the teams to do it is never going to happen.

“They, with CVC, are the owners of the sport. They have got to say, 'This is what we want it to be - and if you don’t like it, don’t enter.'"

Hamilton may have been punching the air as he crossed the finish line but he was probably alone in his celebration of what the world saw here.

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