Sebastian Vettel finished second, ahead of Valtteri Bottas. Here's what the F1 2016 grid had to say after the seventh round of the year. Lewis Hamilton
"I don't know what happened at the start. My practice start before the formation lap was perfect and I thought "this is going to be a breeze, getting off the line". But when it came around for real it felt like I was going nowhere, so I need to figure out what happened there. I then got massive understeer into Turn 1 with cars attacking from all sides and had an unfortunate tap with Nico.
"After that it was just about trying to hunt down Sebastian. He was lightning on the first lap and we both had good pace from there. Other than one small lockup into Turn 10 I didn't make any mistakes all race, so I was really happy with that. It was very much about managing tyres today and the team were spot on with the strategy call. I really enjoyed the race - everything went unbelievably smoothly.
"Every time Sebastian closed up I just had enough to keep the gap. I was just so in the groove. Over the last 10-15 laps all I could think of was Muhammad Ali - float like a butterfly, sting like a bee - because it really felt like I was floating. For me, and everyone I'm sure, he was such an inspirational figure, so that one was for him. I won my first ever race here in 2007 and this feels just as great. It's such a blessing. Thanks to everyone who came out today. We come here every year and have the best week."
Sebastian Vettel
"Today it was a great race, I enjoyed every single lap and it’s just a shame that the trophy is not as big as it could have been. There’s no reason to give the team any criticism for the strategy: when I pitted for the first time we thought it would be quicker, so I was happy to come in. We expected obviously the tires to last a little bit less, but they didn’t. The good news is the car is working, we had a normal Saturday, which allowed us to have a great race.
"I had a perfect start, I reacted well to the light going off, I did not look at the others and only focused on myself and was able to fly past and by turn 1 it was done. I was very happy to be in the lead and push properly and then probably in the last corner I pushed a bit too much. Of course I would have loved to hit more than 1 or 2 tenths per lap, maybe 3, maybe 7 tenths for lap, but I think it was a great race and you should not get overexcited with strategy.
"In my point of view, I know that we have the best people in terms of strategy. I know that this car is a step forward, we know also that there’s still potential, and we’re not yet where we want to be. I also think we put ourselves under enormous pressure because we want to win. As a team, we came here and did our best, this weekend we were very close and hopefully next week we’ll be there."
Daniel Ricciardo
"The start initially was okay, the Mercedes were really slow so there wasn’t really anywhere to go and then out of Turn 2 with Rosberg coming back on, I had to go on the inside, Max was on the outside and then I lost a position there.
"Then we were a bit quicker than Max on the first stint with the ultra softs and I said I could be quicker if I had clean air, but after my first pit stop I locked the softs and ruined that set of tyres. I came in again and had traffic to Kimi, we were able to stay with him but damaging the tyres too much to really make an impact and pass.
"I think we didn’t have the best race today, fortunately in seven days we’ll get another chance. We definitely need to make it a better Sunday in Baku. I’m always excited to go to a new track. It’s a street circuit as well so it should be fun."
"I’m very happy with what we achieved as a team today. It’s a shame with what happened to Felipe, but this gives us a big motivation boost for the next few races. I think today shows that we are a strong team who can deliver good results.
"Our strategy was great and our pitstop was really good, yet again. It was definitely one of my best races. I’m really pleased with today and looking forward to the next race."
Nico Hulkenberg
"I’m happy to score points, but at the same time I was hoping for a bit more from the race because I really believed we could challenge the top six. For some reason the car didn’t feel as good today as it did during practice and qualifying.
"Maybe it’s because the conditions were so cold and windy, which meant we lost the sweet spot and the car was not easy to drive. That’s something we need to look at in more detail and understand.
"At the start I didn’t get off the line very well, but I had a great first lap and recovered some positions. Then, the story of my race was simply tyre management. I think we made the right calls with the tyre strategy because even though we wanted to try and one stop it just wasn’t possible in the end."
Kevin Magnussen
"Firstly I need to say thanks to my crew who worked so hard to build a new chassis for this race after my crash yesterday. This aspect really shows the teamwork which exists in the team and I’m happy to be part of it as we will all keep pushing hard.
"On track we struggled and P16 is not where we wanted to be. It was a cold track out there and we just couldn’t get the performance we wanted. The race was pretty straightforward for me and sadly there weren’t the opportunities to move forward. We definitely want better next time out."
"A really good race for me today here in Montreal! If you had told me before the race that I would have finished in P9 after starting P20, I would’ve probably signed immediately! I’m really happy to have made it back into the points, I enjoyed it a lot out there. We chose the right moment for our first pit-stop, going for the undercut, and I then did five or six qualifying laps on the Soft tyre, which allowed me to overtake five or six cars and keep up with the Force India.
"Even if I hadn’t made yesterday’s mistake in qualifying, more than a P8 this weekend was impossible, so we can be happy and satisfied with our weekend. A result like today’s shows that we are strong and that we are constantly improving. Today we did the right strategy and good pit-stops, so I’d like to congratulate the whole team for this weekend, it’s been great."
Felipe Nasr
"It was a disappointing race for me. My race start was ok, but then suddenly in Turn 3 I was hit from behind. It was very unfortunate and an unnecessary move. This compromised my race from there on.
"I tried my best to recover, and in the end I was able to put in decent lap times on the soft tyres. That’s how racing goes sometimes, but now I look forward to Baku. I am always up for new challenges."
Fernando Alonso
"A tough race – we didn’t have the pace to be competitive today. I enquired about the possibility of fitting fresh tyres for the last few laps, but I guess it was a little too much of a risk: at that point we were 11th and stood to score a point or two at the end if something were to have happened ahead of us.
"Still, I’d done more than 50 laps on those tyres – and the two-stoppers were a lot faster than me. I guess we were a bit unlucky – we really needed some rain or a Safety Car to put us back in the fight. Ultimately, I think our strategy was the right one – it was the quickest way home.
“Anyway, we’ll now work hard to try to improve the pace for the next race."
"I got a very good start and managed to leapfrog Palmer and keep both Saubers behind me before the first pit stop, although we had picked up some damage to the floor when we arrived at the grid and I was losing lap time.
"By the time we got to the final stop I was struggling with the tyres and that allowed Ericsson to get past. I was still able to finish ahead of Nasr, which is positive, although it’s disappointing not to be able to hold off both. I’m looking forward to Baku when we will hopefully get the chance to show more of our improvement."
Romain Grosjean
"We’re not far from the points. I was up to P11 or so, trying to fight hard and doing everything I could, and then the front wing went. That third pit stop definitely cost us everything we had been working for.
"We need to look more deeply into that issue to get it sorted. There are plenty of other areas where we can improve but, generally, the more we do, the more we understand the car and the better things get. Flying to Canada and not scoring any points is difficult. I’m sure the next race will be another step, and if we learn more, the better we’ll get."
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