Before the race had begun, however, it was all smiles for Hamilton, with not a
clue of the traumas which were to come. The Mercedes pair toured the circuit
in Austin Healeys and stopped for a joint interview. Hamilton even put his
arm on Rosberg’s shoulder.
However, as the pair hared to the first corner, all niceties were swiftly
discarded. The Briton got the better start, trying to inch his way around
the outside into turn one. The German firmly and fairly shut the door.
Hamilton took avoiding action, and fell behind Vettel to slot into third.
After a quarter of a century of race finishes, the first lap of the 26th was a
dire affair for Max Chilton. Marussia won their first points in Monaco; in
Montreal their two drivers collided.
Once the mass of debris had been cleared, the safety car pulled into the pits
on lap seven and Rosberg bolted. It was crucial for Hamilton to dispatch
Vettel in quick order. On lap 10, Vettel was powerless to resist a DRS pass
down the long back straight. In normal circumstances in 2014, this would
have been it. Not at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Hamilton had the bit between his teeth. Fastest lap after fastest lap reeled
Rosberg in and by the 25th time around, the gap was down to half a second.
The pressure on the German was building enormously. At the final chicane
before the wall of champions, he buckled.
With a huge puff of smoke as he locked the front left tyre, Rosberg missed the
chicane. There was no doubt the German had gained an advantage – around half
a second – but he was not penalised.
Ricciardo, way out of contention, could not imagine what was about to unfold.
For the first time all season, both Mercedes hit trouble. Hamilton
complained of losing power and so did Rosberg. With 30 laps to go, the so
far infallible Mercedes were losing around two seconds a lap to the chasing
pack. A failure with the energy recovery systems was the cause. Would a
simple reset solve the problem? It seemed like the Mercedes pair were
driving 200mph computers rather than F1 cars. Severely weakened, they
soldiered on.
Then, all of a sudden, came pandemonium and the fatal blow for Hamilton.
Hamilton slowed after 45 laps and the entire field swept by. Not for the first
time this year his Mercedes had let him down with catastrophic consequences.
The dream of an unprecedented six straight one-two finishes for Mercedes was
over and Hamilton’s title aspirations had taken an enormous setback.
With 20 laps remaining, it was anyone’s guess who would be victorious.
Rosberg was leading but was still down on power on the straights. He now had
Sergio Perez, Ricciardo, Vettel and Felipe Massa all less than two seconds
behind.
Somehow, crippled machinery and all, the German was holding the chasing three
off. Then with four laps to go Ricciardo muscled by Perez at turn one and
set after the German. With two laps to go, he made the move that his
superlative start to his Red Bull career has deserved.
On the final lap, all Massa’s and Perez’s good work was undone. The Brazilian,
caught unaware by issues with the Mexican’s brakes, ploughed into the side
of the Force India. Both were taken to hospital but were unhurt. After the
final twist, the safety car was out and the race was done.
Red Bull and Ricciardo were ecstatic. Rosberg was quietly delighted, while
Hamilton needed a stiff drink to mull over the disappointment. Everyone else
watching needed a lie down.