F1 gossip: Valtteri Bottas, Force India, Mercedes, Fernando Alonso

Irene Jacquet

Sebastian Vettel said immediately after winning the Canadian Grand Prix that it had been a "perfect" race - but he could have gone further and claimed it was a flawless weekend.

Vettel managed to place a 1:10.764s on his final run in qualifying to beat Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen in the race for pole, with the German saying starting on the front row in Canada is special for the Italian team.

Cue some serious work overnight, both in Montreal and at Ferrari's Maranello base with reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi putting in the miles in the simulator.

The reigning world champions were already on the back foot when a "quality issue" meant they decided not to bring their upgraded engine to Montreal.

Yet, amid a season in which the balance of power at the front between the top three teams has ebbed and flowed on nearly a race-to-race basis, Hamilton remains convinced Mercedes have it in their power to emerge on top again.

"Yeah I'm fine", Hartley told his team.

Montreal's Lance Stroll, in his home race, made a spectacular impact in his Williams, but not the one for which he would have wished, crashing out in stunning style and sending Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley into the air as well.

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"I hope they don't go to two engines next year because it's just going to get ridiculous", he said.

"By the time I corrected it, we touched and went into the wall". Vettel's lone pit stop on the 38th of 70 laps saw him emerge with a six-second lead that was never threatened.

"I was quite happy with my first run in Q3 but I knew there was something more in the vehicle for the first part of the lap", Vettel continued.

"I'm sure the next couple of days it will get more and more painful because ultimately it was a poor weekend, but it could be a lot worse. I am incredibly grateful it kept going". I think: 'How can I better them? Although the result was not affected, Daniel Ricciardo's fastest lap, which the Australian set at the death, did not count and was instead awarded to his Red Bull team-mate Verstappen. In third place is Bottas with 86 points. "Ferrari have been doing the better job, particularly this month and their whole package has just been a little bit ahead of us".

Given the potential for unpredictability in Formula One and engine reliability likely to become more of a factor come the business end of the season, Hamilton was aware of the importance of getting his auto home to the finish.

Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz of Renault, Esteban Ocon of Force India and Charles Leclerc of Sauber also finished in the points.

New Zealander Hartley had been trying to pass Stroll on the opening lap when the latter had a brief wobble, causing the two to clash.