18 June 2023 , 18:15
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Lewis Hamilton promised to give Fernando Alonso "hell" at the Canadian Grand Prix – and immediately followed through on that pledge.
The Brit qualified fourth with his former McLaren team-mate one place ahead of him on the grid. And, after Nico Hulkenberg was given a grid penalty, they both moved up ahead of the start of the race.
Speaking after qualifying, it was clear Hamilton had no intention of staying behind Alonso for long. He promised to give the Aston Martin driver plenty of problems during the Montreal race.
"We are ahead of the Ferraris and Max [Verstappen] will be gone most likely," the Brit said. "But if I can hold onto Alonso and give him hell that's what I'll do."
And that was exactly what he did at the start. He got a better launch than his fellow Formula 1 veteran and made the most of it by roaring past to take second place before they had even reached the first corner.
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It was almost double delight for Mercedes as George Russell also had a go at the Spaniard. But he was too far back to get the move done and so the other Brit had to bide his time before following in his team-mate's footsteps.
But any podium ambitions Russell held soon went out of the window. He hit a wall which caused damage to his car which was not terminal, but did require a lengthy pit stop to get the car into good enough shape so that he could carry on.
Russell's Mercedes was clearly damaged by the impact with the wall (Sky Sports)Asked for feedback about his car by his race engineer, Russell said: "It's a bit bent, but it's okay." However, he was running last of the 19 cars still on track, after Logan Sargeant was forced to retire with a terminal problem.
The good news for Mercedes was that Hamilton was on the heels of Verstappen as a result of the safety car. But, with 55 laps to go, the superior pace of the Red Bull made it a tall order for the seven-time world champion to make any move stick.
It didn't really matter anyway as, upon the restart, Verstappen got exactly the sort of getaway he wanted. The Dutchman soon broke the one-second gap for DRS activation and was able to speed off into the distance again.