Admitting that pole position was crucial, Montreal winner George Russell also credits the cooler conditions in the race.
Claiming his first win since Las Vegas, and Mercedes first of the year, the moment was made even more special by the fact that the Briton was joined on the podium by teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Taking full advantage of pole position, a superb start saw Russell lead the field into Turn 1 and around Turn 2 without any of the anticipated (hoped for?) fireworks much of the media had predicted.
“No contact, that’s great to see,” said Sky’s David Croft, clearly lying through his teeth, as Russell quickly built a 1.5s lead over Max Verstappen.
In the early stages the Dutchman continued to apply pressure, hoping to force Russell into a mistake or at least risk his tyres, but to no avail, and by half-distance he was maintaining a four-second lead.
In the final stages of the race, before Norris’ moment of madness, when Verstappen once again began to close, from out of nowhere Russell posted a new fastest lap, indicating that, Safety Car or no Safety Car, he had it under control.
“It’s amazing to be back on the top step,” said the Briton at race end. “Obviously, last time for us was back in Vegas.
“I felt last year was a victory lost,” he added, referring to twelve months ago, when he was told to “focus” by Toto Wolff after making a couple of needless mistakes that cost him victory, “and then obviously we got a victory today, probably due to the incredible pole lap yesterday.
“I’m so happy to see Kimi on the podium as well,” he added. “So, amazing day for the team. Thanks to everybody back at the factories, been working so hard to get us back fighting for victories.”
Asked if he felt the conditions helped, he said: “It’s a little bit cooler. You know, we saw it last year in Canada.
“I’d love to get our hopes up, but I think the strength of our car is in these cooler conditions,” he admitted. “Let’s see going into the coming races, but we’ll just enjoy it for now.”
Asked if he feels he can be competitive in Austria, he said: “Time will tell, time will tell.
“I mean, we won Austria last year,” he added, “so maybe that’s a good omen, but we’ll enjoy it for the time being.
“We did have high expectations coming into this weekend, and it worked out as we thought so yeah, good day.”
Check out our Sunday gallery from Montreal here.
