The 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, formally known as the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2015, was a Formula One motor race held on 7 June 2015 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The race was the seventh round of the 2015 season, and marked the 52nd running of the Canadian Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo was the defending race winner, having won his first ever grand prix the year before.
Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team won the race from pole position, leading for all but one lap of the race. He extended his championship lead over teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished second, to 17 points.
Report
Background
The pit-stop decision that seemingly cost Lewis Hamilton a victory at the previous race in Monaco was still a talking point when the paddock arrived in Canada. In Thursday's press conference however, Hamilton insisted that he "couldn't care less" about the incident, saying: "I can't do anything about the past so there's honestly no point in thinking about it, it is about trying to shape the future."
Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix after causing a collision with Romain Grosjean in Monaco. During the final practice session, Toro Rosso had to equip his car with the fifth internal combustion engine of the season. As he exceeded the limit of four units per power unit element per season, he received an additional ten-place grid penalty.
Minor changes were made to the last right-left chicane of the track. Prior to the first session of the weekend, the stewards placed a bollard in the run-off area to keep the drivers from re-entering the track too early. Ahead of the third practice session on Saturday, an additional orange-coloured kerb was added on the apex of turn 14. The stewards stated that "any driver who fails to negotiate turn 14 by using the track, and who makes contact with any part of the new kerb element, will not be required to keep to the left of the red and white polystyrene block, but must re-join the track safely."
Going into the race, Hamilton was leading the World Drivers' Championship by ten points from teammate Nico Rosberg, who had won the two previous rounds in Spain and Monaco. Sebastian Vettel was third, a further 18 points behind Rosberg. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes was leading Ferrari by 84 points, with Williams down in third.
Free practice
Per the regulations for the 2015 season, three practice sessions were held, two 1.5-hour sessions on Friday and another one-hour session before qualifying on Saturday. During first practice on Friday morning, Lewis Hamilton posted the fastest time – over a second quicker than the fastest time set in first practice in 2014 – and four-tenths of a second ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg in second. Both Lotus and Force India showed good pace with Romain Grosjean and Nico Hülkenberg being third and fourth fastest respectively, though over 1.5 seconds behind Hamilton. Incidents during the session included Hamilton spinning out when his brakes locked up and Carlos Sainz Jr. stopping at the end of pit lane when he set out to post a timed lap towards the end of the session.
In second practice, Hamilton was again quickest but was also caught out again. He went off at the turn ten hairpin and crashed his car while he was doing a run on intermediate tyres in wet conditions – a downpour of rain affected the second half of the session. Most teams sent their drivers out only in the dry first half, setting times on the super-soft tyre compound. Ferrari looked to be significantly closer to Mercedes, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen finishing second and third respectively, less than 0.4 seconds behind Hamilton. Lotus confirmed their good pace from the first session when Pastor Maldonado was fifth fastest, behind Rosberg.
The third practice session on Saturday morning was disrupted by two red flag periods. Twenty minutes into practice, Felipe Nasr lost control of his car when he weaved from side to side on track to increase his tyre temperatures while his drag reduction system (DRS) was open on the first part of the Casino straight, and crashed into the barrier at the inside of the track. After the red flag was lifted, only twelve minutes of the session remained and all drivers took to the track to try out the super-soft compound. This did not last long however, as Jenson Button had to park his car at turn seven, reporting a problem with his power unit. This brought out the red flag once again, effectively ending the session. Nico Rosberg was fastest, half a second ahead of Räikkönen, while Hamilton drove just nine laps, ending the practice with the slowest time set.