8 things you need to know from the Canadian GP as race has bizarre finish

Montreal normally serves up an action packed race, but someone clearly forgot to tell the drivers that, as they served up something of a procession around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

It was not a thriller - though it could have major implications on the championship - and it ended up finishing two laps early because of the actions of a super model friend of Lewis Hamilton.

Here’s how they finished and everything you need to know:

1. Vettel gets right back into title contention

He stormed to pole position on Saturday and finished the job on Sunday with an unruffled performance from the front.

He got a good getaway and thereafter was never troubled as he drove to his first win since Bahrain back in early April.

It is his 50th Grand Prix victory - and the first time Ferrari have won in Canada since Michael Schumacher in 2004.

Nice as the records are, Vettel’s exuberant celebrations when he got out of the car will be more to do with the fact that he came here and beat Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in a straight fight - and on a power circuit - and that he now re-takes the lead of the championship.

He’s now on 121 - just one point ahead of rival Hamilton as we head into the busy summer race programme.

2. The race ended two laps early

Winnie Harlow, a Canadian model and friend of Lewis Hamilton, was in the box over the finish line at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ready to wave the chequered flag, but she went too early and waved it on lap 69 - before leader Sebastian Vettel came round to finish the race.

They did wave it again when Vettel came round, but because of F1's regulations, once the flag is shown the race result must be taken from the previous time the leader crossed the line, meaning the race actually ended on lap 68, not lap 70.

The regulation states: “Should for any reason the end-of-race signal be given before the leading car completes the scheduled number of laps, or the prescribed time has been completed, the race will be deemed to have finished when the leading car last crossed the [finishing] line before the signal was given.”

Major controversy was avoided as none of the points scoring positions changed in the last two laps with Vettel leading home Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen for the podium placings.

But down the field there was bad news for Force India driver Sergio Perez who managed to battle past Kevin Magnussen in the Haas, only to be bumped back down to 14th because of the countback.

3. Lewis had one of his off days

He usually excels around this circuit with six wins in the past ten years, but Hamilton was strangely off form all weekend in Montreal.

He could do no better than fourth in qualifying and lost a place to Daniel Ricciardo during the race to come home fifth.

He does occasionally have races where he’s just not at the, well, races, and he will be hoping the new Mercedes upgrades will be ready for France in two weeks time.

4. Max kept it clean…

He threatened to headbutt someone if he kept getting questions about why he was crashing so much, but Max Verstappen’s forehead can remain bruise-free for the moment after he drove a quick and clean race to third place in Montreal.

He had a good go at Valtteri Bottas in the opening couple of corners but Bottas defended well and thereafter Max did not have the pace to challenge.

But a podium result and a clean weekend is just what the doctor ordered for the young Dutchman.

5. …But not everyone else did

Another man under pressure coming into this race was Brendon Hartley. He had a good day on Saturday and out qualified his team-mate, but his race did not even last one lap after he got sandwiched in-between the wall and Lance Stroll’s Williams, putting them both out of the race.

It was a nasty crash - but could have been so much worse, especially when it looked for a moment like his Toro Rosso might flip over.

Thankfully he and Stroll were unharmed, but Hartley’s chances of retaining his seat in F1 might not be.

6. McLaren woes take the shine of Alonso’s 300th race

It looks more and more like this will be Fernando Alonso’s last season in F1.

He was ‘celebrating’ his 300th Grand Prix this weekend but once again his machinery let him down and he was forced to retire his sick car on lap 42.

It means McLaren have a car that is both slow and unreliable. You can see why Alonso is getting sick of it all.

7. What happened to the usual Montreal thriller?

It usually serves up good racing - and some of the absolute best races of all time have been around this track - but today’s Grand Prix will not go down as one of those.

Scarcely any overtakes to speak of (and the one there was - Alonso taking Charles Leclerc - was missed by the TV director), very little close racing, and the main excitement coming from Daniel Ricciardo using the lesser-spotted ‘overcut’ to take Hamilton - perhaps Winnie Harlow was taking pity on us all by waving that flag early.

As Kimi Raikkonen said afterwards: “It was a really boring race.” Amen, Kimi. Amen.

8. Leclerc stars again

He out-qualified both McLarens on Saturday, then drove his Sauber to tenth to secure another points finish.

Charles Leclerc has taken to F1 like a very fast duck to water and surely destined for greatness.

By contrast Kimi Raikkonen got overtaken by Ricciardo on the opening lap, then finished sixth, almost half a minute behind his team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

If you were running Ferrari, who would you put in the car next year, Kimi or Leclerc? I know who I’d pick…