Formula One

Lewis Hamilton victorious in the Grand Prix du Canada

Ferrari gambles with a one stopper and fails.

Lotus F1 driver Romain Grosjean capitalizes and take second.

Sauber’s one stop strategy pays off with Perez on the podium.

Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix for the third time on Sunday and made his McLaren Mercedes the seventh car in as many Formula One races to win this season.

Hamilton roared past defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari late in the 70-lap race to take the checkered flag with a 2.5-second gap over Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, won in Canada in 2007 and 2010, but was bumped out early last year when his teammate Jenson Button claimed the win.

Sergio Perez was third for Sauber, with Vettel fourth, Alonso fifth, Nico Rosberg sixth in a Petronas Mercedes, Mark Webber of Red Bull seventh, Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus in eighth, Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber ninth and Felipe Massa of Ferrari 10th.

Earlier this year, Button (Australia), Alonso (Malaysia), Rosberg (China), Vettel (Bahrain), Pastor Maldonado (Spain) and Webber (Monaco) won races — a first since F1 began in 1950. Hamilton extended that record to seven different winners.

Vettel, starting from pole position for a second year in a row, held the lead until he pitted for super-soft tires after 16 laps, putting Hamilton in front until he went in a lap later. The Englishman took over the lead and passed Alonso on lap 20, with Vettel back in third spot.

Hamilton’s pitted again after lap 49 with fading tires, returning in third place behind Alonso and Vettel.

On fresh tires, Hamilton cranked up the speed and passed Vettel on lap 62 and Alonso one lap later to regain the lead.