MONTREAL - Lewis Hamilton quickly put his Monaco pit stop blunder - and everyone else in the Formula One field - behind him.
The reigning world champion won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, leading from the pole to the checkered flag with no threat from anyone except his Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg. Hamilton's problems in the previous race were also internal: A late strategic decision by his team cost him a chance at a fourth victory of the year.
He made up for it the very next chance he got.
"Did I need this?" he asked the cheering crowd after returning to the top of the podium for the first time since winning three of the first four races of the season. "I think so," he said with a smile. "I think so."
A four-time winner on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and the current leader in the Formula One standings, Hamilton finished the 70 laps on Montreal's Isle Notre-Dame in 1 hour, 31 minutes, 53.145 seconds - 2.285 seconds faster than Rosberg in the other Silver Arrow Mercedes.
"Great to get back on the top step," said Hamilton, who expanded his lead against Rosberg in the championship standings to 151-134. "It was a great race. I don't know how good it was to watch."
Hamilton's only stumble was when he locked his brakes a few laps from the end.
Rosberg briefly took the lead when his teammate pitted during lap 29, but Hamilton took it right back when the German stopped to change his tires a lap later.
"I was pushing like mad to try to put the pressure on, but he didn't make any mistakes," said Rosberg, who had won the previous two races. "It was a good race. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it happen. But second place - still OK."
Valtteri Bottas was third, giving Williams its first appearance on the podium all season, thanks to a spinout by Kimi Raikkonen in the 27th lap. Despite posting the fastest lap of the day - with an average speed of 126.7 mph - the Finn finished fourth, right ahead of Ferrari teammate Sebastien Vettel.