Lewis Hamilton dedicated his victory at the Canadian Grand Prix to the late Muhammad Ali.
Hamilton made it back-to-back victories with a well-executed one-stop strategy in Montreal, beating Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the process. Hamilton was one of the F1 drivers to pay tribute to boxing legend Ali after his death last week and after taking the chequered flag quoted one of the former world heavyweight champion's most famous lines.
"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! That one was for Muhammad guys, that was for Ali..." he said on the radio after the race.
He later said: "I never really dedicate wins to anyone, but someone who really inspired me so much throughout my life was Muhammad Ali. I wanted to give this one to his fans. In the last 15 laps all I could think about was him and the Rumble in the Jungle, it was really weird. I was driving down and thinking of him and maybe how he was watching the race, I don't know!
"I think it's the same for everyone really. He was such a unique, iconic individual who had a character like no-one elses. Everyone aspired to be like him, I think. I wish I could have spoken with the charisma he did, or the comedic side he would have, the confidence he would carry into a fight and out-smart and out-fight his opponent.
"But the things he stood for politically, believing in who you are and not letting anyone dictating who you have to be ... as a kid when I saw that I thought this is a guy and an athlete I want to be like. Coming from a family of similar background in the terms of ethnicity it was someone to look up to -- in Formula One there was no-one of the same colour for me to look up to so it was an athlete for me to look up to."
The win moves Hamilton nine points behind Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, a gap that was 43 points just two races ago. The start of the race saw Hamilton force Rosberg off the circuit after Vettel had jumped both Mercedes drivers into Turn 1, something the world champion admitted was a "horrible" situation to be in.
"Today I had another really bad start, I'm not sure why -- maybe overheated my clutch. Sebastian and Nico got quite a good run into Turn 1. Tyres are cold, big understeer, and I'm very grateful me and Nico didn't damage anything on our cars."
That start saw Hamilton trailing Vettel but Ferrari soon put the German on a different strategy, switching to a two-stopper. Hamilton stayed on a one-stop, meaning he had to complete 45 laps on the soft tyre, but Vettel was only able to get within four seconds at the end as Mercedes showed its pace in the final stages of the race.
"After that it was trying chase this guy [Vettel] down. The car felt fantastic, I think we got the set-up work right with great work from the engineers and mechanics."