Canadian GP winner Lewis Hamilton says he had the race under control

Canadian GP winner Lewis Hamilton insisted afterwards that he had the race under control, even though Nico Rosberg shadowed him closely throughout Sunday's race in Montreal.

Hamilton finished 2.2 seconds ahead of his Mercedes team-mate - about as big a gap as existed between them throughout the 70-lap race.

With the pair starting the race one-two on the grid, Rosberg had Hamilton in his sights pretty much throughout - particularly after the pair made their first and only pit stops.

Yet Hamilton didn’t make so much as a mistake, winning for the fourth time at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to open up a 17-point lead over Rosberg in the drivers' championship.

"I didn't feel like I had the most comfortable balance. Generally I had a lot of understeer; I never felt too much under pressure but Nico was quick, but I always felt under control," Hamilton said afterwards.

"I felt like I had a bit of time in my pocket to pull it out when I needed to. It was never too serious.

"It was a great race. I don't know what it was like to watch, but it felt intense. I really enjoyed it."

With Hamilton and Rosberg pitting on laps 29 and 30 respectively, the gap between the pair yo-yoed between one and two seconds from there on in as they were instructed to manage their W06s.

Brake wear was the issue as far as Rosberg was concerned, whereas Hamilton was told to 'lift and coast' to save fuel.

Yet according to the world champion: "It never got critical at all

"I think there were two different approaches: they suggested that I pushed, got the gap and later on did my fuel saving," Hamilton explained to Sky Sports F1.

"The problem with that is when the tyres are at their lowest in terms of rubber, they lose temperature and the brakes lose temperature and you lose too much pace.

"With about 25 laps to go, I was thinking 'I'll save all my fuel now, so I can push towards the end'.

"I did enough and that's when Nico got close. But I was able to fuel save while keeping out of DRS and after that I was able to eke out what I needed."

Hamilton said he had used more fuel than usual on the 4.361km track and suggested that Rosberg had had it easier in that regard.

"I didn't have less fuel to start with. We had new engines this weekend and definitely earlier on in the weekend, mine was guzzling more just through settings," he said.

"I was doing the same driving and actually more 'lift and coast' and yet I was using more fuel. I wouldn't be surprised if that was still the case today.

"Generally, if you're behind someone here, you've got the slipstream the whole time, so automatically you use less fuel."

The win is a timely boost for Hamilton after Mercedes' strategy error cost him victory in Monaco a fortnight ago - where, he said, he had actually felt stronger.

"The last race was pretty amazing throughout the weekend," he added. "Whilst it was a disappointing result at the end, the whole weekend strengthened my team and it was a great weekend in terms of our pace.

"We came here and there was a little less pace in the race than I’d hoped for, but I’m just grateful I got both the pole and the win."