F1 Raceweek: Mercedes' tricky starts, Williams motivate

Not for the first time in 2016, Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg struggled as the lights went out in Canada, but why exactly have the two been so poor at starts this year?

Sebastian Vettel began from third on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix but within seconds had taken the lead after a lightning getaway.

Hamilton and Rosberg meanwhile touched while vying for second, with the latter dropping down to as low as 10th as a result of having to go off the track.

But while Hamilton did eventually win the race, mainly due to a Ferrari strategy error, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff knows the team must improve on their starts.

"The purpose of the change in regulation last year was to make the starts more unpredictable and more variable – and this is exactly what's happening," he said ahead of the European Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan.

"You cannot see a pattern throughout the field that some teams always get it right or some teams always get it wrong. We have had some amazing starts before Montreal and in Montreal both of the cars didn't really have a good getaway.

"This is now the nature of the sport. Having said that, you still need to optimise – and there is room for optimisation in the clutches and its operation and the execution with the drivers, all needing to remember it's a tricky operation. But we're working on it."

Joining Hamilton and Vettel on the podium in Montreal was Valtteri Bottas, who guided his Williams car home in third place for back-to-back top-three finishes at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

It was the result the team needed after a horror time in Monaco, and Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams is hoping it is just the start of a string of good races to come.

"I did tell Valtteri not to dare get a podium in Canada if I wasn't there, but he did and it was great for the team to have that and I think we have come here really much more motivated," she said.

"[Baku] hopefully will be a good race for us as well. We've got a string of races coming up where the circuits will all suit our car, so hopefully we'll have a positive few races in the next ones to come."

Romain Grosjean has failed to finish in the points in the last three races following a dream start to the season, but Haas owner Gene Haas believes the team is continuing to make progress, despite a few hiccups.

"I think the team is coalescing together quite well. There's no more scrambling to figure out why this didn't work or that didn't work," he said.

"We had a lot of problems with the simple things like radio communications and electrical boxes and at the last few races we don't have those issues anymore.

"So they're starting to sort out how the cars work, what it takes to put them together. So I think I feel very, very comfortable with the progress the team is making."