Sebastian Vettel has hit out at "short-sighted" critics after being asked whether he felt the Canadian Grand Prix was 'boring', in the wake of taking his third Formula 1 victory of the season.
Vettel controlled proceedings at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, leading throughout, while Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen maintained third and second positions respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo passed Kimi Raikkonen at the start and used the overcut to jump Lewis Hamilton through the pit stop phase for fourth, with their positions subsequently remaining unchanged through to the chequered flag.
Despite not being under much pressure at all during the race, Vettel claimed he was "managing a lot of things" – when pressed on this in the post-race press conference, he had his say on the matter, commenting: "I think the answer to your question is… life.
"Life’s like this, or racing. Racing’s probably like this. I don’t think it’s justified to criticise the racing, or criticise this race. I don't know if it was boring. From my point of view, obviously, it’s still busy inside the car no matter where you are but I don’t like… I don’t know why people today are so short-sighted.
"We have had seven races this year, I think some were phenomenal, some were boring – but [this] week the World Cup is starting and I promise you that a lot of the games will not be exciting – but still people will watch it – but some games will be incredible. That’s what we always look forward to – but it [excitement levels] can’t just always continue to go up and get better.
"So, I don’t know, there’s no reason, don’t even look for an answer, don’t write anything. Write about something else.
"I think we do our job inside the car and if we can race, we race but obviously, we also do our job inside the car and try to avoid racing. Disappear, stay in front, or not get overtaken. And then some races are just exciting and others are not."
Added third-placed Verstappen: "Maybe it’s a little bit boring because you’re not overtaking and fighting but still you need to be focused to handle the car, because the walls are still quite close and you’re sliding around a bit and managing your tyres.
"Yeah, sometimes it is like that, as Seb said; sometimes a bit more exciting than other races. It just happens."
