Lewis Hamilton dedicates Canadian Grand Prix victory to Ali

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," he radioed to his crew on Sunday after winning the Canadian Grand Prix for the fifth time, and the second in a row. "That was for Muhammad Ali."

Continuing Mercedes Formula One dominance, Hamilton took advantage of Sebastian Vettel's two-pit stop strategy to claim his 45th career F1 win.

Vettel took the early lead with an audacious move at the start, but gave it back for good when the Ferrari went to the pits -- for the second time -- in lap 37. Hamilton made it through the 70 laps on the 2.71-mile (4.363-km) Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with one stop, finishing in 1 hour, 31 minutes, 5.296 seconds, about 5 seconds ahead of Vettel.

Afterward, Hamilton dedicated the victory to Ali, who died last week, and said he couldn't stop thinking about the former heavyweight champ -- even with 15 laps still to go.

"I never really dedicate wins to anyone, but it's someone that's really inspired me so much throughout my life," Hamilton said. "I was driving, and I was just thinking of him, and thinking maybe he would be watching the race, I don't know. So that's to him and his family. Rest in peace."

With the victory, Hamilton cut Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg's lead in the championship standings from 24 points to nine, 116-107.

Vettel moved into third in the points race, with 78, and said he doesn't second-guess the team's calculation that fresher tires would help him catch Hamilton.

"I will always defend our strategies," said Vettel, who won here in 2013 on his way to a fourth straight Formula One championship. "That's a decision we do as a team. Kept in hindsight, it's always easy."

Williams' Valtteri Bottas was third -- his best finish of the season and his sixth time collecting points in seven races. Red Bull rookie Max Verstappen, the only non-Mercedes driver to pick up a win this year, was fourth.

Growing up in Britain and setting his sights on a sport that had few black role models, Hamilton said Ali was someone he latched onto as a child. "Obviously, in Formula One, there was no one of the same colour as us as a family, so it was another athlete for me to look up to," he said.

"I think he was just a unique, iconic individual who had a character unlike anyone else's. And everyone aspired to be like him," Hamilton said. "I wish I could have spoken with the charisma that he would have, or the comedic side that he had, that confidence that he could carry into a fight and outwit and outsmart his opponents.