Written by Owen Bradley
Max Verstappen Won at a soaking Canadian Grand Prix, with multiple Safety Cars being deployed.
Formula One returns to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix. A soaking start, with rain falling before the race, the field starting on both the intermediate or full wet compounds. George Russell started on pole, with Max Verstappen and the McLaren's behind.
Grand Prix
A relatively tentative start for the field, with Russell holding the lead of the race off the start, as Daniel Ricciardo made a false start, earning a 5-second penalty to serve at the first round of pit stops. Both Haas' started on the full wet compound tyres, with Kevin Magnussen coming through the field from 14th and eventually making it up into the Top 5.
Eventually, once the wet compound runners had their pace neutralised due to the changing conditions, both Haas cars would pit and drop further back into the field. A slow stop from Magnussen would put him out into 13th, unfortunately just one place higher than where he started, despite making excellent progress early on.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri caught right up to the leading field, catching Russell and Verstappen by over a second per lap. Eventually, Verstappen made a mistake and run wide at Turn 1, over the grass of Turn 2, leading to Norris catching right up to the rear diffuser of the Red Bull. Russell would then begin losing a lot of time to all the cars behind, making minor mistakes.
The McLaren's seemed to favour the first sector, managing to get the car to hit each apex and minimise wheelspin out of the corner, which other cars had seemingly struggled with.
Logan Sargeant would spin his Williams around at Turn 4's downhill left hander, bringing out the Safety Car and also beginning the first major first pit stop phase, with most drivers choosing to take another set of the intermediate tyres.
After the Safety Car restart, Lewis Hamilton would eventually make his way past Fernando Alonso, as the McLaren's battled it out against George Russell. Verstappen would make a healthy lead of around five seconds, Lando Norris had stayed out front, but eventually lost his lead to Verstappen, and was put back behind Russell.
Sergio Perez would spin his Red Bull at Turn 6, the car spun itself round mid-corner as his rear wing broke. Just one lap later, Carlos Sainz would also get offline slightly and onto the wet line, spinning his Ferrari in the middle of the circuit. Alex Albon would be unable to avoid the spinning Ferrari, the Williams would end up crashing into the outside barrier, and would be forced to retire from the race.
A final Safety Car period would clear, as Verstappen made an excellent restart, leading the way once again by a few seconds. Lando Norris would begin chasing after Verstappen, as Piastri and Russell battled it out for the final podium place, with Russell even squeezing Piastri right onto the apex of the penultimate corner, the Mercedes running wide and through the chicane.
Hamilton would overtake Russell, and eventually managed to get through on Piastri. However, with Russell on the medium tyres, he also managed to close on his teammate. With just a few laps remaining, Russell and Hamilton battled one another on the final back straight, with Russell eventually diving to the inside and taking the final podium place.
Max Verstappen would lead across the finish line to take the chequered flag, and take another victory, the first in a little while for the Dutchman. Lando Norris would finish in second, as Russell completed the podium places.
Grand Prix Results
1st Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2nd Lando Norris, McLaren
3rd George Russell, Mercedes
4th Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
5th Oscar Piastri, McLaren
6th Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
7th Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
8th Daniel Ricciardo, RB
9th Pierre Gasly, Alpine
10th Esteban Ocon, Alpine
11th Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
12th Kevin Magnussen, Haas
13th Valtteri Bottas, Sauber
14th Yuki Tsunoda, RB
15th Guanyu Zhou, Sauber
DNF Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
DNF Alex Albon, Williams
DNF Sergio Perez, Red Bull
DNF Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
DNF Logan Sargeant, Williams
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