Verstappen wins gripping, chaotic Canadian GP from rueful rivals

Max Verstappen won a chaotic and gripping Canadian Grand Prix with Lando Norris and George Russell left to reflect on what might have been after a race of high drama amid on-off rain in Montreal.

In an unpredictable 70-lap race that featured four changes of lead and two Safety Car periods triggered by crashes, Verstappen impressively returned to winning ways a fortnight after Red Bull’s miserable Monaco for his sixth win of the season to re-establish a more comfortable world-championship lead, of 56 points.

McLaren’s Norris twice led the race – the first time after overtaking both Verstappen and Russell – but had to settle for second after the cards did not fall in his favour, particularly under the first Safety Car.

Polesitter Russell ended up third for Mercedes and looked particularly crestfallen after a topsy-turvy race in which he made several mistakes and collided with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Dropping to fourth after that latter incident following the race’s second Safety Car period, Russell was then overtaken by Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who went on to overtake Piastri cleanly soon afterwards and move into the final podium place with five laps to go.

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But Russell rallied late on and repassed Hamilton on the penultimate lap to ensure he was still the driver to seal Mercedes’ first Grand Prix podium of 2024 in the season’s ninth round.

Fourth still represented Hamilton’s best result on a Sunday so far this year, although the seven-time Montreal victor, who qualified six places behind Russell in seventh, still described it as “one of the worst races I’ve driven”.

Overtaken by both Mercedes cars, who had been the only leading cars to pit for a second set of dry tyres, Oscar Piastri ended up fifth in the second McLaren.

Aston Martin took sixth and seventh with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, Canada’s home driver, respectively.

In a fraught race-long fight for the final points positions, Daniel Ricciardo overcame a five-second time penalty for a jump start to fight back and cap the best weekend of his disappointing season so far in eighth. Alpine also scored crucial points with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ninth and 10th.

Ferrari remain Red Bull’s nearest challengers in the Constructors’ Championship but their Montreal weekend – which many pundits had installed them as favourites for after winning in Monaco – turned into the stuff of nightmares.

Having already slumped to a double Q2 exit in qualifying to leave them starting outside of the top 10, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggled in the race and both eventually retired to bring up the Scuderia’s first point-less race since Australia 2023.

Canadian GP result: Top 10

1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull

2) Lando Norris, McLaren

3) George Russell, Mercedes

4) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

5) Oscar Piastri, McLaren

6) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin

7) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin

8) Daniel Ricciardo, RB

9) Pierre Gasly, Alpine

10) Esteban Ocon, Alpine

A power unit problem stymied Leclerc’s race, while Sainz dropped out of what was a minor points position when he spun on a wet kerb at Turn Five. The spinning Ferrari collected a luckless Alex Albon, whose Williams the Spaniard had just overtaken.

Ferrari are now 49 points behind Red Bull, although Red Bull only scored with Verstappen after Sergio Perez’s own miserable weekend, which had seen the Mexican drop out in Q1, failed to improve in the race. He collided with Gasly on the first lap and then retired with broken rear wing after spinning and hitting the Turn Five barriers.

How Verstappen seized his chance as Norris, Russell missed theirs

The Montreal weekend had already been dominated by changeable weather before the onset of two heavy downpours in the hours before the race ensured that Sunday’s action was also going to be anything but predictable.

With the vast majority of the field opting to start the race on the intermediate tyres – apart, that is, from the two Haas cars, who went for the grippier but slower full wets – Russell maintained his starting advantage over Verstappen and Norris as the field gingerly left the grid in search of where the grip was amid the very slippery conditions.

Initially enjoying more purchase from the treacherous surface with rain still falling, the Haas pair proved the big early movers and Kevin Magnussen was especially flying, the Dane going from 14th to fourth in the space of five laps.

But the track soon started to come back to the intermediate runners as the rain began to ease – Magnussen pitted on lap eight to change tyres and duly dropped back down the order – with Russell opening an early advantage of around two seconds over Verstappen, with Norris a little further back but still very much in touch.

But, as a drier line started to slowly appear, it was the Mercedes driver’s chief pursuers who started to find more speed and close down Russell’s lead – with Norris looking particularly strong.

After Verstappen had dropped slightly back on Russell by outbraking himself at the first chicane, Norris overtook the Red Bull with DRS down the backstraight on lap 20 – a trick he repeated on Russell to seize the race lead one lap later.

First then quickly became third for Russell, who slipped behind Verstappen too when he went straight on at the final chicane.

But just as it looked as though Norris was about to take firm control of proceedings, the McLaren driver quickly surging into a five-second lead, the Safety Car was deployed when Logan Sargeant spun his Williams out of Turn Four and ended up sideways on the inside of the track after making race-ending contact with the wall.

Red Bull reacted by pitting Verstappen, as did Mercedes with Russell, but McLaren kept Norris out for one more lap and that proved costly as the Englishman was picked up by the Safety Car and was therefore disadvantaged by running to the slower speed of the pace car.

By the time Norris pitted at the end of that next slow tour, he rejoined the track back in third, with Verstappen now ahead of Russell and seemingly in control of the race.

Norris vs Russell again before crash chaos brings late drama

Still, the race and battle for the win was far from over yet, and a second opportunity presented itself for the challengers to Verstappen as the track continued to dry.

With the pit walls trying to strike a delicate balance between being guided by the information coming from the weather radars – which suggested there was still a band of rain incoming before the end of the race – with the fact the track was at that stage only getting drier, it eventually became a no-brainer to make the switch to slick tyres.

Verstappen and Russell again pitted together to make the switch on lap 46, but Norris stayed out once more – this time for two extra laps.

Although it initially appeared as though McLaren’s plan might just work to sensational effect – with Norris still running strongly on his intermediates while lead Red Bull and Mercedes cars took time to get their slicks up to temperature – it was not quite enough for him to leapfrog back past both leaders.

Still, Norris re-merged from his second stop now back ahead of Russell, although that did not again last long with the Mercedes overtaking him on lap 50 down the backstraight.

But Russell then gifted the place back a lap later by running wide at the Turn Eight-Nine chicane.

Then, on lap 54, the Safety Car was pressed into service for a second time for the Sainz-Albon collision, wiping out what had become a four-second lead for Verstappen.

It was Mercedes’ turn to roll the strategy dice this time as they pitted both their cars for another set of slick tyres, a move which cost Russell an additional place to Piastri but theoretically gave him and Hamilton a tyre advantage for the restart when there would be 11 laps to go.

But hopes Russell had of a charge back into second, or even more, were undone when his attempted overtake to get back past Piastri at the final chicane saw him make contact with the McLaren, with the lost momentum putting Hamilton on his tail and instead setting up a grandstand finish between the Mercedes pair over third.

What the top three said

Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 1st:

“It was a pretty crazy race, a lot of things were happening. We had to be on top of our calls.

“As a team, we did well today. We remained calm, pitted at the right time. The Safety Car worked out nicely for us but even after that, we were managing the gaps quite well.”

Lando Norris, McLaren – 2nd:

“To be honest, I felt like I drove a good race the whole time from start to finish. The first two stints were very strong. I had amazing pace. But then the Safety Car had me over, just like it helped me in Miami, it’s now had me back over.

“Honestly, I thought it was a pretty perfect race from my side. Just a bit unlucky, but that’s what it is. But it was good fun.”

George Russell, Mercedes – 3rd:

“It felt like a missed opportunity. We were really quick on the inters at the beginning, then Lando came through. Then we jumped back on the slicks. I made a couple of mistakes out there, pushing the limits and paid the price for it.

“Nevertheless, first podium of the year. We truly had a fast car this weekend and to be in the mix fighting for victory was really fun.

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