The reigning double world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) easily won the Canadian Grand Prix, eighth round of the Formula 1 season, on Sunday at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. The Dutchman, who beat Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), took his sixth victory in eight races this year and the fourth in a row. With 41 victories to his name, the native of Hasselt (Belgium) equals an F1 legend, the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, triple world champion who died in the race in 1994. Verstappen also allowed his Red Bull team to win its 100th Sunday success in the premier class of motorsport.
“It was not a simple race, because it was very difficult to get the tires to the right operating temperature […]. But in the end to win again, to win a 100th race for the team, it’s incredible. I didn’t expect to reach that kind of number and be on that kind of record myself,” the Dutchman pointed out. In the provisional classification of the championship, he escapes a little more and now has a 69 length lead over his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez, who took sixth place after starting in twelfth position. Verstappen, who took his fifth pole position of the season on Saturday, got off to a good start and was untroubled by Alonso, who was even overtaken by Hamilton on the first corner.
He quickly escaped, although he announced on his radio that he “hit a bird”. But the intervention of the safety car after George Russell (Mercedes) hit the back of his car in a wall, on the 13th lap, temporarily reshuffled the cards. Almost all the cars took the opportunity to pit and change tyres, except for five of them, including the Ferraris of Monegasque Charles Leclerc and Spaniard Carlos Sainz and the Red Bull of Mexican Sergio Pérez. Four laps later, when the safety car withdrew, Verstappen resumed his forward drive and quickly went it alone, inexorably widening the gap on his pursuers.
Alonso managed to pass Hamilton on lap 23 and the two drivers then fought a fierce battle for second place. It was ultimately the Spaniard who came out on top and took his sixth podium in eight races this season. “We were hoping to be able to compete a bit more with Red Bull but we also lost a place at the start with Lewis and it was more of a battle with Mercedes who attacked throughout the race. There was not a single lap where I was able to relax,” explained the “Asturian Bull”. Hamilton’s performance, however, confirmed that the Mercedes had been improving for a few weeks, even if Russell, who had left after his accident, was forced to retire about fifteen laps from the end of the race. Ferrari can also have a smile. After failed qualifying, Leclerc and Sainz had started in tenth and eleventh positions but thanks to a successful strategy, once is not custom, they clinched fourth and fifth places after resisting Perez well.
Thailand’s Alex Albon took a fine seventh place at the wheel of his modest Williams, just ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine). The Frenchman, whose rear wing moved a lot at the end of the race, held up well to Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), who tried everything for everything in the last meters, but finally demoted to 13th place after missing the last corner and received a penalty. “We did a good job on the track, but we lost places off it. We have to analyze whether it was with the safety car or our two-stop strategy. I am not satisfied with the result. The feeling is a bit bitter even though I keep scoring points,” the Norman said. The top 10 is completed by stage local, Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), who took ninth place from Finland’s Valtteri Bottas at the finish line. The other Frenchman, Pierre Gasly (Alpine), hampered in qualifying on Saturday and relegated to fifteenth place on the grid, took 12th place less than a second from the points zone.
