Verstappen Takes Victory in a Wet-Dry Canadian Grand Prix

The weekend consisted of mixed weather conditions which made for an unpredictable and session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Perez dropped out in Q1, Ferrari lost both of their cars in Q2, and George Russell managed to beat Verstappen to pole after setting identical lap times.

Pre-race rain and further drizzle ensured that intermediates and wets were used on the laps to the grid. Lots of drifting occurred on the build up to the race with Ocon lining up at the very back due to his penalty from Monaco. The two Saubers of Bottas and Zhou started their race in the pit lane after the team decided to change both of their rear wings.

As the tyre blankets came off, it was revealed that most drivers had the intermediate tyres fitted for the start. Haas was the only team to switch it up by giving Magnussen and Hulkenberg the wet tyre compound.

As the five lights went out, pole-sitter Russell managed to retain his lead over Verstappen into the first corner. This paid were followed closely by McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri. It was a good start for the oldest two drivers on the grid, Alonso and Hamilton, who got the jump on Ricciardo who qualified a fantastic fifth.

The first few laps were brilliant for the American team. Magnussen and Hulkenberg were flying on their wet tyres – the Dane managing to get past home favourite, Lance Stroll. It wasn’t long until Magnussen dispatched Ricciardo, Hamilton and Alonso, making his way up to fifth place as the rain continued to fall. His German teammate was also working his way up into the points.

“This level of rain is the worst we expect,” was the message to leader Russell at this point, with the Mercedes man leading Verstappen by a couple of seconds. Magnussen’s charge continued and he stormed up to the rear of Norris and Piastri’s McLarens. On the correct tyres, and lapping more than a second faster than the cars ahead, Magnussen soon cleared Piastri for P4. Hulkenberg got past Stroll and Ricciardo to work his way up to eighth – the alternative strategy paying off in the early laps.

Further back, Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz remained in the midfield and out of the points after their double Q2 exit on Saturday. Matters seemed to get worse for the Monaco Grand Prix winner when his engineer came on the radio and reported “we are seeing something strange engine side” and that the team were “looking into it”.

Magnussen had closed up to Norris and was ready to make a pass on the Brit. However, the rain eased and the track was beginning to clear of water – putting the intermediate tyres back into their optimum working range. This prompted Magnussen to come into the pits for an early stop – even though his pit crew didn’t realise he was coming in until he was in his box!

Logan Sargeant had a scare at Turn 6 and ended up sliding towards the barriers on the outside of the track. Meanwhile, Alonso had a couple of moments at the final chicane and exiting Turn 1, and Hamilton ran too deep at Turn 1 and went over the grass.

Replays from the opening lap were shown which highlighted contact in the rear-of-the-field bottleneck between Perez and Gasly when going through Turn 2. This left both drivers with some damaged bodywork. The stewards also noted a potential false start from Ricciardo, who started in fifth.

Things didn’t get any easier for Charles Leclerc who reported that it was “impossible to overtake with this issue”, as his engine woes seemingly refused to go away.

At the front, Russell was still leading the way as conditions steadily improved, however, the gap between him and Verstappen had now been bought down to 1.2 seconds as the lap chart hit double figures. Lando Norris was some six seconds back in third, and Piastri a similar margin adrift of his teammate.

Hulkenberg stayed out on his blue-walled tyres, even though a dry line was beginning to appear on the race track. Because of this, Ricciardo stormed past the Haas into the final chicane to take P7. The Aussie would however then receive a five-second time penalty for that false start. Hulkenberg then decided that to pit onto intermediates.

Russell’s engineer came onto his radio to explain that they were “expecting another rain shower 20 minutes from now”. Verstappen was reeling him in, and there was the question of whether the intermediates they had on now would last that long!

On Lap 15, Verstappen was all over the back of Russell’s car as both drivers hunted for wet patches to nurse their intermediate tyres into lasting longer. Norris also lighting up the timesheets and bridging the gap to the leaders.

A couple of laps later, Verstappen took to the grass at Turn 1. He bumped over the kerbs as he re-joined the track – only just staying ahead of Norris who stuck behind Red Bull over the next few tours – benefitting from the DRS he received from being within a second of the Dutchman.

By the end of Lap 20, Verstappen could only see orange in his mirrors and could do nothing to stop Norris from completing a DRS-assisted move down the back straight. A lap later, having charged up to the back of Russell’s car, Norris completed the same move for the lead of the race.

Russell went straight on at the final chicane following Norris’ move and when he re-joined the track, Verstappen had to take avoiding action and therefore darted to the left to get out of the way of the Mercedes driver and passed him for second – an incident that the stewards instantly noted they would be looking into.

Norris set a series of fastest laps in clean air to bridge a gap in front of Verstappen. Behind them, Russell soon fell into the clutches of Piastri. But then came a potentially race-changing moment of drama! Sargeant spun exiting the Turn 3/4 chicane which triggered double yellow flags and a Safety Car shortly after.

Verstappen, Russell, Piastri, Alonso and Hamilton were the front-runners who immediately pitted (all of them putting on more intermediates). However, it was unfortunate for Norris – having phenomenally built up a 10-second advantage – who had appeared to miss the opportunity and needed to complete another lap.

As drivers filtered back out on track after their stops Verstappen and Russell benefitted to reclaim P1 and P2 over Norris. “What goes around, comes around. That’s Miami back,” was the radio message to Verstappen. Tsunoda, Ocon and Bottas were the only drivers who opted not to change their boots.

Just before the Safety Car peeled in at the end of Lap 29, Leclerc got called into the pits again to take a gamble and put on a set of slick tyres – feeling he had nothing to lose with his power unit complaints. This was a huge risk considering a new spell of rain was potentially on its way.

Verstappen nailed the Safety Car restart to keep his lead over Russell into Turn 1, with Norris holding third from Piastri, Hamilton, Alonso, Tsunoda and Stroll. Alex Albon completed a sneaky but stunning double move on Ricciardo and Ocon into the final chicane to get himself up to ninth.

“Just keep the car on track,” Leclerc was told before that downpour arrived and forced him back to the pits to change to intermediates. It was not going much better for his Spanish teammate Sainz, who had picked up some front wing damage in the midfield scrapping. Ferrari had alot of work to do to salvage even a point.

The race settled back down, and the stewards looked an incident between Sainz, Bottas and Ricciardo at the restart – the one that seemingly caused the Spaniard’s damage. Verstappen had a gap tp Russell by just over a second, with drivers already taking to damper patches of the track to keep their intermediates in check.

Norris again lit up the timesheets in these tricky, mixed conditions. The McLaren driver was lapping more than a second faster than Russell and Verstappen ahead which set up the prospect of another thrilling scrap for the lead. Piastri and Hamilton were doing their best to join it in P4 and P5.

On Lap 40, Russell came on the radio to let his team know that every corner except Turns 1 and 2 had now dried up. Whilst others waited, Gasly decided it was the the right moment to move back to slicks – this would have been used as good information for rival teams.

Norris locked up and ran wide at Turn 1, which not only undid some of his amazing lap times, but also allowed Piastri to close up on him and have a look at stealing third place.

Gasly’s move to hard tyres triggered a wave of stops over the next few laps. Hamilton, Ricciardo, Sainz, Perez, Bottas and Magnussen all responded to the data and put on mediums. Leclerc also pitted, but it was the end of his race, and he joined Sargeant in retirement of the GP.

Piastri (mediums), Alonso (hards), Tsunoda (mediums), Stroll (hards), Ocon (mediums), Albon (mediums), Hulkenberg (mediums) and Zhou (mediums) pitted next – the top-three runners of Verstappen, Russell and Norris all staying out for another lap.

Next time around, Verstappen and Russell joined the majority of the field on slicks as they switched to medium and hard rubber respectively. Norris continued on up front for a couple more laps – continuing to set fastest lap times on his intermediates.

Norris eventually pitted at the end of Lap 47, putting on the yellow tyre compound and coming back out side-by-side with Verstappen – the latter managing to get in front. Russell took advantage of a mistake from Norris at the hairpin and used DRS along the back straight to get past his younger compatriot.

Russell made a mistake of his own through the Turn 3/4 chicane to allow Norris back through for second. While Verstappen brought his lead over the five-second mark as Norris and Russell squabbled, his Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, lost control of his car under braking for Turn 6 and slid rearwards into the barriers, which as a result, forced him back to the pits to join Leclerc and Sargeant in retirement.

The drama was far from over when Sainz and Albon – who had been in point paying positions – came together at Turn 7 in unusual circumstances. Replays showed Sainz spinning at the exit of the corner and despite his best efforts to avoid the Ferrari, Albon’s Williams was collected in the contact.

With the Safety Car deployed again, Russell and Hamilton both opted to pit for medium tyres, meaning they slotted behind Verstappen, Norris and Piastri at the restart.

While Verstappen and Norris edged clear, there was a feisty fight to the finish for Piastri, Russell and Hamilton. All three were fighting it out hard over the final podium spot and came close to taking each other out of proceedings.

Firstly, Russell and Piastri banged wheels into the last chicane on Lap 64 which was an incident the stewards looked into and one that dropped the Mercedes driver behind team mate Hamilton. Then, the seven-time world champion cleared Piastri at the same spot two laps later to put himself third.

However, it did not stop there! Russell managed to find a way past Piastri on Lap 67 before storming up to the rear of Hamilton’s car and snatched third away on the penultimate tour.

As the battle ahead was unravelling, Tsunoda lost control of his car at the Turn 8/9 chicane and slid over the grass, with rival drivers somehow avoiding him. While he got the car pointing in the right direction again, the recently re-signed RB racer was now well out of points contention.

Verstappen kept it clean across his final lap to take his sixth victory so far this season. He was followed by Norris in second and Russell in third. Hamilton was fourth, ahead of Piastri and the Aston Martins, Ricciardo, and the two Alpines.

Despite an incredible first stint, Haas just missed out on points in P11 and P12. Following their incidents, Sainz, Albon, Perez, Leclerc and Sargeant all watched the finish from the sidelines.

Here is the final race classification:

Vertsappen

Norris (DOTD)

Russell

Hamilton (Fastest Lap)

Piastri

Alonso

Stroll

Ricciardo

Gasly

Ocon

Hulkenberg

Magnussen

Bottas

Tsunoda

Zhou

Sainz (DNF)

Albon (DNF)

Perez (DNF)

Leclerc (DNF)

Sargeant (DNF)

Here is a quote from our winner: “It was a pretty crazy race. A lot of things were happening and we had to be on top of our calls. I think as a team we just did really well today, we remained calm, and I think we pitted at the right time. Of course, the Safety Car worked out nicely for us, but even after that I think we were managing the gaps quite well. I loved it – that was a lot of fun. Those kinds of races, you need them once in a while!”

Next up…Spain! Can you two home favourites, Sainz and Alonso, pull out anything special? Or will it be another Verstappen v Norris battle? We will find out in two weeks!