Dutchman Max Verstappen, on Red Bull, won the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday at the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit, narrowly ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Britons Lewis Hamilton and George Russell (Mercedes).
Posted at 3:41 p.m.
Updated at 5:32 p.m.
Dominant throughout the weekend, the reigning world champion increased his lead at the top of the world championship to 46 points, taking advantage of the retirement of his Mexican teammate Carlos Perez from the 7th lap, and a race difficult from Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who even snatched a superb fifth place after starting from the last row. It was a 26th career victory for Verstappen, his first in Canada.
“It was a tough race; I expected to have more rhythm. It looked like we were slower than the Ferrari of Carlos (Sainz Jr.), but we stuck to our strategy and it worked in the end,” said Verstappen, who now has 26 career wins.
We pushed for the last 15 or 16 laps, and I knew I couldn’t make a mistake (in front of Sainz Jr). But it was a good race. It’s always better to push your car, rather than having to manage to save the tires.
Max Verstappen
As is often the case in Montreal, the neutralizations of the race – at the 8th, 18th and 48th laps – complicated the life of the winner a little. Verstappen thus had to resist the onslaught of Sainz for about twenty laps, until the checkered flag, while his car was “shod” on more worn tires than his rival.
The Spaniard Fernando Alonso, on Alpine, who started from second place, had to settle for seventh place, behind his teammate Esteban Ocon. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Roméo) took eighth and ninth places, while Canadian Lance Stroll snatched the point from tenth place after starting from 17th. His compatriot Nicholas Latifi (Williams) had a very difficult race and finished 16th.
Starting from third place on the starting grid, the drivers of the Haas team had bad luck, Kevin Magnussen having to stop in the first laps to replace a damaged front wing at the start, while Mick Schumacher was forced to leave. retired on the 18th lap.
Positive for Sainz son, despite everything
The race really got going after Tsunoda left the track at 49e round. The safety car then came out, allowing Sainz Jr. to find himself in Verstappen’s gearbox with just over 10 laps to go.
Verstappen’s Red Bull proved superior to Sainz Jr.’s Ferrari on the straights, however, which prevented the Spaniard from taking advantage of the Dr to surprise the championship leader – despite his numerous overtaking attempts.
“The safety car didn’t help, and generally they (the Ferraris) were very quick today. It’s hard to chase someone here, but I could see him (Sainz) attacking, pushing, attacking, pushing. The last laps were a lot of fun,” Verstappen said.
Sainz, who said in a post-race press conference that he felt like he had the fastest car on the grid for the first time this season, took a lot of positives from his day’s work despite the final result.
“I was pushing relentlessly, I was at the limit in every corner. I tried everything to surprise Max, but at least we were faster today, we had more pace, noted Sainz. We came very close to winning today, so we have to take positives from that. »
For his part, Hamilton seemed relieved to have secured a first podium since finishing third in Bahrain earlier this season.
“We are surprised by this third place. We remained cautious, never gave up and that’s what motivates me. We are getting closer. I could almost see them (Verstappen and Sainz Jr.) at the end! Honestly, I’m ecstatic,” said the 37-year-old Briton, all smiles.
As many as 338,000 spectators visited the Grand Prix site over the weekend, with the stands packed on Sunday in glorious sunshine.
With The Canadian Press