Canadian Grand Prix – The race: Verstappen emerges victorious from the chaos

When the lights went out, the start was relatively cautious for everyone. No one seemed crazy enough to play the hero at the first corner on a wet and dangerously slippery track. George Russell managed to hold onto his first place ahead of Max Verstappen.

The start was less clean for the other Red Bull. Sergio Perez, completely cornered to the right at the exit of the second turn, could not avoid contact with Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. Fortunately for the two drivers, this minor collision had no major consequences and they both managed to resume their race after simply losing a few positions.

Except for the two Haas, everyone has decided to put on intermediate tires for the start. The two Haas cars have opted for full wet tires. This strategic decision on the part of Ayao Komatsu’s team seemed promising at the beginning of the race, but quickly, as the rain decreased, both cars began to drop slightly in the hierarchy. The first victim of these tricky conditions was Logan Sargeant’s Williams. The American hit the barriers at turn 6 without breaking his front wing. A small miracle in itself.

Verstappen gradually caught up with a struggling George Russell. Finally within the DRS zone, the Dutchman made a small mistake at the first corner. This slight blunder allowed Russell to gain a little breathing space. Now, Lando Norris’s McLaren was putting a lot of pressure on the rearview mirrors of the Red Bull bearing the number 1. The winner of the Miami Grand Prix made an impressive start to the race by easily overtaking Verstappen and Russell in succession to take the lead.

On the 25th lap, Logan Sargeant finds himself stopped in the middle of the road due to aquaplaning. The safety car intervenes, everyone goes through the pits to change tires except Lando Norris who did not have time to come in. He loses his lead position and falls back to 3rd place.

As the safety car is about to pull in, Charles Leclerc makes a surprising pit stop to swap his wet tires for slicks. The stop is endless, the Monegasque is last. This decision is incomprehensible, Leclerc is the only one on slicks as the rain starts falling again. He soon has to stop again to put on intermediates. The winner of the Monaco Grand Prix sees his streak of consecutive Top 5 finishes end in one of the worst possible ways. The Ferrari driver was lapped by the drivers he was fighting against two weeks ago for the win. The final nail in the coffin was his team’s request to come back to the garage and retire. From dream to nightmare, that’s how you can sum up Leclerc’s last two weeks.

The return of the sun

Pierre Gasly was the second driver on the grid to take the gamble of putting on hard tires. On the 40th lap, the Alpine driver dove into the pits to get rid of his green-banded tires and try to take advantage of the return of the sun, which had cleared a dry racing line on the track. The French team’s strategy was probably slightly premature as the Normand didn’t gain any time on his rivals.

Noting his inability to cross the papaya-colored wall in front of him, Lewis Hamilton took the same risk on the 43rd lap to try his luck with the medium tires.

Norris did the exact opposite of his direct rivals Hamilton and Verstappen by extending his stint on intermediates. The British driver pushed his car to its limits to exit the pit lane in the lead, as evidenced by the particularly agile rear of his car. This brilliant strategic move was enough to overtake Russell but not sufficient to come out ahead of the Dutchman’s Red Bull.

On the 48th lap, only four seconds separated Verstappen and Norris. Surprisingly, the dry conditions favored the Mercedes more than the McLarens. After nearly pushing Norris into turn 10, the poleman of the Grand Prix regained his second place and seemed to be quickly catching up to the Red Bull. His progress was ruined by a slight driving error in the chicane of turn 8. This little squabble between the British drivers allowed the three-time reigning world champion to pull away.

Once again chaos

Eliminated in Q1 yesterday, Sergio Perez extended a catastrophic weekend with a crash that had terrible consequences. Crushing his rear wing against the barriers, the Mexican driver returned to the Gilles Villeneuve circuit with a brand new contract and a sporting performance far from meeting the expectations of his team. Fortunately for Red Bull, the fact that the two Ferraris did not finish the race prevented a much more severe outcome for the Austrian team.

Alexander Albon, who was on a perfect race up to the 54th lap, which, without incidents, should have rewarded him with two points for 9th place, turned into a disaster when he crossed paths with Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard unfortunately touched a wet part of the tarmac at the entrance of the 6th turn. Losing control, the Ferrari driver failed to catch his car in time. Despite being cautious, Albon couldn’t avoid the rear of the red car. Both cars collided, with the Thai driver ending up in the wall. This incident caused the deployment of a second safety car.

The three seasons of Verstappen’s domination have allowed him to master the art of restart perfectly. Lando Norris was completely helpless against the Red Bull coming out of the last chicane. At the end of a complete lap, the Dutchman could boast of having more than a second and a half lead over his closest rival.

Retreat during the first half of the race, Lewis Hamilton became more and more threatening as the sun warmed the track. Passing Oscar Piastri first, he couldn’t think about Lando Norris’s car, having to defend against his garage mate. The two Mercedes drivers.

It is finally Max Verstappen who went to get a well-deserved victory. After facing alone the two Mercedes and the two McLarens, the young world champion achieved his 6th victory of the season on a circuit where he was not necessarily announced as the favorite. If the Dutch anthem has resounded again this season, it is worth noting that now the Red Bulls no longer seem able to win comfortably.

The other small success of the day is obviously the double arrival in the points for Alpine. After Bahrain, such an feat was hardly conceivable.