Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen ousted Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to win the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Here’s what you need to know from Sunday’s match. NO RAIN AT THE VERSTAPPEN PARADE All I can say is that Max Verstappen’s life is not simple enough. The puddles rained down over the weekend and the track was wet during training and qualifiers, but the Canadian Grand Prix is a race, not a spray show. And what a race it was as Verstappen’s Red Bull sped faster than Sainz – despite the fact that the Ferrari driver pitted later and had fresher tires – and crossed the finish line by less than a second. The reigning world champion has now won six times this season, including five of his last six. In total, Red Bull Racing has won six consecutive victories with the victory of Verstappen teammate Sergio Perez in Monaco last month. Verstappen has now made a comfortable 46-point cushion on Perez in the standings, as the Mexican driver was forced to retire on Sunday due to a gearbox problem. Maybe Pereth should have borrowed this Ham again. SILVER LINING FOR SAINZ “To finish first, you have to finish first” is a popular racing proposition and applies to Ferrari and Sainz right now, as both the Italian manufacturer and the Spanish driver should be happy with the second result after Last week’s DNF in Azerbaijan. Sainz also scored the fastest bonus round point. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc made a valiant effort to get off the field to finish in the P5 even though he started last due to an engine change penalty. Losing 10 seats on the grid was hard to swallow, however, as its power unit exploded last week in Azerbaijan while leading the race, the change was needed to ensure Ferrari would not collapse again and fly away. more points. Leclerc also approached Perez for second in the standings, now just three points behind. VINTAGE ALONSO Alpine’s Fernando Alonso started in P2 and the front row for the first time since the 2012 German Grand Prix. at the beginning. Alonso appeared to be having problems with the engine late in the race and crossed the seventh line, however, he received a penalty five seconds after the race for blocking Valtteri Bottas and falling to ninth place. Alonso proved that he can still capture the public, although he probably helped him appear this weekend in the Montreal Canadiens jersey. Combined with Esteban Ocon’s P6 result, Alpine will be pleased with their overall performance as it closed the gap on McLaren for fourth place in the manufacturers’ ranking. Only eight points separate the two teams now, as neither McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo nor Lando Norris teammate finished in the top 10. HAMILTON BACK TO BUSINESS After severe back pain in Baku a week ago, with rumors circulating that he had to sit outside, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton performed well on his journey to claim a podium place in third place. Mercedes was the most vocal on the issue of the “seal” and cars bounced again around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. However, Hamilton told Sky Sports analyst Jenson Button after the match that his back was fine. Having won the Canadian GP seven times, including his first career GP victory in 2007, Hamilton also hastened to praise the audience: “I like it here in Montreal.” It’s just the second podium this year for Hamilton and just the second time he surpassed his new teammate George Russell, who was right back in P4. What turned out to be the difference was that Hamilton entered the pit for the toughest composite tires during the first period of the virtual safety car, while Russell was left out. Although Russell also got a cheap pit stop under VSC conditions later in the match, Hamilton had the pace to stay ahead of his teammate. Russell went on to be the only driver to finish each race in points this season – and all in the top five no less. HAAS PAIN Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher seemed ready to finish in the points, qualifying for the P5 and P6 respectively, but both left Montreal empty-handed. Magnussen got confused with Hamilton at first and damaged the front wing which required an unplanned trip to the pits to get him out of battle. It was Schumacher’s best attempt in the qualifiers – on the track Michael’s father won a record seven times – as he was aiming not only for points but also for his first points in F1. The wait will continue, however, as the younger Schumacher had mechanical problems and was forced to leave the race. WALKING TO THE POINTS Montreal’s own Lance Stroll started in the second last row of the grid next to compatriot Nicholas Latifi. Stroll and his team at Aston Martin chose a one-stop strategy in the pits and managed to turn their P17 start into a P10 and claim a point after passing Ricciardo late in the race. This is the third time in the 23-year-old’s career that he manages to finish points starting near the back of the team at home. Latifi, who was born in Montreal and raised in Toronto, was not so lucky in his car in Williams. Already behind the pitch, Latifi suffered a problematic pitstop when his front right wheel was not positioned correctly. The last Virtual Safety Car helped to create things and Latifi managed to pass Magnussen to finish in the P16. NEXT will go to historic Silverstone in a fortnight for the British Grand Prix and Round 10 of the season. Hamilton has won the race eight times, including seven in the last eight years. The only other previous winners on the grid are Alonso (2006 and 2011) and Sebastian Vettel, who is the most important of Hamilton’s aforementioned series as the 2018 winner.
