MOTORSPORT: Verstappen claims Canadian GP

Red Bull driver pushed to victory by Ferrari’s fast-finishing Sainz

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has extended his advantage in the 2022 Formula 1 world championship, winning the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by overcoming the late advances of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Starting from pole position, Verstappen’s sixth success of the year wasn’t certain until the very end, with pit strategies mixed thanks to a pair of virtual safety cars and one full safety car appearance, with Sainz taking advantage of the latter to take on fresh tyres for the final stint.

“It was really exciting at the end. I was giving it everything I had, of course. Carlos was doing the same,” said Verstappen.

“Following is tricky around here, but I could see that he was pushing, charging, pushing… the last few laps were a lot of fun.

“Luckily, this year we seem very quick on the straights, so that helps a lot.

“I think I would have preferred [to be] attacking rather than defending, but it worked out.”

Sweeping past fellow front row starter Fernando Alonso into the first corner, Verstappen’s championship lead grew when his teammate Sergio Perez retired with gearbox issues on lap nine of 70, necessitating the first virtual safety car.

The next interruption to proceedings came on lap 20 when Mick Schumacher retired on track, after looking in contention for points following a career-best qualifying effort of sixth.

Under that virtual safety car, many drivers visited the pits, with the biggest losers being the pair of McLarens, who suffered tardy services.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo recovered to 11th, while Lando Norris languished in 15th at the finish, with his spare power unit installed for the race somewhat down on power.

Verstappen headed pit-side on lap 44 and then had to battle his way back past Lewis Hamilton on his out lap, before the Brit subsequently took his final service.

On the 49th circuit, Yuki Tsunoda’s race ended when he crashed his AlphaTauri exiting the pits, with the resulting clean-up requiring a full safety car, which allowed Sainz to take on his final set of tyres, reemerging in second place behind Verstappen.

With the gap between the top-two negligible, the race to the finish proved to be a fascinating DRS battle, with the slick Red Bull ultimately holding on to the win by less than a second.

Hamilton was satisfied in third, with the Mercedes team seemingly getting on top of the severe porpoising issues that have impacted his season to date.

George Russell completed a solid day for the Silver Arrows in fourth, from Charles Leclerc, who started from 19th following a 10 grid place penalty after his Ferrari squad installed a fresh electronics component for the race.

Esteban Ocon was next for Alpine in sixth, ahead of his teammate Alonso, who faded during the race.

Rounding out the top 10 were the Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, plus the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, the latter pair earning their second and third respective points-paying finishes of the year.

The Formula 1 season continues with a return to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on July 3.