Verstappen wins action-packed Canadian Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Canada, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve

Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix after a very eventful 70 laps at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. He was joined on the podium by Lando Norris and George Russell who both felt more was possible for them.

The Canadian Grand Prix promised to be a spectacular event once again as mixed weather conditions continued on. With a wet track and rain that was expected to last about 15 minutes, the race went off with Russell taking the lead. Verstappen followed after an okay-ish start. Daniel Ricciardo on the other hand struggled off the line and saw Alonso and Hamilton make it past him.

As most started on medium tyres it was clear that in this early stage the Haas strategy to opt for full wets was paying off. Magnussen had a great start and quickly moved up the pecking order, into 6th by the second lap. With intensifying rain, Magnussen progressed further into 4th by lap 4 while Hulkenberg moved up to 8th.

For the intermediate runners the situation was very difficult. Many drivers went off, including Alonso who was in a close battle with Hamilton. The Spaniard however recovered quickly and went on to battle with the Mercedes.

Leclerc meanwhile struggled with a power unit issue that would eventually lead to his retirement. Magnussen had a very different problem as he entered the pits from 4th position without his crew being ready. Needless to say, that was the end of a promising race start for the Dane. Magnussen was then sat behind Sainz, unable to get past the Ferrari.

By lap 12 the gap between Russell and Verstappen had reduced to just 1.2 seconds. Norris behind them was losing ground who in turn was building a margin to his team mate. Then there was more fresh air before Alonso and Hamilton who seemed destined to squabble over the same piece of track today. The latter was also seeking very different lines to seek damp patches to keep his inters alive.

After Verstappen briefly went off on lap 17 while being on Russell's tail, Norris smelled his chance and with DRS enabled moments later, the McLaren driver pressured Verstappen and got past him three further lap later. He did even better one lap later when he picked Russell just before the final chicane to start lap 23 as the race leader.

Norris quickly built an advantage while Piastri got close to Russell until Sargeant hit the walls on lap 25. The safety car enabled everyone to make another stop, changing all to intermediates. Norris only pitted one lap later which brought Verstappen in the lead from Russell with Norris third, ahead of his team mate. In those stops, Hamilton finally made it past Alonso following which the Mercedes driver could show how much more pace he had in hand.

Perez meanwhile hasn't managed much of a recovery from a lowly grid slot today. He's fighting with Magnussen for P15, the Dane's early gamble of starting on the full wets not paying off today.

As the track kept on drying it was a question who would first make the switch to slicks. This time around it was Alpine's Gasly, taking on hard tyres with the intention to go to the end of the race on lap 41. Magnussen and Bottas both took medium tyres two laps later with Hamilton following suit another lap later.

Verstappen and Russell pitted another two laps later while Norris held on for another two laps where he pushed hard on the old intermediate tyres. Norris came back out side by side with Verstappen but with the latter on the dry racing line it was easy for the Dutchman to take the lead and quickly build a gap while Norris struggled to get temperature into the tyres.

Norris then started complaining about wheel lockups and eventually dropped behind Russell on lap 49. Norris got back to second place after Russell took a bit too much kerb.

Moments later we had another safety car after Perez disrupted racing while limping back to the pits with a broken rear wing due to a crash. In a separate incident, Sainz dropped it by himself and as he slid across the track, he collected an innocent Albon, who had looked on for points today. Sainz has retired.

Mercedes have pitted both cars under this Safety Car. Verstappen leads from Norris and Piastri, with Russell now fourth and Hamilton still fifth.

On fresh tyres the Mercedes were then the focal point of the final ten laps with Russell looking very lively to take on Piastri. 8 laps from the end though the Englishman lost out and missed the final chicane. As he was forced to drive around the bollard he also lost out to Hamilton who soon moved past Piastri to move into a podium spot.

Russell though wasn't very shaken up by the mistake and went on to take back 3rd from Hamilton in the final chicane on the penultimate lap.

This saw Verstappen take yet another win as Norris and Russell were left ruing a missed chance.