Max Verstappen won an absolutely thrilling race at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, with Lando Norris and George Russell completing the podium in Montreal.
With multiple top drivers and varying conditions, it was the reigning world champion who took over track position from Norris, who was in the lead during the safety car period, but Verstappen held on to the lead in what is likely a contender for the best race of the season in the Canadian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen wins Canadian Grand Prix in extreme wet/dry conditions
Rain was forecast for qualifying on Saturday but no rain fell for the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
In Montreal, a wet start meant most of the grid was on intermediate tyres, with only the two Haas cars on full wet tyres. Rain had fallen before the race and new showers were forecast for the early laps.
But the key was getting off to a clean start as the drivers slowly pulled away from the starting line, with Russell holding the lead over Verstappen into Turn 1, followed by Norris and Piastri.
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton both overtook Daniel Ricciardo into the opening corners, but the gamble on full wet tyres paid off particularly for Kevin Magnussen, who himself overtook Hamilton to move from 14th to sixth, before overtaking Alonso at the 13/14 chicane on lap two.
Nico Hulkenberg also made great progress, moving up nine places into the top ten himself, and Haas won the early strategy battle, proving that F1 adage about being on the right tyres at the right time in wet conditions is highly accurate.
The start of the race turned out to be in the worst weather possible and the Haas duo had to make the best of it, with Magnussen overtaking Oscar Piastri for fourth place.
However, by lap six the sun had come out and Charles Leclerc’s race engineer Brian Bozzi reported that the 18 intermediate tyres would be quicker than the extreme wet tyres.
A battle broke out between Alonso and Hamilton for sixth place: the Aston Martin driver went straight into the final chicane, allowing Hamilton to drive down the pit straight, but the Mercedes driver went too far off track and went straight through turns one and two, allowing his former teammate to pass him again on the exit.
The Haas crew seemed unprepared for Magnussen as he pitted on lap eight, and an 8.6-second stop put him back in 12th place, still two places up from his starting grid position on Sunday.
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However, after dropping the cars behind him, and choosing to stay on the track on full wet tyres due to changing conditions, Hulkenberg was caught up and overtaken by Ricciardo to finish in seventh place. The RB driver was investigated for a suspected false start and received a five-second time penalty as a result.
Up front, Verstappen closed in on Russell as a dry line appeared on the track, but the threat of rain remained with the team predicting it would return later in the race.
Pursuing Russell, Verstappen understeered into Turn 1 and then hit the kerb at Turn 2, losing time and sending pieces of his Red Bull flying, while Norris closed in on Russell for second place, giving the Mercedes driver some valuable breathing space.
On lap 18, DRS was enabled and Norris harassed Verstappen for two laps before overtaking the Red Bull driver at the Turn 10 hairpin. Using his rear wing to his advantage, he passed the reigning World Champion at the Turn 13/14 chicane to move into second place, chasing race leader Russell.
Just one lap later, Norris was up on Russell’s rear wing and made the exact same move at the same chicane to take the lead, the Mercedes driver gaining an advantage under braking before emerging onto the escape road, allowing Verstappen to get past – and Russell losing two positions in one corner.
As Norris ran off into the distance, Piastri’s sister McLaren joined the fight behind before the safety car was deployed and the first retirement of the race occurred when Williams driver Logan Sargent spun on the exit of Turn 6, crashed into the barriers, hit the kerb and then slammed into the wall from behind.
This caused chaos in the pit lane, preventing Norris from pitting before the three chasing drivers, who all missed their chance.
Norris pitted on the next lap, dropping back to third, allowing Verstappen to take the lead with Russell back in second, while Hamilton pitted in Mercedes and overtook Alonso for fifth place, tightly packing the field again, less than half way through the race.
It could be argued that it was a bit of bad luck for Norris, who lost two places in the pit lane, but Verstappen’s race engineer Giampiero Lambiase felt the situation was more even a few races ago, and after communicating the driver’s new position, he said over the team radio: “What goes around comes around. Miami is back.”
With rain threatening to fall again, Ferrari, having suffered power unit problems for much of the race, gambled on trying something different by fitting slick tyres at Charles Leclerc’s request.
The race restarted on lap 30 of 70 with Verstappen leading Russell, with the two McLaren drivers following closely behind in an already thrilling Canadian Grand Prix.
Then the rain started to fall again and the track became wet again, quickly disabling the DRS and Leclerc slowly made his way around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in his Ferrari before being forced to retire later.
Alex Albon’s impressive double overtake was also noteworthy, as he passed Daniel Ricciardo around the outside on the back straight and then dived down the inside to pass Esteban Ocon under braking for the 13/14 chicane, putting Williams within reach of the points.
The race regained its rhythm as drivers allowed the track to dry quickly, and by the end of lap 43 Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to try slicks, before switching to mediums to see how they responded.
Piastri, who was running just ahead of Hamilton, reacted and kept the seven-time world champion in front, but Norris stayed on the track and tried to gain track position where he could as Russell and Verstappen followed suit on lap 45. Meanwhile, Norris was under investigation for going off the track and gaining an advantage into Turn 1.
Norris pushed hard for not just one but two laps and was ahead of Verstappen at the pit exit, but a dangerous wet line at the exit of Turn 2 allowed Verstappen to retake the lead.
The McLaren driver was chasing the reigning world champion with a lead of nearly five seconds and was on his way to victory, but Russell, along with Norris and Piastri, formed a close chasing pack and reclaimed second place on lap 49.
But just one lap later, Russell hit the kerb at Turn 8, allowing Norris to pass, and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff urged his drivers over the radio to “concentrate”.
Soon afterwards, Sergio Pérez was seen crawling back into the pit lane with a loose rear wing behind his Red Bull, losing control of his car and going into the barriers at Turn 5.
Carlos Sainz also spun at the same corner and made contact with Albon at the same time, taking both cars out of the race at the same time and bringing out the safety car again.
Both Mercedes drivers pitted again and the race restarted on lap 59 of 70, with the running order being Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Russell and Hamilton.
Verstappen pulled away from the two McLarens, followed closely by the two Mercedes drivers on fresh tyres, as a truly memorable race approached its closing stages.
As a result, Russell was closing in on Piastri for the final podium position and after holding him off for a lap, he fell out of DRS range of Norris at Turn 13, allowing Russell to pull away.
Russell had most of the car ahead but not all of them and as Piastri held his line through the corner the two drivers made contact, sending Russell onto the escape road but in the process dropping behind team-mate Hamilton to fifth place, who moved up to fourth.
On the next lap, Hamilton made an independent move at Piastri’s Turn 13 and overtook the McLaren driver before the braking zone to move into the top three and give the team a chance of their first podium of the season.
Third time’s a charm for Russell, who demoted the Australian to fifth place at Turn 13, while Yuki Tsunoda turned his RB into a lawnmower after running it onto the grass at Turn 9. In an attempt to avoid the barriers, he sped back onto the track, nearly colliding with his rival on the track.
After a caution to “keep it clean,” Russell made a move on his teammate, diving down the inside at Turn 13 to take third place from Hamilton.
At the top, Verstappen held off Norris to put Red Bull on top and secure a thrilling victory for the reigning world champion. Russell and Hamilton were third and fourth, but contact between Russell and Piastri will be investigated after the race.
No matter how you look at it, the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix won’t soon be forgotten.
2024 Canadian Grand Prix: Race standings
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:45:47.927 70 laps, 2 stops
2. Lando Norris McLaren +3.879 2 stops
3 George Russell Mercedes +4.317 3 stops
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +4.915 3 stops
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren +10.199 2 stops
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +17.510 2 stops
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +23.625 2 stops
8 Daniel Ricciardo RB +28.672 2 stops
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +30.021 2 stops
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine +30.313 1 stop
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +30.824 3 stops
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas +31.253 4 stops
13 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +40.487 1 stop
14 Yuki Tsunoda RB +52.694 1 stop
15 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +1 lap 3 stops
Did not finish
Alex Albon, Contact
Carlos Sainz spins and makes contact
Charles Leclerc, power unit problem
Sergio Pérez, collision injury
Logan Sargent, Accident
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