Max Verstappen beats Carlos Sainz to Canada F1 victory, Lewis Hamilton returns to the podium
A late Safety Car played into Sainz’s hands, giving him six-lap fresher tyres th🔯an the Red Bull driver in the closing phase of the race.
Sainz remained in DRS range of Verstappen after the Safety Car but couldn’t get close enough to make a move♒ with Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage once again proving to be crucial.
With Red Bull teammate Sergi🎐o Perez retiring early on due to a suspected gearbox problem, Verstappen has opened up a significant lead in the drivers’ championship ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Le🥀wis Hamilton returned to the podium with a fine drive to third at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - his second rostrum appearance✃ of the year.
George Russell finished ♛fourth after making up positions at the start of the race but didn't quite have the pace of t🧜eammate Hamilton.
Safety Car livens up the race
The race was livened up on Lap 49 when Yuki Tsuꦯnoda crashed at Turn 2.
Sainz made his second stop under the Safety Car which gave him a significant aꦫdvantage over his main rival.
Up until that point, the two Virtual Safety Cars ✨saw a lot of pit stop action with Red Bull opting to pit Verstappen on Lap 9 but Sainz stayed out.
Under the second VSC, Sainz decided to stop, giving him 12-lap fresher tyres than the reigning𓆏 champion.
Sainz cut the gap at the front down to under six seconds before Verstappen's stop on Lap 44 before the Sa🌸fety Car was deployed six ﷽laps later.
Leclerc's recovery
After starting from the back of the grid, Charles Leclerc struggled to make initial progress thr🗹ough the field.
Leclerc found himself stuck behind several midfield cars in a DRS train, forcing him into an early pit stop on Lap 42 💙for new medium tyres.
I🀅t was a slow start for Leclerc meaning he dropped behind Guanyu Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
He continued to make moves through the field and stayed out under t𝓰he aforementioned Safety Car position, promoting him up to seventh.
Leclerc was aggressive on the restart, overtaking 😼both Alpines to finish fifth ahe🌠ad of Esteban Ocon and Alonso.
Alonso𓆉 suffered from a power unit issue in the closing laps meaning he was put under immense pressur𒁏e from both Alfa Romeos.
The Spaniard fended froꦚm Valtteri Bottas to the line to finish seventh ahead of the Finn, while Guanyu Zhou and Lance Stroll rounded o😼ut the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a points finish with 11th ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose decision t൩o stay♑ out under the Safety Car didn't work.
It was a torrid day for Haa൲s after qualifying fifth and six🔴th respectively.
Kevin Magnussen sustained damage early on, whilꦡe Mick Schumacher retired on Lap 20 whilst running inside the points.
With a sharp eye for F1’s controversies and st🔯or🐓ylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
