MONTREAL – Max Verstappen kept control of the Formula One championship fight withstanding a late challenge from Carlos Sainz Jr. to get his sixth win of the season on a fairly easy Sunday at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Verstappen won from pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to extend his lead in the standings to 46 points over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who retired early due to a gearbox problem.
“There’s still a long way to go and I know the difference is pretty big, but I also know it can change very quickly,” Verstappen said of his points advantage. He noted that he is ahead of Charles Leclerc by 46 points after the third race of the season.
The Dutchman had no trouble clearing Fernando Alonso, who got his first start in a decade and then joked that he would attack Verstappen in the first round to steal the win.
But there was no challenge and by the time Sainz left Alonso for second on lap 2, Verstappen had already secured a 2.4-second lead with his Red Bull. Sainz was able to close the gap for the last 10 laps and put pressure on the reigning F1 champion, but faded on the last lap and finished 0.993 seconds behind his Ferrari.
“It was a good race, it’s always more fun to be able to really push instead of just saving the tires,” said Verstappen, who added that Sainz didn’t have “avenues in terms of overtaking, but he was very close.” .
Sainz said the second was the best he could get on Sunday.
“When I gave it my all, I was risking everything,” Sainz said. “I can tell you he was pushing. I left everything out there. For the first time this season I can say that I was the fastest man on the track, which gives me confidence and a little hope for the upcoming races “.
Mercedes had a great rebound from their struggles throughout the season, which included a terrible workout on Friday as seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton took his first podium since the opening race of the season in March. . George Russell was fourth when Hamilton beat his new teammate only for the second time in nine races this season.
“I feel great to be in the middle of the battle and in the end I was up to date with these guys, but it gives me and the team a lot of hope,” Hamilton said. “The potential is really there if we can get it set up right and I think it’s been the hardest this year.”
Hamilton received a standing ovation after his goal and said he had no back problems, which has been affecting him all season due to how the new Mercedes bounces across the track.
“Okay, I’m young again,” the 37-year-old said. But he added “we still had rebounds, but the difference is day and night.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admitted after the race that the team had increased the height of their cars to make them more manageable and eliminate the “porpoise” effect that has bogged down Hamilton and Russell all season. . The bounce has caused back pain and headaches to its drivers.
“The (wind) tunnel has told us that the lower the car, the faster you go, the more effect it will have on the ground,” Wolff said. “But in fact, you can’t drive the car there, so you have to lift it.
We already raised it (Saturday), but the more you lift, the more performance you lose. So it’s always a commitment. “
Verstappen, meanwhile, have now won six of the first nine races of their title defense season.
It was Verstappen’s best result in Montreal, which said F1 hosted a record 338,000 viewers over the three-day weekend as the series returned to Canada after a two-year hiatus. during the pandemic. Sunday’s crowd had clear, sunny skies after two rainy days that turned the standings upside down and created the smooth track that allowed Alonso, and other riders, including Hamilton, to win their first places this year. .
Leclerc bounced back from a 10-place penalty on the grid to change the engine of his Ferrari to finish fifth from 19th. Alpine’s Estaban Ocon finished sixth and his teammate Alonso, who said he would be pleased with a fifth-place finish, was seventh.
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was eighth and followed by debutant teammate Zhou Guanyu, who finished in points for the second time this season. Aston Martin’s Canadian driver Lance Stroll was 10th.
Sergio Perez left the race after just nine laps with a problem in the gearbox, Red Bull’s fourth mechanical failure this season between Perez and Verstappen. Eleven laps later, Mick Schumacher stopped on the track, ending the Haas driver’s bid to get his first F1 points.
Haas had matched his best qualifying effort in team history a day earlier when Kevin Magnussen and Schumacher finished fifth and sixth, but the team failed to convert. Magnussen damaged his front wing on the first lap when Hamilton ran for the position and had to make an early stop to repair it; finished 17th.
Toronto native Nicholas Latifi, who has admitted that his seat in Williams is unsafe, was 16th in his first grand prix at home in his career.
NEXT: The British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 3rd. Hamilton won a year ago in what is considered the British home run.