Canadian GP: Max Verstappen overcomes wet-race chaos to beat rueful Lando Norris, George Russell to win

Max Verstappen won a chaotic and gripping Canadian Grand Prix with Lando Norris and George Russell left to reflect on what might have been after a race of high drama amid on-off rain in Montreal.

In an unpredictable 70-lap race that featured four changes of lead and two Safety Car periods triggered by crashes, Verstappen returned to winning ways a fortnight after Red Bull’s miserable Monaco for his sixth win of the season to re-establish a more comfortable world-championship lead, of 56 points.

McLaren’s Norris twice led the race – the first time after overtaking both Verstappen and Russell – but had to settle for second after the cards did not fall in his favour, particularly under the first Safety Car.

Polesitter Russell ended up third for Mercedes and looked particularly crestfallen after a topsy-turvy race in which he made several mistakes and collided with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Dropping to fourth after that latter incident following the race’s second Safety Car period, Russell was then overtaken by Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who went on to overtake Piastri cleanly soon afterwards and move into the final podium place.

But Russell rallied late on and repassed Hamilton on the penultimate lap to ensure he was still the driver to seal Mercedes’ first Grand Prix podium of 2024 in the season’s ninth round.

Fourth still represented Hamilton’s best result on a Sunday so far this year, although the seven-time Monaco victor, who qualified six places behind Russell in seventh, described it as “one of the worst races I’ve driven”.

Overtaken by both Mercedes cars, who had been the only leading cars to pit for a second set of dry tyres, Oscar Piastri ended up fifth in the second McLaren.

Aston Martin took sixth and seventh with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, Canada’s home driver, respectively.

In a fraught race-long fight for the final points positions, Daniel Ricciardo overcame a five-second time penalty for a jump start to fight back and cap the best weekend of his disappointing season so far in eighth. Alpine also scored crucial points with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ninth and 10th.

Ferrari though endured a total nightmare with their hopes of building momentum from their Monaco win undone by retirements for both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who caused a second Safety Car by spinning and collecting Williams’ Alex Albon.

Sergio Perez’s miserable weekend ended in a DNF too after the Mexican, who had dropped out in Q1 on Saturday, crashed and broke his Red Bull’s rear wing against the barriers.

More to follow…

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