Formula 1: Verstappen wins in rain in Canada: “Crazy Race”

A relieved Max Verstappen jumped into the hands of his mechanics and enjoyed a hard-fought win in Montreal amid the chaos of the weather.

“It was a pretty crazy race, a lot happened. But we stayed calm as a team and handled it well,” said the world champion of the Netherlands and laughed: “It was a lot of fun.”

With his sixth win of the season, the 26-year-old further extended his lead in the overall Formula 1 standings. In changeable conditions with two rain showers and safety car phases, Verstappen won as he did last year at the Canadian Grand Prix. Behind the Red Bull star, Brit finished second in the Lando Norris McLaren. “It was confusing,” Norris said and couldn’t understand why he didn’t win: “I drove a good race from start to finish. It was perfect, I really thought.

Mercedes’ George Russell finished third ahead of teammate and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton. Thanks to his 60th career win, Verstappen now leads Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the overall standings by a comfortable 56 points. The Monaco driver had to retire his car two weeks early after a celebrated victory in his home race and came away empty-handed. Earlier, Leclerc was last – because his team made a mistake when choosing tires.

Hulkenberg gambles with tires

After his surprise pole, Russell secured his first starting position in the rain. Verstappen waited in second place as the spray was heavy and visibility was poor. On a slippery slope, the risk of early failure was high because the water had to be relocated. Haas drivers who only fitted rain tires took advantage of this. Nico Hülkenberg quickly moved up from 18th to eighth, while Kevin Magnussen was fourth at one stage.

After six rounds it was dry. Magnussen quickly changed tires while Hulkenberg tested and was the only driver not fitted with intermediate rollers. A mistake. The Rhinelander suddenly went from second last to eleventh.

At the top, 26-year-old Russell was two seconds ahead of Verstappen, followed by Lando Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastre. Defending champion and last year’s winner Verstappen was very aggressive in putting pressure on Audi Russell. The lead dropped to less than a second, but overtaking was challenging. Anyone left on dry, thin asphalt runs the risk of being blown away. When Verstappen made a driver error on lap 17 of 70, Norris suddenly moved very close to the world champion.

Norris runs up — but not for long

Four laps later, Norris passed Verstappen and briefly took the lead. Russell had no chance against the mighty McLaren, missing another corner and having to let Verstappen overtake. Norris, who celebrated his first career victory in Miami in early May, drove very fast and quickly separated himself from the rest of the field by more than eight seconds.

Granted, it wasn’t made worse by the crash involving Williams driver Logan Sargent. The American hit the barrier after a driver error and had to recover the car in a safety car phase. After tire changes in the lead group, Verstappen took the lead when the rain resumed. Ferrari also gambled with Leclerc, who had no chance with dry tires on a wet track, even lapped last. He was unable to continue on the 43rd lap.

After a short rain the asphalt dried very quickly. With 30 laps to go, Verstappen capitalized on small mistakes by his pursuers to gain more than four seconds. Like Norris, the champion got dry tires and built up his cushion again.

But things got hectic again. Sergio Perez retired in the second Red Bull and then a second Safety Car phase was necessary as Alexander Alban in the second Williams also ended up in the barrier and was hauled off. The match continued with eleven laps to go. Verstappen made no further mistakes and took the next win en route to a fourth consecutive world title.

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