Max Verstappen beats Carlos Sainz to Canada F1 victory, Lewis Hamilton returns to the podium
Reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen saw off late pressure from Carlos Sainz to take his sixth victory of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix.
A late Safety Car played into Sainz’s hands, giving him six-lap fresher tyres than 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 Sergio 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.
Lewis 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 teammate Hamilton.
Safety Car livens up the race
The race was livened up on Lap 49 when Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 2.
Sainz made his second stop under the Safety Car which gave him a significant advantage 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 reigning champion.
Sainz cut the gap at the front down to under six seconds before Verstappen's stop on Lap 44 before the Safety Car was deployed six laps later.
Leclerc's recovery
After starting from the back of the grid, Charles Leclerc struggled to make initial progress through 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.
It 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 the aforementioned Safety Car position, promoting him up to seventh.
Leclerc was aggressive on the restart, overtaking both Alpines to finish fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Alonso.
Alonso suffered from a power unit issue in the closing laps meaning he was put under immense pressure from both Alfa Romeos.
The Spaniard fended from Valtteri Bottas to the line to finish seventh ahead of the Finn, while Guanyu Zhou and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a points finish with 11th ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose decision to stay out under the Safety Car didn't work.
It was a torrid day for Haas after qualifying fifth and sixth respectively.
Kevin Magnussen sustained damage early on, while Mick Schumacher retired on Lap 20 whilst running inside the points.
