Verstappen won in Montreal

The Dutchman won the turbulent and partly rainy ninth round of the season in Canada on Sunday, just ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren and Mercedes driver George Russell, who overtook his teammate Lewis Hamilton at the finish.

Ferrari was completely out of the running in the race. Carlos Sainz and Monaco winner Charles Leclerc were eliminated early after they had been following behind. Just after half-time, Leclerc had already been lapped. Sergio Perez also had to retire after the rear of his Red Bull crashed.

The start had already taken place on a wet track, and the rain intensified in the first four laps. Since the Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg were the only ones equipped with rain tires, they ploughed through the field during this phase. On the fourth lap, Magnussen was fourth behind Russell, Verstappen and Norris, while Hülkenberg was in eighth place. The rain then stopped temporarily and the track dried out.

Verstappen was unable to get ahead of Russell for a long time – partly due to a short excursion that cost him almost two seconds. Instead, Norris roared past him on lap 21 with DRS support and also caught up with Russell at the end of the lap. In the same scene, Verstappen also overtook the Mercedes man and was back in second place. Norris was on the move – but only until lap 25, when the safety car drove onto the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve to recover Logan Sargeant’s Williams.

While Verstappen and Russell immediately went to the pits to change tires, Norris had already passed the pit entrance and came out behind the two after his forced later stop. After that, Verstappen controlled the action. After another round of pit stops, third-placed Norris had virtually gained a position by returning in second place behind the world champion. Russell also lost his third place in the end after another safety car phase, but regained it against Hamilton.