Five talking points from a tense Canadian Grand Prix

Clearly fastest in the rain-affected qualifying session on Saturday and with both Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc far out of position down the grid, Verstappen appeared to be sitting pretty for a comfortable victory on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. But it turned out much tighter than that thanks to a combination of strategy choices and a strong effort from Sainz, who really needed a decent showing in the wake of recent difficulties.

The trigger for what was a much better race for the win than expected was Verstappen’s early pitstop on lap nine under the Virtual Safety Car, as Perez’s miserable weekend came to an early finish thanks to a suspected transmission problem (he’d crashed out of qualifying in Q2 and only started in 13^th). Lewis Hamilton was the only other frontrunner to pit for hard-compound Pirellis, a move that effectively committed both Verstappen and the Mercedes to two-stop strategies when it was thought at this stage only one might be needed.

Sainz pitted for his own set of hard tyres on lap 20 as a second VSC was triggered when Mick Schumacher was forced to stop his Haas, lifting Verstappen back into the lead. But when the Dutchman made his inevitable second stop, bolting on another set of hards on lap 43, the race was set for an intriguing final third. Verstappen had to attack on tyres that were 24 laps younger than Sainz’s, with 27 laps to close a gap of just over nine seconds and pull off a pass to win. Would he have managed it? Probably – but Verstappen admitted it was far from a foregone conclusion. Then again, on this circuit there was always a chance of another race-interrupting incident, and sure enough the game was reset a few laps later.

Yuki Tsunoda returned to the track following a pitstop on lap 49 and on cold tyres slid off into the Turn 2 barrier (embarrassing for the Japanese). A full safety car was called upon to clear the AlphaTauri, which allowed Sainz to pit for fresh hards. The set-up had been turned on its head: Sainz rejoined second, but right on the Red Bull’s gearbox once racing resumed. Now the Spaniard was the hunter on fresher Pirellis to the tune of six laps, and he had plenty of miles in hand to catch and pass his prey.

That he couldn’t says much for Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage, as seen all year, and Verstappen’s impressively cool head. The champ simply refused to be ruffled. Sainz just couldn’t get into range under acceleration out of the hairpin and even with the DRS advantage never really got close to putting a move on the championship leader. It was a tense and exciting climax, but there was to be no sting in the tail for Red Bull, as there was on the last lap in 2011 when Sebastian Vettel ran wide and allowed Jenson Button to complete a remarkable comeback win for McLaren. In the dry, Verstappen was never going to drop this one. Sainz was happy with second, but his face told the real story as he continues to wait for that longed-for first grand prix victory.

Leclerc limits the damage but drops ground

The Perez retirement lifts Leclerc to within three points of second-placed ‘Checo’ in the standings, but the Monegasque won’t care much about that. It’s Verstappen he’ll be focused on, and having been forced to start from the back of the grid thanks to engine-change penalties, a hard-won fifth place leaves him a gaping 49 points down on the world champion. Is his title bid effectively over?

Ferrari again showed wobbles on strategy, as the timing of Leclerc’s pitstop, which was also three seconds longer than it ought to have been, dropped him to the tail of a sticky midfield battle. After the Tsunoda safety car, Leclerc found himself seventh on the medium Pirellis he’d had since lap 41 with both Alpines ahead of him on fresh yellow-walled rubber. Leclerc was decisive in the way he despatched both to claim fifth – but with a better strategy could he have beaten or at least threatened the two Mercedes that finished ahead of him? More frustration.

Hamilton cheered by podium third

Given his gloom on Friday when Hamilton deemed his W13 virtually “undriveable”, a third-place finish after a great deal of set-up work gave the seven-time world champion much to smile about. His second podium finish of the season was no certainty following his early lap-nine stop under the Perez VSC, and when he stopped for a second time on lap 44 it dropped him behind team-mate George Russell. When the younger driver came in a lap later for his own second stop that more or less guaranteed Hamilton leading a Mercedes 3-4 finish.

Russell recovered well from his questionable slicks-on-a-wet-track gamble in qualifying to keep up his remarkable points run this season. Neither had enough to tackle the Red Bull/Ferrari duel playing out ahead of them after the safety car, but at least they kept their rivals in sight. Signs of progress for the silver cars.

Alonso frustrated after front-row start

Fernando Alonso had a glint in his eye after a fantastic qualifying effort landed him a front-row start, and he had every intention of giving Verstappen something to think about at Turn 1. As it turned out the veteran quickly dropped to third behind fellow Spaniard Sainz, then ran long when perhaps it would have been better to pit under one of the two VSC periods. Keeping track position in the top three cost him when he finally pitted on lap 28, dropping him behind Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon, who had started seventh. The pair delivered a very decent 6-7 for Alpine, but Alonso’s frustration boiled on the radio in the closing stages as he snapped he’d been “a hundred times faster” than his team-mate over the course of the weekend.

To further sour his mood, a post-race five-second penalty for weaving in front of Valtteri Bottas dropped him from seventh to ninth, and he also revealed he’d been managing an engine problem from early in the race. Still, he’d played a wonderful cameo, and at 41, given yet another clear reminder that Alpine would be daft to drop him for next year.

Great day for Alfa Romeo

Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also made it a profitable visit to Montréal for Alfa Romeo as they delivered a double points finish for the Swiss-based team in eighth and ninth on the road, which became seventh and eighth after Alonso’s penalty. For Zhou, these were the first points since his impressive Formula 1 debut in Bahrain, as the team once again showed how far it has come on this year.

There was disappointment for Haas after Kevin Magnussen and Schumacher qualified fifth and sixth in the damp. Along with Schumacher’s car failure, Magnussen damaged his front wing while battling with Hamilton on lap one. His subsequent stop for a replacement saw him drop to the back of the field where he remained for the duration. Lance Stroll got the better of Daniel Ricciardo to claim the final point in his home grand prix for Aston Martin, on a day to forget for McLaren.

Silverstone is next, on 3^rd July. Given it’s probably the best track for wheel-to-wheel action on the calendar, the British GP promises to be a zinger.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.