By Andrew Benson.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a gripping wet-dry Canadian Grand Prix that developed into a five-car battle for the lead over the final 10 laps.
Verstappen expertly managed a restart after a safety-car period with 11 laps to go to bolt into a decisive lead while McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fought with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell behind him.
Verstappen pulled out nearly two seconds in one lap and controlled the race to the end from there.
Norris had twice led the race earlier on as conditions fluctuated between wet and dry but lost it each time by stopping a lap later than Verstappen.
And in the closing laps he could not do anything about the world champion when it mattered and had to settle for second.
Russell passed Hamilton with three laps to go to take the final podium place but may be ruing a couple of key errors during a race that he started from his first pole position for nearly two years.
Hamilton took fourth place ahead of Piastri with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso sixth.
Verstappen calm amid the storm
It was Verstappen’s sixth win in nine races this year but it was far from the foregone conclusion of grands prix at the start of the season.
The last 11 laps started finely poised, after Mercedes pitted Russell and Hamilton for fresh tyres under the safety car, giving both drivers a 10-lap advantage on their tyre wear over Verstappen and the McLarens in front.
But just as Russell was beginning to mount a challenge on the McLarens, with Norris and Piastri running nose to tail, he was a touch ambitious in trying to pass Piastri on the outside of the final chicane and he was forced on to the run-off area.
That dropped him behind behind Hamilton, who soon passed Piastri and himself looked briefly set for a charge towards the front.
But Russell fought back to pass Piastri and then Hamilton, who was given hard tyres rather than the mediums on Russell’s car, with three laps to go.
Bad timing for Norris
Norris also had cause to rue misfortune, this time not of his own making.
As the track dried through the first stint, he closed in on Verstappen in second place and passed him and then took the lead from Russell into the final chicane.
Russell was forced to cut the chicane as Norris passed, and Verstappen demoted him to third on the exit.
Five laps later, Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams as more rain began to fall and the safety car was deployed.
But the call was too late for Norris to pit – he had passed the pit exit already – while everyone behind him could. The safety car then picked Norris up, slowing him down, and he came out in third place behind Verstappen and Russell.
At the restart, Verstappen began to slowly edge away from Russell, and the race seemed to have fallen under his control when Norris ran wide at Turn One on lap 52, missed Turn Two and rejoined the track in front of Russell, dropping the Mercedes from 2.4secs behind Verstappen to four seconds.
But Norris closed back in to the leaders, challenging Russell, and with 25 laps to go, Verstappen and Russell pitted to change their intermediate tyres for slicks while Norris stayed out for two more laps.
He was trying to build a sufficient advantage to come out in the lead, and it was close – he looked to be set to race wheel to wheel with Verstappen as the McLaren exited the pits.
But Norris lost grip on the damp area off-line and Verstappen was able not only to retain the lead but finished the lap nearly four seconds ahead.
With Verstappen now in control, Russell passed Norris at the final corner, only to make an error at Turns Eight and Nine, leading team boss Toto Wolff to come on to the radio and tell him to “focus”.
The second safety car and fresh tyres gave Russell another chance, but it was not to be.