Max Verstappen maintained his hold on the Formula One (F1) championship fight by holding off a late challenge from Carlos Sainz Jr. to earn his sixth win of the season in a fairly easy Sunday drive in the Canadian Grand Prix. (More Motorsport News)
Verstappen won from the pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to extend his lead in the standings to 46 points over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who retired early with a gearbox issue.
바카라śIt바카라™s still a very long way to go and I know the gap of course is quite big, but I also know that can switch around very quickly,바카라ť Verstappen said of his points lead. He noted he trailed Charles Leclerc by 46 points following the third race of the season.
The Dutchman had no trouble clearing Fernando Alonso, who earned his first front-row start in a decade then joked he바카라™d attack Verstappen in the first turn to steal the victory.
But there was no challenge and by the time Sainz cleared Alonso for second on Lap 2, Verstappen had already built a lead of 2.4 seconds. Sainz was able to close the gap over the final 10 laps and pressured the reigning F1 champion but faded on the last lap and finished .993 seconds behind in his Ferrari.
바카라śIt was good racing, it is always more enjoyable to be able to really push rather than just save your tires,바카라ť said Verstappen, who added Sainz didn바카라™t have 바카라śa go in terms overtaking, but it was super close.바카라ť
바카라śWhen I gave it all, I was risking everything,바카라ť Sainz said. 바카라śI can tell you I was pushing. I left everything out there. For the first time this season I can say I was fastest man on track, which gives me confidence and some hope for the next races.바카라ť
Mercedes had a tremendous rebound from its season-long struggles, which included a terrible Friday practice, as seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton scored his first podium since the season-opening race in March. George Russell was fourth as Hamilton beat his new teammate for just the second time in nine races this season.
바카라śIt feels great to be amongst the battle and at the end there I was keeping up with these guys. It does give me and the team a lot of hope,바카라ť Hamilton said. 바카라śThe potential is truly there if we can get the setup right and I think that바카라™s been the most difficult thing this year.바카라ť
Hamilton received a rousing ovation after his finish and said he had no problems with his back, which has been plaguing him all season because of how the new Mercedes bounces all over the track.
바카라śIt바카라™s good, I바카라™m back to being young,바카라ť said the 37-year-old. But he added 바카라śwe still had bouncing, but it바카라™s night and day the difference.바카라ť
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said the team had raised the ride height on its cars to make them more drivable and eliminate the 바카라śporpoising바카라ť effect that has bogged down Hamilton and Russell all season. The bouncing has caused back pain and headaches for its drivers.
바카라śThe (wind) tunnel has told us that the lower the car, the faster you go, the more ground effect it will have,바카라ť Wolff said. 바카라śBut in effect, you can바카라™t drive the car there so you need to lift it, and lift it, and lift it, and then on paper you are losing half a second or so in downforce.
바카라śWe raised it already (Saturday) but the more you raise, the more performance you lose. So it바카라™s always a compromise.바카라ť Verstappen, meanwhile, has now won six of the first nine races in his title defense season.
It was Verstappen바카라™s first win in Montreal, which F1 said hosted a record 338,000 spectators over the three-day weekend as the series returned to Canada after a two-year pause during the pandemic.
The Sunday crowd was treated to clear, sunny skies after two days of rain that upended qualifying and created the slick track that allowed Alonso 바카라” and other drivers, including Hamilton 바카라” to earn their top starting spots this year.
Leclerc rallied from a 10-place grid penalty for changing the engine in his Ferrari to finish fifth from 19th. Estaban Ocon of Alpine finished sixth and teammate Alonso, who said he바카라™d be pleased with a fifth-place finish, was seventh but penalized five-seconds after the race for weaving.
That dropped Alonso to ninth, while Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo moved to seventh. Bottas was followed by rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu, who was moved to eighth after the Alonso penalty and finished in the points for the second time this season. Canadian driver Lance Stroll of Aston Martin was 10th.
Perez exited the race after just nine laps with a gearbox issue, the fourth Red Bull mechanical failure this season between Perez and Verstappen. Eleven laps later, Mick Schumacher came to a stop on track 바카라” ending the Haas driver바카라™s bid to score his first F1 points.
Haas had equaled its best qualifying effort in team history a day earlier when Kevin Magnussen and Schumacher qualified fifth and sixth, but the team failed to convert. Magnussen damaged his front wing on the opening lap and finished 17th.
바카라śI feel like we built the cake, but we just didn바카라™t get to put the frosting on it,바카라ť Schumacher said. Toronto native Nicholas Latifi, who has admitted his seat at Williams is not secure, was 16th in his first career home grand prix.
바카라śIt바카라™s great to finally have my first home race and the support I felt from my family, friends and all the fans in the grandstands was amazing,바카라ť said Latifi. 바카라śIn terms of on track, we were lacking a lot of pace and we need to try to understand why. Regardless of the result, this weekend has been one to remember.바카라ť
