Verstappen Dominance Continues in Canada With Sixth Consecutive Red Bull Win
Formula 1 finally returned to Canada after the race was canceled two years in a row because of the pandemic. Many fans have looked forward to this day and this race weekend did not disappoint.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen navigating Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the rain.
Credit: Twitter @HaasF1Team
The weather changed day by day in Montréal. It was pouring down on Thursday with water flooding into the pitlane, and it was sunny the next day when two practice sessions took place. During the all-important qualifying session, it started raining again. The drivers were forced to use full-wet tyres for qualifying as the track was very wet and slippery. Drivers tumbled around the track as it dried up. Some drivers were brave enough to use intermediate tyres at the start of Q2.
Carlos Sainz in his red Ferrari running in front of Williams’ Alex Albon during the wet qualifying session.
Credit: Twitter @ScuderiaFerrari
While title contender Charles Leclerc stopped participating because he has already been penalized for using extra engine components. No matter what place he achieves during qualifying, he will start at the back of the grid. Another title contender Sergio Perez crashed out and took an unusual route back to the paddock. With two title contenders out of the fight for pole in wet conditions, things got interesting quickly.
George Russell driving through a very wet turn one during qualifying.
Credit: Twitter @MercedesAMGF1
All drivers started Q3 with intermediate as the dry line appeared on track. Track conditions improved further as drivers rolled down the circuit producing faster and faster times on the timing sheet. Russell took the bet and became the first and only driver to use slick tyres. The bet did not pay off as he spun off in the very damp turn two. In the end, Lewis Hamilton achieved his best qualifying result this season in P4. Carlos Sainz was Ferrari’s hope to disrupt Max Verstappen’s recent dominance, but he was caught off by his fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Alonso took second place and his first front-row start in a decade with an absolutely brilliant lap, demoting Sainz to third. No one was able to challenge Verstappen as the Dutch driver took his second pole this year.
Max Verstappen photoed parking on the grid for an interview after taking his second pole position on Saturday.
Credit: Twitter @redbullracing
It was sunny again on race day, with all drivers lining up on the grid with medium tyres or hard tyres. The start was rather peaceful with all drivers making out of the first lap safely, except Kevin Magnussen who collided with Lewis Hamilton and came off worse. Magnussen had front wing damage and he was given the black and orange flag, which forced him to pit for repairs, effectively ending his race. Perez was on a mission to redeem himself after his mistake in qualifying. However, his car had other ideas. His RB18 gave out on lap 9 and caused a virtual safety car(VSC). Verstappen took the chance to make his first pit stop giving the lead to Sainz. This early pit stop also meant Verstappen must use a two-stop strategy.
Carlos Sainz hunting down Max Verstappen for the lead.
Credit: Twitter @ScuderiaFerrari
Alonso was dropping back slowly and losing positions after the start as he was troubled by an engine issue. Haas’ Mick Schumacher achieved his career-best qualifying result on Saturday but a power unit failure meant he was not able to turn his qualifying result into points. He was forced to retire on lap 19. A second VSC was deployed so Sainz pitted and relinquished the lead to Verstappen. Even though Sainz had fresher tyres, he was not able to cut Verstappen’s lead. Verstappen made his second stop for tyres on lap 43, giving the lead to Sainz again. Yuki Tsunoda made a mistake coming out of the pit lane on lap 49 causing a safety car. Sainz pitted again for fresh tyres and returned the lead to Verstappen. The safety car bunched up all the drivers, giving Sainz another chance to fight Verstappen for the lead.
Max Verstappen defending his lead against Carlos Sainz during the closing stages of the Grand Prix.
Credit: Twitter @redbullracing
The race restarted on lap 55 and Sainz was on Verstappen’s tail. He was close enough to Verstappen so he can activate his drag reduction system(DRS) in DRS zones. However, Verstappen had clean air and he was able to maintain the lead against the charging Ferrari of Sainz behind him. Verstappen took his sixth win of the season and sixth consecutive win for Red Bull. Sainz achieved his best career result for the fifth time. This is his third time getting second this season, but he is still waiting for his first career win.
Max Verstappen celebrating after his sixth win this season and extending his championship lead to 46 points.
Credit: Twitter @redbullracing
Hamilton and Russell achieved third and fourth. This is Hamilton’s first podium since the opening race in Bahrain. Alonso ended up in ninth after a post-race penalty. He was weaving while defending Valtteri Bottas on the last lap and got hit with a five-second penalty after crossing the line. The penalty promoted Bottas to seventh and rookie Guanyu Zhou to a career-best P8.
Hamilton got his first podium position since the opening race of the season, taking third in Canada.
Credit: Twitter @MercedesAMGF1
F1 will return to Europe next week for the last four Grand Prix before the summer break. The British Grand Prix will be the first of the four. A high-speed track that will definitely test the teams’ ability to cope with the porpoising issue. Even though F1 has sent a new technical directive to all the teams before the Canadian Grand Prix, it will be interesting to see how teams adapt to these new instructions and how they can help with the porpoising issue.
