Verstappen Cruises to Personal and Team Milestone Victory in Canada

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates with Red Bull Racing Team Consultant Dr Helmut Marko and Adrian Newey, the Chief Technical Officer of Red Bull Racing after the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 18, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo: Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images)

MONTREAL – After the strange start to the weekend between the technological issues on Friday and the rain on Saturday, the hope was that it would continue into Sunday to spice up the season a bit.

However, things more or less stayed the same, at least at the top of the field although some strategy changes and cautions did provide some form of excitement.

Between qualifying and the Grand Prix on Sunday, the grid was shaken up a bit due to grid penalties. While the case of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty, stemming from holding up drivers during qualifying, was assessed quickly, three more three-place penalties were handed out.

Surprise second place starter Nico Hulkenberg of Haas F1 obtained a penalty for going too fast when the red flag was displayed right after his fast lap, dropping him from second to fifth. Meanwhile, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who received the same penalty as Sainz, impeded faster cars on track.

With the stage set on a cool yet drier day at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the 20 drivers were set with a small variety of tire strategy choices. A majority of teams decided to go with the safer strategy option of going from the medium compound tires to the hard compound tires.

On the other hand, Kevin Magnussen of Haas F1, Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo, and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez started on the hard compound tires with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly starting on the soft tires.

With everything set up, the lights went out with pole sitter Max Verstappen in his Red Bull driving to an early lead while Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes leapt in front of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Further behind, Hulkenberg lost positions after being passed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and the McLaren pair of Oscar Piasti and Lando Norris. Once the Drag Reduction System (DRS) was enabled, Hulkenberg created a bit of a train with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Alex Albon while Sainz and Perez fought wheel to wheel.

Shortly after that, the first retirement of the race occurred as the Williams of Logan Sargeant came to a stop on track, prompting a Virtual Safety Car and slowing the field. After Sargeant’s car was cleared from the track, the race fully resumed again.

A couple of laps later, Verstappen radioed to his Red Bull crew that he apparently hit a bird. All of that was moot when Russell hopped the curbs in Turns 8 and 9, going into the wall, breaking his front wing and spraying debris around that section of the track.

With that, the full Safety Car (SC) was deployed. The leaders of Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso made it into the pit lane and exited in the same order, albeit with a bit of possible controversy as Hamilton exited his pit box just in front of Alonso.

While most of the field pitted when the SC was sent out on track, the Ferrari pair, Perez, Bottas and Magnussen stayed out to get a jump on some positions. Behind them, the rest of the field went through the pits with moments noted by the stewards from Norris, who may have had an unsafe release exiting the pits while also possibly slowing down too much during the SC causing the stewards to look at that.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 18, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo: Minas Panagiotakis | Getty Images)

After a handful of laps behind the SC, the field returned to green flag racing through the end of the race. Verstappen picked off where he last left off while Alonso restarted his chase on Hamilton to retake back second place.

The front three created almost an immediate buffer as the pair of Ferraris and Perez set off on their own, trying to make their strategies work. Behind them, another DRS train was created from seventh on back.

Alonso, using the help of the multiple DRS zones along the track, got a run on Hamilton through the backstretch. At the final chicane, the two-time F1 champion worked his way around Hamilton.

Grip became the name of the game or at least the biggest talking point. Verstappen made a comment that “I have no grip on this tire.” A couple of laps better, while making good enough lap times and increasing his lead, he stated that his “grip is getting better.”

The change in strategy for Perez and the two Ferraris banked on running long enough on their tires or hoping for another VSC or SC.

Neither of those occurred, but all three had created enough of a gap to Albon to safely make their pit stop without losing any of the spots gained by staying out during the SC. It was a moment of strategy masterclass, especially from Ferrari.

Due to the gap created by the Ferrari pair and Perez taking their pitstops, the top three were able to make their second pit stops. Hamilton blinked first, looking to make a charge to take back second place on Alonso and a switch to Medium tires.

Alonso followed a lap later with a more conservative route sticking with a new set of Hard tires, especially while nursing rear brake issues causing him to lift coast. Verstappen followed a lap later with a switch back to the Medium tires.

The exciting part of the race happened from seventh on back with the DRS train Albon created. Ocon spent many laps trying to get past while Norris was trying to make up time that he would be giving up with his five-second penalty following unsportsmanlike conduct by slowing down too much during the SC period. Norris attempted to put on many moves, especially entering the final chicane.

The threat of an SC or VSC came up while Magnussen and an Alpha Tauri driver duked it out, making a bit of contact in Turns 1 and 2, allowing Russell to gain a position, and then came to a head with both drivers going into the runoff. Thankfully, both were able to safely rejoin the track with minimal issues.

However, the gain that Russell had was short-lived as the Mercedes team called him back into the pits to retire the car, ending his race in early fashion as second retirement of the race.

In the closing stages of the race, Hamilton made a charge on Alonso, closing ever so closer and getting right outside of DRS range. In a mixture of Alonso telling his pit wall to “leave it to me” and the Medium tires on Hamilton’s car falling off, Alonso opened a gap to solidify a second place finish.

Further down the order, the DRS train gave multiple drivers a chance to possibly make moves. Albon, in his Williams No. 23, did a great job holding his own while Norris made a handful of moves to be able to try to make up the 5 seconds pending from his penalty.

Norris made his way all the way to the rear wing of Ocon’s Alpine, but it was too little, too late when the checkered flew, dropping all the way to 13th with how close everyone was running together.

Meanwhile, for the eighth Grand Prix this season, a Red Bull found itself at the top of the podium. Namely, Verstappen picked up his sixth win of the season, extending his championship lead.

More importantly, it was the 100th victory of the Red Bull team and Verstappen’s 41st victory, equalling the late Ayrton Senna.

As Verstappen said, “[T]o win again [and] win the 100th Grand Prix for the team is incredible.”

Alonso and Hamilton placed on the podium as both showed that their respective team’s upgrades were doing their best to close the gap to the formidable Red Bull.

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing and Third placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 18, 2023 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo: Minas Panagiotakis | Getty Images)

There is a two week break before the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring with another Sprint Race Weekend. It remains to be seen if Verstappen’s dominance will continue or if the updates for Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari can make it a bit more of a race next time around.