Canadian GP: Verstappen fends off late pressure from Sainz to win
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took a good win in F1 Canadian GP after late pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in third.
It was all dry for F1 Canadian GP as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen led the way comfortably at the start from Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen were wheel-to-wheel for few corners.
Hamilton stayed ahead of Magnussen as Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Mercedes’ George Russell made up places to be sixth and seventh, with Haas’ Mick Schumacher dropping to eighth from McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in Top 10.
After few laps behind, Sainz finally got ahead of Alonso for second as Guanyu got past Ricciardo for ninth. There was dismay for Haas when Magnussen was shown the black and orange flag after his front wing’s endplate started moving around.
He dropped to the back of the field as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was advised to manage a technical issue. Both he and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel went for an early stop. Amid this, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez slowed to retire due to a potential gearbox issue.
He lost drive as Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Verstappen pitted along with Hamilton. It gave Sainz the lead of F1 Canadian GP from Alonso, with the Dutchman slotting in third from Russell and Hamilton in the Top 5.
Hamilton had to pass Ocon to gain track position as Schumacher in seventh had Zhou to defend, while Ricciardo ran ninth from Williams’ Alexander Albon in the Top 10. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was up to 12th in his recovery drive post the VSC period.
As Sainz continued to lead, Verstappen was second after passing Alonso. At the fag end of the Top 10, Albon was defending hard from Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Leclerc but eventually lost to both of them when the VSC was deployed again.
It was for Schumacher who slowed to retired due to a mechanical issue as Sainz pitted along with Russell and Ocon, which put Verstappen into the F1 Canadian GP lead. The Spaniard was back up to second when Alonso did not pit again.
He was third but not for long as Hamilton passed him for third, with Alonso in fourth from Russell and Ocon in the Top 6. Leclerc was up to seventh after a brave move on Bottas, with his teammate Zhou stuck behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in fight for ninth.
The Canadian was another one to stay out for long. Replays, meanwhile, showed a slow stop from McLaren for Ricciardo when they were double-stacking for Norris. The team were not ready with the tyres for the Brit, which eventually cost him chunk of time and places.
Alpine eventually pitted Alonso for one stop as he dropped behind Leclerc, who was in chase of Ocon without stopping. The Monegasque finally pitted on Lap 43 to drop to 12th as Verstappen pitted one lap later and dropped back to third behind Hamilton.
He didn’t wait long and passed him in the chase of Sainz. The F1 Canadian GP got interesting after AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed into the barrier after coming out of the pit stop which resulted in the deployment of the safety car.
Verstappen took the F1 Canadian GP lead from Sainz, who decided to stop during the safety car period. Hamilton was third from Russell with Ocon in fifth from Alonso, Leclerc, Bottas, Vettel and Zhou in the Top 10 behind the safety car.
The re-start worked well for Verstappen but Sainz hung on his tail for lone as the two left off Hamilton a bit behind and Russell a bit far off from them. Leclerc got himself to fifth after passing both Ocon and Alonso with Bottas joining the fight.
Guanyu and Ricciardo was in the Top 10, but the Australian had a threat from late-stopper Stroll and the Canadian eventually passed him for the last point. At the front, meanwhile, Verstappen managed well to defend the pressure from Sainz in the closing stages.
Verstappen took a good F1 Canadian GP win from Sainz by just around a second as Hamilton registered his second podium of the 2022 season with Russell in fourth from Leclerc. The team orders saw Ocon in fifth from Alonso, who was quite frustrated with it.
Bottas was a close eighth with Guanyu in ninth and Stroll rounding the Top 10. Ricciardo was 11th from Vettel, Albon, Gasly, Norris, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Magnussen.
DNF: Tsunoda, Schumacher, Perez.
UPDATE: Alonso was handed a 5s penalty for changing direction for more than once against Bottas between Turns 10 and 12 on the penultimate lap. The Finn had to lift at one point which caused him lose momentum. The penalty drops the Spaniard to ninth whereby Bottas and Zhou end up gaining a place to seventh and eighth.
“The Stewards heard from the driver of car 14 (Fernando Alonso), the driver of car 77 (Valtteri Bottas) and team representatives and examined video evidence and telemetry from car 77. Between turns 10 and 12, on the penultimate lap of the race, car 14 made repeated changes of direction to defend against car 77 who had to lift at one point and briefly lost momentum.
“Whilst noting the driver’s point that at no stage was any point of car 77 alongside car 14, the Stewards consider this to be a clear breach of the above regulation. The Stewards therefore impose a 5 seconds time penalty in line with that imposed for a similar incident in Australia 2022,” stated the stewards.
On the other side, the stewards had no further action for Vettel for safety car infringement. “The Stewards heard from the driver of car 5 (Sebastian Vettel) and the team representative, and examined GPS evidence. After initially closing up to the car in front under the Safety Car procedure, for a period of time car 5 did not maintain the 10-car length rule.
“However, towards the end of the Safety Car period re-closed the gap and then maintained the required position until the race resumption. The Stewards also note that there were other drivers who also failed to keep to the 10-car lengths at different times during the procedure but that all were compliant at the end of the Safety Car period. Therefore the Stewards conclude that a penalty for car 5 is not appropriate in these circumstances,” stated the stewards.
