Verstappen fends off Sainz to win Canadian GP

Max Verstappen held off a late charge from Carlos Sainz to win the 2022 Canadian GP. The reigning F1 world champion has made some big gains on top of the standings while his closest rivals struggled. His Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez retired with a gearbox issue, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started from the back of the grid after his engine penalties.

Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third place, making his first podium appearance since the season-opening Bahrain GP.

• Verstappen wins, 0.993 secs from Sainz
• Perez retires
• Alonso handed post-race penalty

Verstappen wins Canadian GP

Verstappen didn’t seem under much threat for most of the race. But the Safety Car, which was brought out on Lap 47 after Yuki Tsunoda’s crash, worked in Sainz’s favour. He pitted for fresh tyres and rejoined the track just behind Verstappen, who was on five-lap older tyres.

Once racing resumed, Verstappen tried pulling out of DRS range, but Sainz was hunting his maiden F1 victory and chased down the Red Bull driver till the very end. Nevertheless, Verstappen held the advantage and crossed the chequered flag to score his fifth win in the last six races.

This also handed Red Bull Racing their sixth win on the run. The last time they achieved this feat was back in 2013 when Sebastian Vettel won nine races back-to-back.

“The safety car didn’t help,” Verstappen quipped after the race. “It was really exciting at the end, I was giving it everything I had. Of course, Carlos [Sainz] was doing the same. Following is tricky around here, but I could see he was pushing, charging, pushing. But of course, naturally, when you’re on the DRS it’s a bit easier to charge. So, yeah, the last few laps were a lot of fun!”

Hamilton back on the podium

Hamilton kept Sainz honest in the final laps, too. He took third place, making only his second podium appearance so far this year. Speaking after the race, Hamilton admitted that the W13’s pace in Canada has given him and the team hope that “there’s more to come from this car”.

His Mercedes teammate George Russell finished right behind him in fourth place. The Brit further extends his streak of finishing in the top five in every single race so far this year.

Leclerc recovers to P5

After the disappointment of the last few races, Charles Leclerc had yet another tough time in store for him at Montreal, as engine penalties relegated him to 19th on the grid. But he was able to limit the damage to his title race, as he crossed the line in fifth place.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was next in sixth. Fernando Alonso wasn’t able to replicate his strong qualifying form (which saw him start from second on the grid). He finished seventh on track but was handed a 5-second time penalty for changing direction more than once while defending from Valtteri Bottas. This dropped him to ninth place, promoting Bottas to seventh and Zhou Guanyu to eighth.

Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10 for Aston Martin.

2022 F1 drivers’ championship standings

With 175 points, Verstappen now stretches his championship lead over Perez to 46 points. Leclerc is still third overall, just three points behind Perez and 49 points off Verstappen.

Up next on the F1 calendar is the British GP on July 1-3.

2022 Canadian GP results