Max Verstappen eventually controlled F1 Canadian GP to win from Fernando Alonso who passed Lewis Hamilton for P2.
It was a clean start from pole-sitter Max Verstappen in his Red Bull in a dry F1 Canadian GP in Montreal as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had a better start to leapfrog Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon cleared Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg for fifth, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moved up to seventh from teammate Lando Norris, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc up to ninth from Williams’ Alexander Albon in the Top 10 points places.
There was a squabble for 11th between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. They went wheel-to-wheel and stuck together for long as Williams’ Logan Sargeant was asked to stop due to an issue.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed with Verstappen leading Hamilton and Alonso. Behind him, Piastri made the move on Hulkenberg for fifth with Norris trying to get by too. The German eventually pitted to release the pack until the safety car was deployed.
Russell went through the kerb and went into the barrier but interestingly managed to pit and get on track after checks. There was an unsafe release check for Hamilton against Alonso in the hurried stop, with a potential unsafe release for Norris shown too.
Post the pit stops, it was still Verstappen ahead of Hamilton and Alonso, as Leclerc was up to fourth from Sainz, Perez, Magnussen and Bottas where everyone from the Monegasque and the Finn elected to stay out to extend their respective stints.
Ocon was ninth from Piastri, with Norris and Albon following in the Top 12. The places at the front remained the same but there were changes behind with Norris making an opportunistic move at the hairpin on teammate Piastri for 10th.
Both Bottas and Magnussen then had to give up a place to Ocon for safety car infringement where the Frenchman was up to seventh. The Finn cleared the Dane, who was passed by Norris in a brave move at Turn 1 around the outside.
Magnussen came under pressure from Albon but the Thai went wide which allowed Piastri to pass him as well in the fight for 10th where the Dane was running. As Alonso cleared Hamilton for second, the stewards cleared both Hamilton and Norris for unsafe release.
The McLaren driver was again under investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly. As the pit stop game started at the lower half of the field, Magnussen had to defend from AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries but the two banged wheels going into Turn 1.
That allowed Russell to sneak past them both as de Vries tried to get past him in the next couple of corners but missed the corner taking himself and Magnussen into the run-off. They both lost chunk of places as they had to reverse back onto the circuit.
Norris, meanwhile, was handed a 5s penalty for unsportsmanlike driving. The pit for both the Ferrari and Perez then eventually happened as they went for one-stop. It was status quo in the Top 6, with Albon doing a solid job in seventh from Russell.
Ocon was ninth from Bottas, with Norris not far behind. Russell, meanwhile, was eventually forced to retire due to overheating brakes. It was a tight in that pace led by Albon, with only Norris able to make a surprise move at hairpin at Turn 10 on Bottas.
At the front, Verstappen controlled pretty much to win F1 Canadian GP from Alonso and Hamilton as Leclerc was fourth from Sainz with Perez in sixth after taking the fastest lap. Albon was at a distant seventh but managed to hold off Ocon and Norris.
The Brit got Ocon but had to give up while Stroll passed Bottas on the line for track position. Both ended up in the points with penalty to Norris who dropped to 13th behind Piastri and Gasly. Behind them, Tsunoda was 14th from Hulkenberg.
Then Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou followed in 16th from Magnussen and de Vries, where everyone from the German until the Dutchman finished a lap down in the order. DNF: Russell, Sargeant.
🏁 FINAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 70/70) 🏁
How we crossed the line in Montreal!#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/rny6wnJjAs
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 18, 2023