@Max33Verstappen cruises to comfortable #CanadianGP victory. #F1

Verstappen Canadian GP Victory – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen equalled the legendary Ayrton Senna of 41 victories with a comfortable win at the Canadian GP as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completed the top three.

 

 

Verstappen lead from start-to-finish with a flawless drive to increase his championship lead and also gave the Milton Keynes based-outfit their 100^th victory in Formula One.

 

When the 70-lap Canadian GP began, polesitter Verstappen makes a solid getaway into turn one, behind the Dutchman, Hamilton made the jump over Alonso to snatch second from the Aston Martin driver.

 

At the end of the opening tour, Verstappen lead 1.166 seconds from Hamilton with Alonso third, Mercedes’ George Russell fourth, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completing the top five.

 

On the 4^th tour, Alonso got within DRS range of Hamilton in the fight for second place, and Hamilton did not have the adjustable rear wing for use to defend – because the Briton was too far behind the Red Bull driver.

 

On lap five, Alonso had a heavy tap with the wall, on the exit of turn four, but was lucky to not suffer any damage. Behind him, Russell was asking his team for strategy options.

 

On the lap seven, Alonso was in DRS range to Hamilton as he came down the main-straight but he was too far behind to make any move.

 

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant was the first retiree of the race and parked his FW45 racer at the exit of turn six.

 

The virtual safety car was brought out briefly for less than a lap for the FW45 to be cleared.

 

At the beginning of lap ten, Verstappen increased his gap 3.354 seconds over Hamilton with Alonso third, Russell fourth, and Ocon rounding out the top five.

 

On the 12^th tour, Russell made contact with the wall at the exit of turn nine chicane after taking too much kerb, and the rear-right of his F1 W14 hit the wall and sustained damage, which brought out the safety car.

 

The top three pitted for a fresh set of hards along with the two McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, promoting the two Ferrari’s of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who are yet-to-pit were up into fourth and fifth respectively as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez completed the top six. Russell managed to continue on, stopped and emerged in P18.

 

When the race resumed on lap 17, the order remained stable with Verstappen clearing quickly from Hamilton with a 1.232 second gap, with Alonso third, Leclerc and Sainz fourth and fifth.

 

On lap 22, Alonso made the jump past Hamilton into second place picking up the slipstream on the back straight and overtaking the Mercedes ahead of the final chicane and held position down the main-straight to make the move stick.

 

There was no further action taken by the stewards for the unsafe release between Hamilton and Alonso.

 

On the 25^th lap, Verstappen held a 3.388 second gap over Alonso with Hamilton third, and the yet-to-pit Leclerc and Sainz rounding out the top five.

 

Race leader Verstappen was complaining of losing grip with his harder compounds, but the others around him were doing the same.

 

At the halfway point of the Grand Prix, Verstappen was slowly increasing his lead over Alonso, up to 5.233 seconds, Hamilton was third and the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz completing the top five.

 

On lap 38, Perez pitted from sixth for a fresh set of mediums and emerged in seventh place behind Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon.

 

A tour later, Sainz also stopped for a fresh set of hards and came out comfortably ahead of Williams’ Albon and Red Bull’s Perez.

 

On lap 40, Leclerc pitted for a fresh set of hards and emerged in-front of team-mate Sainz and remained in fourth.

 

On the 41^st tour, Hamilton came in for a second time to switch for a set of mediums to try and trigger Alonso into a stop, which the Spaniard does a lap later to try and cover the Mercedes.

 

Alonso came out comfortably ahead of Hamilton and remained in second place.

 

Race leader Verstappen pitted a lap later also for a fresh set of mediums and came out comfortably clear of Alonso.

 

On lap 45, Verstappen held a 4.617 gap to second-place Alonso as third placed Hamilton scored the fastest lap of a 1:16.003, the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz followed in fourth and fifth respectively as Perez completed the top six.

 

In the battle for second, Hamilton was taking time out of Alonso with the latter being told by his Aston Martin team to lift and coast.

 

Alonso was seen making a mistake, going through the turns eight and nine run-off area.

 

With 20 tours remaining, Verstappen held a 5.693 second lead to Alonso with Hamilton third, Leclerc fourth and Sainz rounding out the top five.

 

On lap 55, Mercedes’ Russell was forced to retire due to a brake problem.

 

With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen held a 7.836 second gap to Alonso with Hamilton 1.528 seconds behind the Spaniard in the battle for second place, the two Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively as Perez completed the top six.

 

Hamilton was told by his team that Alonso was struggling with a rear brake issue.

 

With seven laps remaining, Alonso was told from the Aston Martin team that Hamilton was 1.9 seconds behind with the Spaniard responding, “leave it to me”.

 

In the battle for second with four tours left, Alonso increased his gap to 2.9 seconds over Hamilton.

 

Verstappen crossed the line to take his 41^st-career victory, equalling the amount of the legendary Senna with Alonso second and Hamilton completing the top three.

 

Both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Sainz recovered from their 10^th and 11^th starting positions on the grid to claim fourth and fifth respectively as Red Bull’s Perez claimed sixth place and the fastest lap bonus point.

 

Williams Racing’s Albon was seventh and ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took eighth and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished his home race in ninth with Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas rounding out the final points place.

 

McLaren’s Piastri and Norris ended the race in 11^th and 13^th with the latter being hit with a five-second time penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, which demoted him from his original finishing points spot of ninth. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly split the pairing in 12^th.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda placed 14^th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who finished the Grand Prix 15^th and Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who came 16^th in the order.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries who had a tangle with each other followed in 17^th and 18^th respectively and were the final two runners of the race.

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2023 Canadian GP – The Top Three

 

 

2023 Canadian GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19:

“It was not a straightforward race; the tyres were not getting in their window, and we were sliding around a bit. But to win today, to win the 100th Grand Prix for the team is incredible. I never expected to be on these kind of numbers myself.”

 

2^nd Place – Fernando Alonso, #14, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team-Mercedes, AMR23, +9.570:

“We were hoping to challenge a little more the Red Bull, but we lost a place at the start, and it was a battle with the Mercedes. Lewis was pushing all the race; I didn’t have a single lap I could relax. At the end Lewis had more pace, it was a tough race. It was 70 laps of qualifying today.”

 

3^rd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W14, +14.168:

“It’s been a great weekend for us – we are slowly chipping away. The Astons moved away with their upgrades, but we are bringing some more soon. We knew this wouldn’t be our strongest circuit, we struggle on the low-speed corners. We need to add rear downforce to the car, but I do believe we will get there at some stage. It’s quite an honour to be up there with two world champions.”

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Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023 Race Results Classification (70 Laps)

 

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	70	1:33:58.348	25
2	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	70	+9.570s	18
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	70	+14.168s	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	70	+18.648s	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	70	+21.540s	10
6	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	70	+51.028s	9
7	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+60.813s	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	70	+61.692s	4
9	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	70	+64.402s	2
10	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	70	+64.432s	1
11	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	70	+65.101s	0
12	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	70	+65.249s	0
13	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	70	+68.363s	0
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	70	+73.423s	0
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	69	+1 lap	0
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	69	+1 lap	0
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	69	+1 lap	0
18	21	Nyck De Vries	ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT	69	+1 lap	0
NC	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	53	DNF	0
NC	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	6	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Perez scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/race-result.html

 

Click here for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round 10 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the famous Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria for the Formula 1 Rolex Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2023 from June 30-July 2.

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