F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen Wins 100th Race for Red Bull in Montreal, Equals Ayrton Senna's Record

The championship leader proved unbeatable as he drove Red Bull to their 100th win in Formula One. Max Verstappen won by 9.5 seconds over Alonso, who had to fight off an aggressive charge from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to finish second. Verstappen took the early lead after a quick start from Hamilton put the Mercedes driver ahead of Alonso for the first few laps. George Russell entered the early tussle among the front-running three, but on lap 12, the Briton crashed into the Turn 9 exit wall, causing his right rear tyre to come apart from the rim. After limping back to the pits, Russell was allowed to restart the race at the rear of the pack as the whole safety car dealt with the debris.

F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Montreal Race Result

Most of the racers had pitted during the safety car period, and Alonso seemed to be faster on the hard tyre than Hamilton. As a result, Alonso had to maintain enough speed to be behind Hamilton on a softer tyre while still attempting to lift and coast to keep his brake temperatures under control. This gave Verstappen the opportunity to begin gradually increasing his lead over his fellow two-time champion, and by lap 20, he had increased his lead to more than six seconds.

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Because Hamilton had switched to a tyre with a softer compound after the second round of pit stops, Alonso had to keep up with him. The seven-time champion closed up on his old teammate, cutting the gap to 1.4 seconds, but Alonso increased his speed to pull away from the Mercedes. Hamilton finished third, 4.5 seconds behind Alonso, to earn Mercedes their only point after Russell was forced to withdraw from the race due to damages sustained in an early collision..

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F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Lando Norris' penalty explained by the FIA

The FIA docked Lando Norris points for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ in Canada, where he had just finished in the top ten. Norris was one among the drivers to go for the pits after George Russell crashed into the wall on Lap 12, triggering McLaren to double-stack their cars. However, the race stewards had a problem with how Norris slowed down to separate himself enough from teammate Oscar Piastri so that he wouldn't lose time during a pit stop that occurred directly after Piastri's. Race Control decided to give Norris a five-second penalty, dropping him from ninth on the road to thirteenth in the final standings of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Explaining their decision, the stewards said, ‘During the Safety Car period the driver slowed to allow a gap to form between his team-mate in Car 81 and him. In doing so he delayed the cars behind. There was a significant difference in speed between Car 4 and Car 81 between Turns 10 and 13 (approximately 50 km/h).

‘Article 12.2.1.l of the ISC refers to “any infringement of the principles of fairness in competition, behaviour in an unsportsmanlike manner or attempt to influence the results of a competition, in a way that is contrary to sporting ethics.”’

After Piastri finished eleventh, McLaren's trip to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was fruitless. With Esteban Ocon finishing in eighth place and earning four points for Alpine, the gap of 27 points between Alpine and McLaren in fifth place in the Constructors' Championship is significantly more challenging after the Canadian Grand Prix.