(L to R): Max Verstappen, Red Bull; Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari; Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2022

Verstappen sees off Sainz attack for Canadian Grand Prix win

2022 Canadian Grand Prix summary

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Max Verstappen saw off Carlos Sainz Jnr to claim his sixth win of the season in the Canadian Grand Prix and further extend his championship lead.

The Red Bull driver grabbed the first opportunity to pit when a Virtual Safety Car period was triggered by the retirement of his team mate Sergio Perez due to a suspected gearbox failure on lap eight.

Sainz, who passed Fernando Alonso on lap three to run second, did not come into the pits until a second VSC period occured later in the race, when Mick Schumacher pulled off into retirement.

He then closed on Verstappen, who came in for a second pit stop on lap 43. Although he fell behind Hamilton, he quickly passed the Mercedes, and set about taking a second per lap out of Sainz’s 10 second lead.

His progress was halted when Yuki Tsunoda crashed on his way out of the pits and the Safety Car was sent out. Sainz grabbed the opportunity to make a second pit stop and resumed on Verstappen’s tail.

After the race restarted, Sainz drew within DRS range of Verstappen for lap after lap, but was unable to make a move on the Red Bull driver. By the final lap he’d dropped out of the one-second window entirely as they approached the final chicane, and they crossed the finishing line a second apart.

The Mercedes drivers followed them home, Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell. They held back Charles Leclerc, who passed the Alpine duo after the Safety Car to finish fifth from the back row of the grid.

Esteban Ocon was the first of the two Alpines home. His team mate Fernando Alonso suffered an engine problem in the closing stages, and finished a disappointing seventh after starting on the front row.

The Alfa Romeo pair were next, Valtteri Bottas just three-tenths of a second behind Alonso at the line, the Alpine driver being noted by the stewards for weaving as he defended his position. Lance Stroll completed the top 10, taking a point in his home race.

McLaren endured a frustrating afternoon after pitting both cars under a Virtual Safety Car period but losing time. Daniel Ricciardo’s pit stop was slow and Lando Norris had to wait as his crew could not locate the correct tyres for his car immediately.

It was a tough day for Haas too, who failed to score after their drivers started on the third row of the grid. Kevin Magnussen made contact with Hamilton on the first lap, for the second time this year, and was summoned into the pits by the race director to have his damaged front wing replaced. Mick Schumacher retired while scrapping with Zhou.

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2022 Canadian Grand Prix reaction

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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35 comments on “Verstappen sees off Sainz attack for Canadian Grand Prix win”

  1. I feel a little sorry for Sainz, I think he could’ve done it with the right machinery.

    Amazing how a podium finish makes the back pain disappear…

    1. Adrenaline I suppose, u should have paid more attention in school…

      1. He didn’t any of that adrenaline in Baku? Very touchy.

    2. Or they found a setup that worked a lot better and hence wasn’t as painful to drive.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        19th June 2022, 21:19

        @slowmo – Didn’t they say there was nothing they could do to improve the ride? Suddenly their is now the car is quick huh….

        1. Looks like you didn’t notice it was a different track from Baku.

        2. No, in fact, they did not say that. In fact, they said they made a mistake on setup in Baku.

        3. There likely wasn’t much they could do on setup at Baku, it needs resurfacing or the cars need more tools on the suspension side to manage bumpy tracks. Clearly the car rode a bit better but was still porpoising on the straights. The issue at Baku was it bottoming out while porpoising due to bumps and stiff suspension.

        4. In case you missed it, most of the cars had additional ‘stays’ fitted to help with the porpoising.

      2. Don’t be ridiculous. You’re bringing reason and logic into a discussion that has abandoned all reason long ago.

        Half the people trying to make pithy comments about Hamilton and the W13 have no idea what they’re talking about… so instead of sounding pithy, they just thound pithed.

        1. Very good: take +5 pointh :)

    3. Yeah– being a world-class athlete with an entire organization behind him dedicated to making sure he’s in peak physical condition for each race is completely immaterial. *rolls eyes*

      1. Now then @grat, Please refer to @grat comment above – stop using reason and logic in an internet comment thread: no good can come of this behaviour I tell you!!!

  2. Sainz did a good job there. Red Bull was just way too quick in a straightline. Mercedes really taking advantage of their reliable car. I have a feeling this season is not over yet.

  3. Max is incredible, he knew where to push to just keep the Ferrari off him even though Ferrari was 20km faster in the straights.

  4. Snoozefest a handful of VSCs and full SC couldn’t breathe life into.

    Max did well to keep Sainz behind, Sainz never got quite close enough to send it. Great to see Hamilton back on the podium.

    Tough day at the office for Leclerc but a good recovery nonetheless!

    1. Snoozefest a handful of VSCs and full SC couldn’t breathe life into.

      VSC’s are a massive reason why F1 turns GP’s into snoozefests.
      SC’s are far more productive from both a safety perspective and a sporting entertainment one.

  5. Predictable up front. Shame for Fernando, he was just unlucky all race and had an engine issue. But as he said he’s still 100 times faster than Ocon!

    1. What you mean is its a shame it didn’t rain today.

      Alonso’s got carried away with his good luck in rain yesterday. Frankly he had no right to expect to finish fifth.
      Also driving as long as he did on that one set of tires, was never going to do him any favours. In the end he created his own bad luck.

      Sometimes you need more than track position.

  6. Verstappen continues to impress under pressure, reminiscent of his first win in Spain with Kimi on his gearbox for the end third of that race. Now almost 50 points ahead of his closest competitors and 6 wins out of a possible 9, he’s looking very good for a successful defense of his WDC this year.

    Shame for Sainz, still looking for his first win, but I’m sure he’ll get there sometime this season.

    Hamilton did good to get back on the podium. George will once again wonder why he tried to be a hero yesterday with those slicks, that podium could have easily been his today.

    1. Now I think about it, it’s the 2nd time this year that sainz is trying to overtake someone for 1st place, this time he had more chance than the previous, which was monaco, where he was significantly faster but had no chance at all at a track where you can be 4 sec slower and hold people off.

    2. I don’t think russell will be thinking like that, he will think it’s been a gamble worth trying and that besides hamilton he still achieved the result he was expected to get, so mercedes lost nothing with that gamble.

  7. If Hamilton was in a Ferrari he would be leading the championship.

    With the car underneath him , him and Max are untouchable.

    Prove me otherwise ?

    1. I love when Charles always says it’s good if Merc can be in the fight to make it 3 way.

      Hang on, Ferrari need to up there game to make it a 2 way fight.

      RB 6th win in a row makes it a one way fight.

    2. You think Ferrari wouldn’t be able to throw away chances and mess up strategy with Lewis? Don’t underestimate them ;-)

      1. No , A Vettel in his first year at Ferrari would be leading the championship for Ferrari right now.

        Experienced driver, a championship winning driver leads the team.

    3. Maybe, but if Ham AND Russell were at Ferrari then most probably not.

    4. Yes (@come-on-kubica)
      19th June 2022, 22:43

      What with the unreliability that leclerc has 3 races in a row, 2 wins lost through no fault of his own. Another through ferrari being inept. And this race where he battled through. Hamilton would have retired from the sport by now saying that the almighty powers have screwed him over.

  8. ‘His team mate Fernando Alonso suffered an engine problem in the closing stages’

    should be changed. wasn’t really in the closing stages, it was after lap 20

  9. Tsunoda Tsunoda’d Tsunoda by crashing whilst driving out of the pits. Shouldn’t that be a penalty?

  10. Carlos Sainz needed that performance today and I thought drove a very intelligent race and made no mistakes, it was nice to see Verstappen under some pressure unlike Baku where he just disappeared into the distance. Alot is being made of Hamilton’s speed during the race compared to Baku, but we must remember that Montreal has always been one of his strongest circuits and he has always gone well there. If I am not mistaken its where he claimed his first victory in F1 back in 2007. I am not convinced Mercedes have turned the corner enough to be a threat consistently but both Lewis and Russell had good race pace and points finishes.

    1. greasemonkey
      20th June 2022, 3:04

      Yes, this is a factor for sure. While any single great F1 driver may be best ever in one aspect, no single driver is best ever at everything.

      I think Hamilton is possibly the best braker ever. Montreal is braking skill heavy. That is why I think Hamilton gets “extra” at this track relative to other tracks.

      1. Ahh, that’s interesting to hear why hamilton is so good here cause indeed, both him and schumacher, and I’m sure many others had tracks they were really good at, schumacher was also great in canada.

      2. And hamilton definitely in silverstone too for example.

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