Max Verstappen grows championship lead with Canadian GP win
Brenden Martin recaps the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix where Max Verstappen won his 26th career race and grew his championship lead.
Red Bull Racing No. 1 Max Verstappen has been unstoppable to start the 2022 Formula 1 season and continued his bout for back-to-back titles with his first career Canadian Grand Prix win at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The defending champion crossed the finish line less than a second to Scuderia Ferrari No. 55 Carlos Sainz who came home with his fifth career second-place finish as he still looks for his first career win.
“I tried everything there guys,” Sainz said over his team radio after the race.
A mixed starting grid allowed Verstappen to pull away from Alpine Renault No. 14 Fernando Alonso and make him the driver to beat from lights out onward. A rainy qualifying session gave some teams a better starting position than they could hope for.
Haas had the best-combined starting position in team history with No. 20 Kevin Magnusson and No. 47 Mick Schumacher in P5 and P6 respectively. Unfortunately, the team was not able to capitalize on a points result.
On the opening start, Magnusson sustained front wing damage which grew more dangerous by the lap. Magnusson was shown the black and orange flag on Lap 6, forcing him to box and repair the front wing.
The issues continued not long after as Red Bull Racing No. 11 Sergio Pérez was forced to retire from the race due to an engine failure. The current runner-up in the championship points had a tough weekend all around. Pérez also crashed in Q2 on Saturday, putting a dent in his attempt to close the gap on Verstappen.
The loss of a Red Bull opened the door for Ferrari to close in on the Constructor's points, Sainz moved by Alonso for P2 on Lap 3 and took the lead once Verstappen boxed during the virtual safety car for Pérez’s crash.
Scuderia Ferrari No. 16 Charles Leclerc had a lot of ground to make up, starting at the rear to replace a power unit. Leclerc made his way into the top 10 by running long on hard tires. He went 42 laps before pitting for the first time. A slow stop put him out in P12 behind McLaren No. 3 Daniel Ricciardo.
On fresher hard tires, Verstappen quickly got around Alonso on Lap 15 and looked to chase down Sainz in the lead.
Haas’ nightmare scenario continued on Lap 20 when Schumacher’s engine gave out while running in P7. What was his best chance to earn his first points finish went up in flames as he only finished ahead of Pérez in P19.
The early stops during Pérez’s virtual safety car shifted some to a two-stop strategy. Verstappen once again boxed on Lap 44 from the lead and came out just behind Mercedes No. 44 Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen quickly got around the seven-time champion the following lap, but Hamilton fighting made his team more than content.
The field was brought together on Lap 49 when AlphaTauri No. 22 Yuki Tsunoda wrecked coming out of the pits to bring out a full safety car. It was the first time a full safety car was brought out at the Canadian Grand Prix outside of the first or final lap since 2011 when Jenson Button won a rain-filled race.
The safety car left the track with 16 laps to go with Sainz right on Verstappen’s rear. The Dutchman pulled away from Sainz on the restart and looked to grow a lead of over a second before DRS was enabled.
Sainz kept the leader to within a second when he got DRS, but was unable to make a pass on the straights before reaching a hard-braking turn.
Verstappen was still holding off Sainz by under a second going to the final lap. The Red Bull’s speed was just too much for the Ferrari. Verstappen picked up his 26th career win and the sixth straight victory for Red Bull.
“The safety car didn’t help,” Verstappen said. “I think they [Ferrari] were really quick so it would have been really tough for me to close that gap to the end even on fresher tires.”
Sainz managed to earn an extra point for running the fastest lap of the race at 1:15:749, just nine hundredths better than Verstappen’s best lap.
Following Sainz’s runner-up finish. Hamilton finished P3 to earn his 184th career podium finish and his first one since the season opener at the Bahrain Grand Prix, another race where Sainz finished second.
"It's quite overwhelming to get this third place, it's been such a battle this year, but we continue to stay so vigilant and focused,” Hamilton said. "They're a little bit too fast for us at the moment but we're getting closer, so we gotta keep pushing!"
Hamilton’s teammate, No. 63 George Russell continued his streak of being the only driver to finish every race in the top five with a P4 finish in Montreal. Russell has only finished behind Hamiton twice this season, both of which were podium finishes for him.
Leclerc was able to salvage a penalty-riddled weekend with a P5 finish to make it a positive day for Ferrari in the Constructor's points. However, he falls even further behind Verstappen in driver’s points.
Alonso managed his tires and finished P7, right behind his teammate No. 31 Estaban Ocon.
However, Alonso was dealt a five-second time penalty for weaving while defending against Alfa Romeo No. 77 Valtteri Bottas after the race, bumping him down to P9.
Alfa Romeo No. 24 Zhou Guanyu earned his second career points finish, just as he did in Bahrain. He achieved his best career finish after earning his first Q3 qualification, finishing one spot behind his teammate, Bottas.
Verstappen’s championship lead grows to 46 points over Pérez, who now only leads Leclerc by three points.
The 2022 Formula 1 season continues with Round 10 being the 52-lap British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a 5.891-kilometer circuit that is home to both Mercedes drivers and the team's home track. The race on Sunday, July 3 at 10 a.m. ET can be watched on ESPN from the United States.
Race Results:
Driver’s Points:
Constructor’s Points: