Max Verstappen beats Carlos Sainz to Canada F1 victory, Lewis Hamilton returns to the podium
A𓆏 late Safety Car played into Sainz’s hands, giving him six-lap fresher tyres than the Red Bull driver in the cᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚlosing phase of the race.
Sainz remained in DRS range of Vไerstappen after the Safety Car but couldn’t get ⛦close enough to make a move with Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage once again proving to be crucial.
With Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez retiring early on due to a suspected gearbox problem, 💃Verstappen has opened up a𒉰 significant lead in the drivers’ championship ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton returned to the podium with a fine drive to third at the Circui🤡t Gilles Villeneuve - his second rostrum appearance of the year.&♔nbsp;
George Russell finished fou♛rth after making up positi𓃲ons at the start of the race but didn't quite have the pace of teammate Hamilton.
Safety Car livens up the race
The race was livened up on L෴ap 49 when Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 2.
Sainz made his second stop under the Safeღty Car which gave him a significant advꩲantage over his main rival.
Up until that point, the two Virtu🧸al Safety Cars saw a lot of pit stop action with Red Bull opting to pit Verstappen on Lap 9 b𝕴ut Sainz stayed out.
Under the second VSC, Sainz decided to stop, giving him 12-lap fresher tyres than the reigning💦 champion.
Sainz cut the ꦆgap at the front down to under six seconds before Verstappen's stop on Lap💙 44 before the Safety Car was deployed six laps later.
Leclerc's recovery
After starting from the back of the grꦅid, Charles Leclerc struggled to make 𝔍initial progress through the field.
Leclerc found himself stuck behind several midfield cars in a DRS train, 🍌forcing him into an early pit stop on Lap 42 for new medium tyres.
It was a slow start for Leclerc 💦meaning he dropped behind Guanyu Zhou, Yuk🐭i Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
He continued to make moves thro⛄ugh the field and stayed out under the aforementioned Safety Car position, promoting hi🎶m up to seventh.
Leclerc was aggressive on the restart, overtaking both Alpines to finish fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Al💝onso.
Alonso suffered from a power unit issue in the closing laps meaning he was put unꦕder immense pressure from bo﷽th Alfa Romeos.
The Spania🐭rd fended from Valtteri Bottas to the line to finish seventh ahead of thౠe Finn, while Guanyu Zhou and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.
Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a points finish with 11th ahead of Sebastian Vettel, whose decision to st🥃ay out under the Safety Car ꦏdidn't work.
It was a torrid day for Haas after qualifying ♋fifth and 💯sixth respectively.
𒊎Kevin Magnussen sustained ꧙damage early on, while Mick Schumacher retired on Lap 20 whilst running inside the points.
With a🏅 sharp eye for F1’s controverܫsies and storylines, Connor is the heartbeat of our unbiased reporting.
