The championship keeps swinging more and more in favour of Max Verstappen, who claimed Red Bull’s sixth consecutive victory in Canada to win by just a second on Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
There was joy for Lewis Hamilton, third at the finish line, with championship contenders Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez having a difficult weekend.
Max Verstappen – 10
He was in a world of his own starting from Friday, topping every dry session and claiming pole position with a six-tenths margin on second place.
The Dutchman pulled away at the start but soon found himself in a distant battle with Ferrari’s Sainz, with both drivers making use of virtual safety car and safety car windows to box at different stages without losing much time to each other.
Verstappen resisted the charge of the quick Ferrari at the end, never putting a wheel wrong and winning despite being on older tyres than his rival. His sixth win of the season puts him clear at the top with a 46-points advantage.
Embed from Getty ImagesCarlos Sainz – 8.5
Despite coming short once again of a maiden win, the Spaniard finally had a weekend to be proud of, featuring as protagonist and not in the shadow of Leclerc.
Sainz was beaten to a front-row start by Fernando Alonso but executed the overtake soon to battle with Verstappen and contend the race win.
A late stop put him on newer tyres, as Sainz appeared to be marginally faster than Verstappen, but couldn’t make a move. The feeling is he might be disappointed, but finally appeared quick and not error-prone.
Embed from Getty ImagesLewis Hamilton – 8.5
The Brit can have some breathing space, returning on the podium after missing out for seven races. It came after racing at the front, thanks to a fourth-place in qualifying and an opportunistic strategy that allowed him to move past Alonso.
Hamilton finally appeared to be at his best and his fast teammate George Russell was never a serious threat to the seven-time world champion.
Canada is one of his best tracks, with seven race wins for the number 44, and he will be delighted to have scored a podium thanks to some scintillating pace from the Mercedes.
Embed from Getty ImagesGeorge Russell – 7.5
A gamble on qualifying cost him a podium finish, as Russell had appeared much faster than Hamilton on Saturday, but chose to fit the slick tyres during his last Q3 run, thus dropping to P8.
By the time he cleared traffic, Russell was too far behind his teammate and had to settle for P4, which proves his ever-present consistency.
The Mercedes driver was often the fastest car on Sunday and with this fourth place, he consolidated his presence in the top four of the championship.
Charles Leclerc – 7.5
The Monegasque was forced to start from the back due to a power unit change, following the mechanical woes in the previous races.
This severely limited his role in Canada, as Leclerc decided to stop after Q1 on Saturday, and struggled to overtake, being stuck for most of the race behind a DRS train.
He climbed up, but lost points to Verstappen for the sixth consecutive race, now being 49 points behind the lead of the championship.
Embed from Getty ImagesEsteban Ocon – 7.5
The Frenchman looked to be playing second fiddle to Alonso during the weekend, but once again finished the race in a great position to score eight points.
He was aided by his teammate’s problems, as Ocon was trouble-free and appeared fast, with an Alpine car at ease around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Valtteri Bottas – 7
For Valtteri Bottas it looked to be a difficult weekend until the late safety car arrived when he was yet to stop. The Finn soon found himself in eighth, which became seventh when Alonso was handed a penalty.
He was out-qualified by Zhou Guanyu and struggled to overtake Alex Albon in the early stages, finally moving past after a quarter of the race.
He continued his stint until the opportunity to box showed up and capitalised to lead home his teammate for a double-points finish.
Embed from Getty ImagesZhou Guanyu – 7.5
The Chinese driver was unlucky in finishing behind his teammate, as he scored points after a seven-race drought with a good P8 finish.
Zhou put his car in Q3 on Saturday and moved past Daniel Ricciardo at the start, climbing as high as P8 with the troubles of the two Haas.
Eventually, he lost out to Bottas, who could stop with a late safety car, but defended his place, as he will be one of the happiest drivers to leave Canada.
Fernando Alonso – 7.5
The first part of his weekend was magical, as he fought like a lion to finish every Friday session in the top five and to lead Free Practice Three.
He was also fast on Saturday, returning on the front row after 10 years with a magical performance in the wet, but a power unit issue struck in the race when he appeared to comfortably follow Sainz.
His strategy wasn’t the best, either, as he missed out on a chance to stop at both virtual safety cars and ended up behind Ocon. With the engine issue, his progress was limited, but a five seconds penalty for weaving on the straights dropped him to a desolate P9.
Once again, the potential wasn’t fulfilled.
Embed from Getty ImagesLance Stroll – 6
The Canadian driver scored a point at home, after starting all the way down in P17.
He looked to struggle compared to Sebastian Vettel, qualifying a full second behind the German and running outside of the points until other drivers stopped.
The choice to fit the hard tyre was rewarding, as he could remain out until a late safety car. This promoted him to P13 on new medium tyres, overtaking Kevin Magnussen, Vettel, and Ricciardo in the closing stages for a P10 finish.
Daniel Ricciardo – 5.5
The Australian’s weekend started with a Q3 appearance and a promising start from ninth place, with the car showing some good pace at stages, in the wet.
On the dry, Ricciardo wasn’t as quick, spending most of the race stuck in a DRS train and suffering a slow stop.
On a weekend in which Lando Norris was troubled, Ricciardo was the main opportunity to score points for McLaren but was overtaken late after a difficult last stint by Stroll.
Embed from Getty ImagesSebastian Vettel – 6
After appearing mighty quick in all practice sessions, Vettel was shocked to find himself eliminated in Q1, despite outperforming Stroll by a big margin.
The Aston Martin suddenly lost pace and his race was practically over, as he stopped before the two virtual safety cars, which granted most of the other drivers a free stop.
Vettel caught back up to trail the DRS train featuring in the top 10 but chose to stay out for the late safety car. This allowed him a brief cameo in 10th place, but lost out to Ricciardo and was later asked to move aside for Stroll, on newer tyres.
Alex Albon – 6.5
The Brit was able to overdrive the Williams, who had struggled in practice, to qualify in P12.
In the race, as it often happened, he could stay in the mix with faster cars, as the Williams appears faster, but was unlucky with how things played out.
After offering resistance to Bottas, he boxed just before the virtual safety car, losing out tremendously and only managing P13 at the end.
Pierre Gasly – 6
His was another ‘what could have been’ weekend, as a shocking Q1 elimination arrived after showing great pace in practice, but also during the session itself.
Both Alpha Tauri cars were at the back and Gasly had an issue during the race, which limited his speed.
The team opted for him to box early, but he missed out on the virtual safety car windows and was never able to fully demonstrate his pace.
Embed from Getty ImagesLando Norris – 6
He was affected by all kinds of misfortunes in Canada, which led to a desolate 15th place finish.
In qualifying, he suffered mechanical issues, as he was eliminated in Q2 and had to fit an older engine, by which he proved slower in the race.
As he was making progress, and following Bottas, who later finished P7, he was called in for a double-shuffle pit stop. Everything went wrong and he came out in last place after losing time.
Nicholas Latifi – 5
The Canadian’s first home race didn’t go to plan, as the Williams driver was once more stuck in the bottom places, whilst Albon was fighting much forward.
Rumours are spreading that Nicholas Latifi’s career might soon be over, and these kinds of performances won’t help him retain his seat.
Kevin Magnussen – 5
Following a sensational P5 in qualifying, Magnussen’s P17 finish is disappointing.
Once more, he tangled in the opening stages with Hamilton, receiving a black and orange flag that forced him to come in and repair the damages, thus ruining his race.
It was a very unfortunate situation, but Magnussen could have been more cautious given how far up he was.
Embed from Getty ImagesYuki Tsunoda – 4
Yuki Tsunoda limited his running in qualifying, as he was set to start from the back, thus beginning Sunday’s race from P20.
He made up some places when yet to stop, running in P11 and set to end the race on fresh medium tyres.
However, he crashed on the pit exit, pushing too hard on new tyres, for what is a very unusual mistake.
Embed from Getty ImagesMick Schumacher – 7.5
His first points in Formula One keep missing, as the German was cruelly denied by a mechanical issue, as he was running in P8.
He was under enormous pressure due to some disappointing recent outings, but still delivered a great qualifying lap that gave him a career-best P6 start.
Points looked achievable, but his race ended prematurely after 20 laps.
Sergio Perez – 4.5
The justifiable talks claiming he was in contention for the championship with Verstappen, soon gave way to a difficult weekend, in which Perez never hit the ground running.
He appeared to struggle throughout Friday, and crashed in Q2, having to start from P13, a long way behind his teammate.
The car let go after just nine laps, as he was making progress, giving him a 0 in the championship which is a blow.
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