Max Verstappen

F1 News: Verstappen holds off Norris to win chaotic Canadian GP

In an exciting 2024 Canadian GP that was hit twice by rain, Red Bull World Champion Max Verstappen out dueled McLaren’s Lando Norris to win by just 3.88s

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The rain kept everyone on the edge of their seats, and two full safety car periods bunched the field twice, but in the end, Verstappen did what Verstappen does, drove a mistake-free race and won his 60th F1 victory.

George Russell of Great Britain driving the (63) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team W15 leads Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 and the rest of the field at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 09, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen started second and ran second early on as he tried to chase down Russell. A mistake let Norris through, but Verstappen soon atoned by picking off Russell to remain second but chasing a different gearbox. Then came a stroke of luck – a Safety Car neutralized Norris’ advantage, with Verstappen pitting for more inters behind it and emerging in the lead. He held onto that lead until pitting for slicks, Norris staying out.

But when the McLaren did pit, Verstappen had enough heat in his slick tires to retake the lead and hold it until the finish to emerge victorious from a chaotic race.

It was Verstappen’s 50th win in the last 75 races and his third straight win in Canada. He did it with a suspension that was locking up, forcing him to not touch any curbs. After how bad his weekend started on Friday, Verstappen looked pumped that he actually pulled off the win.

“Pretty crazy race, lots of things happening, and we had to be on top of our calls,” said Verstappen.

“The Safety Car worked out nicely for us, but we were managing the gaps quite well. These kind of races, you need these every once in a while. It was a lot of fun out there.”

Verstappen scored 25 points today and 2nd place Charles Leclerc retired his Ferrari, allowing Verstappen to stretch his point lead to 56 markers, 194 to 138.

2024 Canadian GP race winner Max Verstappen

“It was chaos, it was eventful,” said Norris. “To be honest, I felt I drove a good race from start to finish. I had amazing pace, the Safety Car had me over but like it helped me in Miami, it had me over.

“These conditions, it is so stressful inside the car but fun as well. Things were going beautifully but fair play to Max, he drove a good race.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 during the Canadian GP at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve 2024 in Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Sam Bagnall / LAT Images)

George Russell passed his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to take the final podium position, 4.3s behind Verstappen. However, Russell looked pretty upset with the mistakes he made in the race.

“It felt like a missed opportunity to be honest, we had good pace at the beginning on the inters, made a couple of mistakes out there pushing the limits,” said Russell.

“To be back in the mix fighting for victory, that’s what Formula 1 is about. We’ll take all the positives from this race, podium, pole. Close with Oscar, and Lewis as well. I think it was hard, fair racing.”

Hamilton took fastest lap on new tires but had to settle for 4th, 4.9s behind Verstappen. It was Hamilton’s best result of the year,

The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri rounded out the top-5, 10.2s behind the Dutchman.

Fernando  Alonso and Lance Stroll bagged points for Aston Martin in 6th and 7th, while Daniel Ricciardo scored his first points of the year in a Grand Prix in P8, and Gasly and Ocon rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

After winning in Monaco, Ferrari suffered a disastrous double DNF today.

The race was there for the taking today, but as he so often does, it was Verstappen who got the big calls right and limited mistakes when it mattered.

When the top-three finally have a chance to catch their breath and reflect, they will likely all be pleased to have emerged from such an exciting race with a podium – albeit on a day where any of them could have won.

It’s hard to sum up succinctly just how Verstappen managed to get back to winning ways today. Russell looked in control early on and certainly had impressive pace, Norris pulled over seven seconds in a few laps when he took the lead on Intermediates… Yet Verstappen emerged with the win once the slick tires went on.

Luck played a part, but so did Red Bull nailing their strategy. It’s no coincidence that they sent someone from the strategy team up onto the podium to collect the constructors’ trophy today.

The stewards are still investigating two things – Russell and Piastri’s almost coming together that sent Russell wide and off the track, and Sergio Perez’s day got worse as he landed a 3-place grid penalty for Barcelona for driving his damaged car back to the pits in an unsafe condition. Red Bull Racing was also fined €25,000.

2024 Canadian GP Race Results – 70 Laps

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS BEHIND PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen Oracle Red Bull Racing 70 +0.000s 25
2 4 Lando Norris McLaren F1 Team 70 +3.879s 18
3 63 George Russell Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 70 +4.317s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 70 +4.915s 13
5 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren F1 Team 70 +10.199s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team 70 +17.510s 8
7 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team 70 +23.625s 6
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Visa Cash App RB F1 Team 70 +28.672s 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly BWT Alpine F1 Team 70 +30.021s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon BWT Alpine F1 Team 70 +30.313s 1
11 27 Nico Hulkenberg MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 70 +30.824s 0
12 20 Kevin Magnussen MoneyGram Haas F1 Team 70 +31.253s 0
13 77 Valtteri Bottas Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber 70 +40.487s 0
14 22 Yuki Tsunoda Visa Cash App RB F1 Team 70 +52.694s 0
15 24 Zhou Guanyu Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber 69 +1 lap 0
NC 55 Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari 52 DNF 0
NC 23 Alexander Albon Williams Racing 52 DNF 0
NC 11 Sergio Perez Oracle Red Bull Racing 51 DNF 0
NC 16 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari 40 DNF 0
NC 2 Logan Sargeant Williams Racing 23 DNF 0

* Provisional results. Note – Hamilton scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.