10 things we learned from the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix

While a safety car paved the way for a late-race crescendo in the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend, Max Verstappen again took charge to claim his sixth victory of the 2022 Formula 1 season and further strengthen his title defence.

Currently operating in white-hot form, Verstappen now sits some 46 points clear at the top of the standings over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, while Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc is a further three points in arrears.

That healthy championship advantage has been boosted by the recent Ferrari unreliability implosion.

Leclerc endured the latest consequences of the Scuderia’s fragility at Montreal as he took on new power unit components to be sent marching towards the back of the grid.

That meant it was left mainly to Carlos Sainz – still in pursuit of his first top-flight triumph – to take the challenge to Verstappen. Despite the rain in qualifying having set up a tantalising front row, with Fernando Alonso alongside the RB18 for the sprint into Turn 1, it was his fellow Spaniard who welded himself within DRS range of Verstappen.

Sainz did fall short but proved he can take the fight to Verstappen after his underwhelming adaption to ground-effect. Meanwhile, Mercedes was buoyed Barcelona-style after Lewis Hamilton completed the podium by finding an affinity with the troublesome W13. Leclerc then stemmed the bleeding of points to Verstappen by recovering to fifth behind George Russell, despite his own complaints in the cockpit.

With those headlines and plenty more subplots generated from the 70 laps of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, here are 10 things we learned from the Canada weekend.

1. Virtuoso victory validates Verstappen’s versatility

To witness Max Verstappen take control of a weekend like he did in Canada is not to learn anything new. He’s stitched together perfect days before. But his most recent performance encapsulated and double underlined the breadth of his abilities.

That was vividly on show during a slippery qualifying. With five minutes of Q2 to play, Carlos Sainz turned in a 1m29.153s to bolt to the top of the times. The next person over the line, to mitigate track evolution, was Verstappen. He punched in a 1m27.764s. That cavernous 1.389s advantage and pole position reflected his excellence in the treacherous conditions.

He then showed a different way to win the following…