Max Verstappen and Red Bull bounced back from their Monaco struggles as they returned to winning ways in an action-packed 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, overcoming rain showers, multiple Safety Car periods, restarts and a stern challenge from behind to lead home Lando Norris.
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Verstappen followed pole-sitting Mercedes driver George Russell in the wet early stages of the race until a charging Norris overhauled them both amid improving conditions, only for an ill-timed Safety Car – brought out when Logan Sargeant crashed – to drop the McLaren man to third.
Having cleared Russell himself, Verstappen mastered the restart and managed further showers to maintain his lead, which he also protected when the track dried up and the field switched from intermediate tyres to slicks, and again following a second Safety Car period triggered by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon colliding.
While the reigning world champion ultimately surged towards the chequered flag, Norris took second via a fierce mid-race battle with Russell, and the latter settled for third after some late scrapping with teammate Lewis Hamilton and the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
Russell and Hamilton, who had both pitted for fresh, slick tyres under the second Safety Car period, raised heart rates on the Mercedes pit wall when they went wheel-to-wheel on several occasions – the younger Briton making the decisive move for P3 on the penultimate lap.
Behind the top five finishers, Fernando Alonso and home favourite Lance Stroll collected a double points finish for Aston Martin, while Daniel Ricciardo followed up a strong qualifying performance to log his first Grand Prix points of the season in eighth.
Ricciardo’s teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, had been in contention for points as well, but a mistake in the closing stages saw him slide across the grass and tumble down the order, promoting Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, who also gave Alpine a double top-10 result.
Haas duo Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen initially flew up the order as the only drivers to start the race on wet tyres, rather than intermediates, but just missed out on a reward as they crossed the line in 11th and 12th respectively.
Tsunoda wound up 14th after his costly error, behind Kick Sauber pair Valtteri Bottas…
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