Max Verstappen cruised to a familiar dominant 2023 victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, equalling Ayrton Senna’s win tally of 41 Formula 1 race wins, and also achieved Red Bull’s 100th win in F1. Behind him, Fernando Alonso toppled Lewis Hamilton after a race-long battle for P2.
Photo Credit: Oracle Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen cruised to yet another dominant race win in the 2023 Formula 1 season, and this one meaning he equals Ayrton Senna’s historic mark of 41 race wins, and also managing to secure Red Bull’s 100th race win in the sport. He led Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton home, with the duo battling hard over the race for the second place spot, with the Aston Martin winning out that particular battle. The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz completed the top 5, with Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top ten.
AS IT HAPPENED:
In contrast to much of the rest of the weekend, sunny and clear skies met the drivers on the grid for the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.
All the drivers on the top 10 started on the medium tyres, with Sergio Perez – out of position after a difficult qualifying – opting for the hard tyres down in 12th place. Pierre Gasly was the only driver opting for the less-durable soft tyre for the start.
At the start, Lewis Hamilton sprinted away from the line and overtook Fernando Alonso, with Max Verstappen keeping his lead with no problems. Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez engaged in battle on the opening lap, with the Spaniard winning out despite running over some heavy curbs on the way up to the hairpin. Kevin Magnussen had a big scare on the final chicane, taking avoiding action from the battling pair of Sainz and Perez, being squeezed out towards the wall and having to take to the escape road, touching the wall but managed to keep going.
By lap four, with the DRS activation already enabled by race control, Lewis Hamilton was keeping in touch with Max Verstappen but not enough to be within DRS range. Fernando Alonso however was close behind the Mercedes, despite heavily touching the wall on the exit of turn four.
Saturday hero in Montreal, Hulkenberg fell down to 6th at the start, after getting past by Ocon’s. Alpine.
Yuki Tsunoda was the first car in the pits, switching to the hard tyres on the opening stages and dropping all the way to the back.
Alonso started to apply pressure on Hamilton, showing strong pace in his Aston Martin, utilizing from the benefits of the DRS.
Logan Sargeant experienced problems in his Williams by lap 8, having to stop his car on the exit of turn six, with a “critical problem” according to his Williams team. That caused the first brief disruption of the race, with a quick Virtual Safety Car being deployed to recover the stricken Williams.
Hulkenberg lost another place to Piastri just before the VSC, and the Haas’ fading pace meant a huge ‘DRS-train’ behind the German in 7th, all the way down to De Vries in 17th.
George Russell made the fight for P2 a three-way battle by lap 10, joining Hamilton and Alonso on a fierce battle between Mercedes and the Aston.
After starting on the soft tyres, Pierre Gasly had to visit the pits on lap 11, to get rid of the red-walled tyres and get a new set of hard tyres on.
Leading the race, by four seconds, Verstappen reported an unusual incident, hitting a bird with his RB19, but no apparent damage done.
Nico Hulkenberg pitted on lap 11, after holding up a whole pack of cars behind him.
George Russell hit the wall severely whilst following the Aston Martin, hitting the kerb at the wrong angle and breaking his front axle and front wing, and a rear left puncture. The amount of debris on track required a full Safety Car, and all the top three drivers pitted, including a hairy moment for a possible unsafe release between Alonso and Hamilton, with the Mercedes coming out just ahead and on the path of the Aston – which had to brake in the pit lane.
The two Ferrari drivers stayed out, with Leclerc and Sainz taking fourth and fifth behind the top three. Perez also stayed out in his Red Bull.
Russell was able to continue after changing his front wing and tyres, reporting the car is “a bit bent” but still driveable – he rejoined in last of the running drivers, in 19th.
The order after the stops behind the safety car, on lap 15, was: Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Magnussen, Bottas, Ocon, Piastri. After benefitting from a red flag in qualifying, Hulkenberg fell down to 15th after pitting just before the safety car was deployed.
The race restarted on lap 17, with the order remaining much the same in a very calm and controlled opening lap at the front, but it was all kicking off behind, with the two McLarens of Piastri and Norris taking the fight to each other and Alex Albon’s Williams down the main straight. Norris first passed Piastri on the hairpin, with the Australian trying to come back on the next two straights, without success.
On the next lap, Piastri out-braked himself on the final chicane and had to take the route down the escape road, losing a position to Albon in the process.
By lap 20, Verstappen had built a gap of 1.8s to Hamilton in second, with Alonso a further second back.
Kevin Magnussen lost several places after the restart, as the Dane had to give back a place to Ocon due to a pit lane safety car infringement, and he couldn’t hold on to attacks from Bottas and Norris following that, dropping the Haas down to 10th after restarting 7th, creating once again another DRS-train.
Fernando Alonso made his move on Lewis Hamilton on lap 22, using the DRS down the back straight to get ahead of the Briton on the final chicane with a clean inside line move. The seven-times world champion tried to come back on the main straight, but couldn’t repass the Spaniard and soon dropped out of DRS range.
Haas’ struggles continued as the race went past the one-third distance mark, with Magnussen dropping down another place as Oscar Piastri went past and up into P10. He soon lost another place to Alex Albon in the Williams, falling down to 12th.
After not stopping on the safety car, Ferrari informed Leclerc they needed a “clean” stint and that Sainz wouldn’t attack the Monegasque. The Ferrari duo pulled a little bit of a gap to Sergio Perez in P6, of just over three seconds by lap 27.
Home favorite Lance Stroll nearly made contact with Hulkenberg on the pit lane entry, before he made his second stop of the day to change to another set of hard tyres and a gap to the cars ahead and clear air.
Despite leading Alonso by over 3.5s abd Lewis Hamilton by a further 2.5s, Max Verstappen reported “low grip” on his hard tyres on lap 29, and a few laps later reported to be “just losing grip” on the tyres.
After his earlier crash, George Russell was unable to make any significant progress on the restart, staying down in 19th and last place by lap 30.
On lap 34, Pierre Gasly made his second stop of the race, changing to his second set of hard tyres and dropping down to 18th.
Kevin Magnussen’s struggles continued by the half-way mark, as he had to fend off an attack by Nyck de Vries’ AlphaTauri. The pair first touched wheels in turn one, losing a spot to Russell in turn two, and the battle continued down to turn three – with de Vries locking up and heading to the escape road, bringing the Haas with him. Both were able to get back on track, despite a lengthy period on the side of the road.
Sergio Perez made his first stop on lap 38, getting rid of his starting set of hard tyres and putting a new set of medium tyres, rejoining in P7.
Lando Norris received a 5-second time pênalti for “unsportsman like behaviour”, supposedly for a safety car infringement, buh this was unclear at the time. The Briton sat in 11th place by lap 40, just 1.5s ahead of 12th place driver Lance Stroll.
The two Ferraris finally made their stops on laps 39 and 40 for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, respectively. The pair maintained their positions of fourth and fifth and succesfully fended off the undercut threat from Perez.
Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 41 for a new set of medium tyres. The Briton was just behind Alonso and tried an undercut on the Spaniard. At this point, Verstappen had a healthy margin over the pair, of over 4.8s.
Alonso and Aston Martin immediately responded to Mercedes’ call, with Alonso pitting on the next lap for a new set of hard tyres and comfortably rejoining ahead of the Mercedes.
Verstappen responded on the next lap, and rejoining with a 4.7s lead over the Spaniard, and a further 5.2s over the Mercedes.
By lap 45, the order in the top 10 was: Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Albon, Russell, Ocon, Bottas.
Ferrari reiterated to Leclerc that Sainz wouldn’t “attack” him in this phase of the race, leaving the Monegasque to do his pace with no threats from behind.
With his new tyres, Lewis Hamilton started to put a move on Alonso, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 46 and rapidly closing the gap to the Aston Martin – the Red Bull pit wall noticed this and asked Verstappen to keep it in mind with regards to his tyre.
Alonso lost over a second in the middle sector of lap 47, with this being associated to an excursion around the escape road down the chicane and an increased amount of lift-and-coast technique. The Spaniard reported over the radio he wanted to stop it to “win the race”.
By lap 50, Verstappen led Alonso by 5.7s, with Hamilton a further 3s back after a slow down on his progress after setting a flurry of fastest laps.
Lando Norris found himself stuck behind Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo, down in 11th place, and with a gap of only 2.1s to Lance Stroll by lap 51 – not enough to clear the Canadian and get the gap for his penalty to be applied and not lose a place to the Finn.
George Russell had to retire his ailing Mercedes on lap 55, with the team worried of increased brake wear, forcing the Briton into the pits and out of the race.
Whilst Hamilton’s progress slowed down significantly, he continued to reduce Alonso’s advantage, with the gap between the pair down to 2.2s by lap 57.
Despite having his team-mate comfortably lead the race in the same car, Sergio Perez couldn’t make any impact towards the 5th placed Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, with the gap staying at around 8s by lap 56.
Alex Albon held a respectable 7th place in his Williams by lap 58, but had pressure from the three drivers very close behind in the form of Ocon, Bottas and Norris, with Lance Stroll not too far behind as well.
By lap 60, the order of the race in the top 10 was: Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Albon, Ocon, Bottas, Norris.
Lewis Hamilton got the gap to Alonso down to 1.5s by lap 60, with the battle brewing for an exciting finish between the two world champions and former McLaren team-mates. Mercedes told Hamilton Alonso was possibly managing a “rear brake issue” on his AMR23.
Lando Norris finally made his move on Valtteri Bottas on lap 64, using the DRS to get past the Finn on the way to the final chicane, with Lance Stroll just behind the battling duo and waiting to pick up the scraps.
On lap 66, Verstappen had a hairy moment at the chicane in the middle sector, clipping the kerb in much the same way that George Russell did earlier in the race, but managed to avoid any further dramas. The Dutchman even laughed about the incident on the radio, saying he almost “knocked” himself out of the race.
With just three laps to go, Norris reported a “wobbly” rear wing on Esteban Ocon’s Alpine, noting that it could come off and become a danger to drivers and marshals alike, trying to force the FIA’s hand on giving the Frenchman a black-and-orange damage flag.
Lando Norris battled Ocon all the way to the final corner of the final lap, but couldn’t get past. His penalty from earlier on meant the McLaren driver fell down to 13th by the flag.
The final order of the top 10 was Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Albon, Ocon, Stroll, Bottas. Outside of the top 10: Piastri, Gasly, Norris, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Zhou, Magnussen, de Vries. Russell and Sargeant retired.
