Max Verstappen supreme in Canadian Grand Prix: 'A great day'

Published on 18 June 2023 by Kees-Jan Koster

Max Verstappen was supreme in the Canadian Grand Prix. The two-time world champion had a flawless race in Montreal where he took the lead of the race from pole position. The victory was not a moment at risk, and Verstappen took his sixth win of the season at the end of the two-stop race. Fernando Alonso finished nine seconds behind Verstappen in second position, with Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.

After the race Max is pleased with the victory, the one-hundredth Grand Prix victory for the Oracle Red Bull Racing team: “I am very happy. It was not a very straightforward race; the tyres did not get into their window. It was very cold today, compared to Friday, and we were sliding around quite a bit. But we won again, and to score the one-hundredth win for the team is incredible. I never expected to be on that kind of numbers myself. We keep enjoying, and we keep working hard, but today has been a great day again.”

Even though the gap was not as big as in Spain, there was not much competition for Max: “I expected more or less what we had today”, says Max. “It was difficult to keep the grip, and the temperature in the tyres. That was maybe why the gap was not that big. Overall, we won, and that is the most important.”

Lastly, Max had some words of praise for the many fans in Canada: “They are so passionate about the sport, also yesterday with the rain, they were hanging in there. We love coming here and hopefully we can keep doing that for a long time.”

While it was raining most of the weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the weather on Sunday is much better. It is dry at the start of the race, with an outside temperature of eighteen degrees Celsius. The top eleven drivers start on the medium compound tyres, while behind them Sergio Perez, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas start on hard tyres, and Pierre Gasly on soft tyres.

Max has a good start from pole and stays in the lead. Hamilton from P3 on the grid has a good start and is in second position when entering the first corner. Fernando Alonso loses a place and is in P3. Behind them are George Russell and Esteban Ocon in P4 and P5. Max quickly increases the gap to Hamilton. In lap seven there is a short period with the virtual safety car after Logan Sargeant had to park his Williams at turn six with technical issues. Max has a lead of three seconds on Hamilton when the race is restarted.

In lap twelve George Russell hits the wall in turn nine. Russell gets back to the pits with quite a bit of damage, it seems a miracle that after a new set of tyres and a new front wing, he can continue his race. Because of the debris on track, the safety car comes out. Max immediately makes his pitstop. With a new set of hard tyres on his RB19, Verstappen comes back out on track in the lead, with behind him Hamilton and Alonso.

The field is released again in lap seventeen. Max stays in the lead at the restart. And the Dutchman again quickly increases the gap to Hamilton, staying outside of the DRS window. Hamilton himself is under pressure of Alonso. Alonso overtakes Hamilton with DRS on the straight in lap 22. The Spaniard is then three seconds behind leader Verstappen in second position.

In lap 36 tries Nyck de Vries to overtake Kevin Magnussen at turn one. The Danish driver fights back and keeps his position. Two turns later tries de Vries again, but the AlphaTauri driver outbrakes himself and goes straight ahead. Magnussen must evade and goes straight on too. Both drivers must reverse to continue their race.

Max makes another pitstop in lap 42. Changing from hard tyres to a set of mediums. Again, he stays in the lead, five seconds ahead of Alonso. Hamilton is three seconds behind Alonso. George Russell must come into the pits to retire his Mercedes in lap 55. Brake issues make him the second driver to retire from the race.

There are no changes to the top of the leaderboard in the final stages of the race, Max scores his sixth victory of the season. The 41st Grand Prix victory in his career, putting him at the same level as Ayrton Senna. Fernando Alonso finishes second for the second time this year, nine seconds behind Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton finishes third, with behind him the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in P4 and P5. Sergio Perez finishes in P6 and takes the point for fastest lap. Alexander Albon finishes in a great seventh position. The best result of the season for Albon and the Williams team. Esteban Ocon, home driver Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas complete the top ten.

Results Grand Prix Canada: