© Getty Images

2024 Canadian Grand Prix - Race ReportMax masters Montréal in the wet as he claims his 60th career win

MaxmadealltherightmovesinMontréal,navigatingrainshowers,amovetoslicktyresandtwopotentiallydamagingSafetyCarperiods,totakehisthirdconsecutiveCanadianGrandPrixwin,aheadofMcLaren’sLandoNorrisandMercedes’GeorgeRussell.

“What a race, guys. Not easy, but we did it. Great job, everyone,” said Max on the radio after taking his sixth win of this season. “Yeah, we made the right calls at the right time, so congrats. I enjoyed that one.”

Watch:Max'sReaction

Watch:Checo'sReacton

RaceReport

When the lights went out for a standing start on a wet track, pole sitter Russell got away poorly and for a moment it looked like Max might sneak past on the way to Turn 1. However, the Mercedes driver recovered as they went into the braking zone and Max had to settle for P2 ahead of Norris and Piastri. Further back, Checo had a coming together with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and after shipping front wing damage, he slipped back to P18.

Within a few laps rain began to fall once again and while the bulk of the field tiptoed around on their starting Intermediate tyres, the Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg, who had gambled on full wets, began to lap almost two seconds a lap quicker than the rest of the field.

Both began to rise through the order and by lap six Magnussen had climbed from 14th to fifth and was putting pressure on Piastri. Hülkenberg, meanwhile, was in eighth after starting from 17th place on the grid and just behind Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

However, after seven laps the rain subsided, and the intermediate runners began to lap quicker than the Haas pair. At the end of lap, Magnussen dived into the pits for a set of Inters and despite catching his pit crew almost by surprise, he emerged in P12.

Plenty Of Spray On Track © Getty images

At the front, after 10 laps, Russell held a 1.2s advantage over Max, who had pulled out a whopping nine-second gap to Norris. Behind the Briton, Piastri was in P4, five seconds off his McLaren team-mate, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso held fifth ahead of Hamilton.

Max then began to reel in Russell but with the Mercedes driver in defensive mode, the tussle that followed allowed Norris to narrow the gap and when Max went wide at Turn 1 at the start of lap 18, it suddenly became a three-way fight.

Max’s error was compounded by DRS being enabled just afterwards and at the end of lap 20 he was overtaken by Norris, who powered past under DRS on the run to the final chicane.

Emboldened, Norris pulled the same move on Russell. The Mercedes driver tried to fend off the attack but as Norris took the lead, the Mercedes driver was forced to cut the chicane and as he slithered back on track, Max swept past to take second place.

Norris, enjoying better performance on Inters in the mixed conditions, quickly began to build a gap and by lap 25 the McLaren driver was six seconds ahead of Max, who was already two seconds clear of Russell.

However, later in the lap Williams’ Logan Sargeant spun into the barriers in Turn 4 and the Safety Car was deployed. Norris, immediately picked up by the SC, stayed out on track but behind him Max pitted ahead of Russell and Piastri, with all three fitting new Intermediates. McLaren pitted Norris at the end of the following lap, but the delay behind the SC cost the Briton dearly and as he exited the pit lane Max powered past to take the lead ahead of Russell, with Norris slotting into third.

When the Safety Car left the track, Max controlled the restart perfectly, dropping the throttle at the exit of the final chicane to pull a gap to Russell and hold the lead.

Chasing That Dry Line© Getty images

Despite a brief shower, at the end of lap 41, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly sparked the move to slick tyres. The French driver bolted on a set of Hard tyres and two laps later he was lapping quicker than the Inter runners.

At the end of lap 45 Max pitted, taking on a set of Mediums. Russell also pitted, but Norris stayed on track to try the overcut.

Two quick laps allowed the McLaren driver to stretch to a 21s lead over Max and at the end of lap 47 the Briton made his move.

Norris’ stop was solid and as he drove to the pit exit, Max was powering towards Turn 1. The pair met at the exit of Turn 2 with Norris slightly ahead but with tyres right in the window and carrying more speed, Max was able to retake the lead.

As Norris struggled to get temperature into his tyres, Russell also closed in and when Norris went marginally wide at the hairpin on lap 49, the Mercedes driver passed the McLaren on the way to the final chicane. On lap 51 though, Russell ran wide and jumped the kerb and Norris was able to slide past to take P2 again.

Further back Checo lost control in Turn 6 and slid backwards into the wall, breaking his rear wing. He was able to keep going and returned to the pits where the car was retired.

A lap later, Carlos Sainz also made a mistake at the same corner and as he spun, he hit the Williams of Alex Albon. Both were forced out of the race and with Albon’s car stuck by the barrier, the SC was deployed again.

Once again Max controlled the restart perfectly to hold the lead and quickly drop the McLarens by almost 1.5s. From there it was comfortable for Max. With Norris locked in second and with Russell, Piastri and Hamilton battling for third, the Champion settled into maintenance mode.

And 11 laps later, with almost four seconds in hand to Norris, he crossed the line to take a remarkable 50th win from his last 75 grands prix.

“It was a pretty crazy race. A lot of things were happening, and we really had to be on top of our calls,” he said afterwards. “Yeah that was a lot of fun. Those kinds of races, you need them once in a while!”

Max Taking Charge© Getty Images

HowTheBullsPerformed

Rank	Driver	Team	Gap	Points
1	Max Verstappen	Oracle Red Bull Racing	-	25
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+3.879	18
3	George Russell	Mercedes	+4.317	15
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+4.915	12 (+1)
5	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+10.199	10
6	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+17.510	8
7	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+23.625	6
8	Daniel Ricciardo	Visa Cash App RB	+28.672	4
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+30.021	2
10	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	+30.313	1
...	...	...	...	...
DNF		Oracle Red Bull Racing	RTD	0

Win #60 In The Books© Getty images