Oracle Red Bull Racing

Max makes the podium in Montreal 

Max Verstappen took a well worked fifth podium finish of the year to close the gap at the top of the Drivers’ standings as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris clashed late in the race.

Starting

from

18th on

the

grid,

Yuki

Tsunoda

went

for

marathon

opening

stint

the

hope

Safety

Car,

but

when

came

too

late,

ended

finishing

creditable

12th place.

At the start, George got away well from pole to take the lead ahead of Max, who also made a good start. Behind them, Oscar came under heavy pressure from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and the Italian rookie was able to power past on the run to Turn 3 to steal P3. 

1st Lap Traffic

Behind Oscar, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton held fifth ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, McLaren’s hard-tyre shod Lando and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Meanwhile, at the back of the field, Yuki swiftly made his way past Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and armed with hard tyres, he began a long opening-stint battle to move forward. 

Over the opening 10 laps, Max began to lose ground to George and the Champion reported that his tyres “were very fragile”. On lap 12 he opted to shed his starting mediums, and he fitted a set of hard tyres in a 2.6s halt, rejoining in P9.

All Hands On Deck

Mercedes reacted to cover the undercut and George pitted at the end of the following lap. He too fitted hard tyres and emerged in seventh place with Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg between him and Max. 

Kimi was next in on lap 15, and he rejoined behind Max, with Oscar taking the lead, ahead of Lewis, but both soon headed for the pit lane. This meant that hard-tyre-starter Lando, who was told he needed to put in “one of those amazing races”, became race leader, ahead of fellow hard-tyre runner, Charles.

Behind them, Max was soon back up to fourth place behind George, making light work of getting past Nico on the run to the final chicane.

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Further back, Yuki was making the most of his hard tyres, the fading mediums of rivals and pit stops around him. After making his way past Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Williams’ Alex Albon, the Japanese driver found himself in 10th at one-third distance. 

Battling From The Back

At the front, George and Max slowly began to reel in Charles and Lando, and on lap 26 the Mercedes driver swept past the Ferrari on the run to the final chicane. Max closed up to the back of the Ferrari but on lap 29, Leclerc backed out of the battle and pitted for a second set of hard tyres. 

Lando made his first stop on lap 30 for a set of yellow-banded mediums, which promoted George and Max back into the top two positions. And at half distance, the Mercedes driver was now 4.0s ahead of the Red Bull, with Max two seconds clear of Kimi, and a further two clear of Oscar. Lando, meanwhile, rejoined in fifth place, seven seconds behind his team-mate. 

Max, losing time and with Kimi in DRS range, made his second stop on lap 38, taking on a final set of hard tyres. The Champion rejoined in sixth place, ahead of Lewis. Mercedes covered Max by pitting Kimi on the following lap and though it was tight, the Dutchman emerged just ahead of the Italian. 

Running into a packed field, and facing a frustrating battle to clear them, George pitted on lap 43, emerging in P4, three seconds ahead of Max. Oscar then headed in on lap 46 for another set of hard tyres and he rejoined in fifth place behind the out of sequence pair of Lando and Charles who were promoted to the front for a second time. 

Lando then pitted from the lead on lap 48 for a final set of hard tyres and Charles finally pitted for a set of quicker mediums on lap 54. They emerged in fifth and sixth respectively as George took the lead again ahead of Max, Kimi and Oscar, with 17 laps remaining. 

In the hopes of a safety car that didn’t happen, Yuki had to pit, and on lap 57, he bolted on a set of mediums and looked to charge ahead.

Yuki Making Strides

At the front, despite Max’s best efforts, the gap to George stabilised and the major battle became the one between the two McLaren drivers behind them. Lando closed in and on lap 67, he made a dive down the inside into the hairpin.

It looked like the Briton had made the move stick, but Oscar fought back, leaving them side-by-side along the straight. Lando backed out into the final chicane to set up a move under DRS on the pit straight and went for a move. The space didn’t exist, however, and he went into the back of his teammate, before slamming into the wall and putting himself out of the race. 

The Safety Car was released and the field filed through the pit lane to queue up behind the FIA vehicle. However, with Lando’s car needing to be recovered and with just three laps remaining, the race ended under the safety car. 

Behind race winner Russell, Max took P2, his 117th podium finish and the team’s 287th ahead of Kimi, who took his first F1 podium finish. Oscar managed to stay on track after his clash with Lando to take fourth, while Charles led Ferrari teammate Lewis home in fifth and sixth. Fernando took P7 ahead of Nico, and Haas driver Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz, who both pitted just once. 

For Yuki, he finished the race eigth. After fitting mediums in his pit stop, he quickly made his way to P12 but when the McLarens clashed and the race was neutralised, all progress stopped and he once again narrowly missed out on points.

Congrats To George

Max’s controlled run to P2 means he closes the gap to Lando by 18 points and with 155 points is now just 21 points behind the Briton. He also moved marginally closer to title leader Oscar, who has 198 points.

In the Constructors’ Championship, the Team still lies fourth with 162 points, 16 behind Ferrari.