Coming to Montreal, Canada for round 9, Ferrari confirmed, that Leclerc was going to have a penalty for multiple power unit elements change. However, three DRS zones gave good opportunities for overtaking. Montreal had hosted its previous F1 race in 2019, so fans gave the GP weekend a very warm welcome.
Qualifying took place in chilly and rainy conditions. Everyone came out on full-wets, as the light turned green in Q1. Visibility was very poor, and it was all about staying out throughout the session and minimise mistakes. Verstappen owned the wet and tricky conditions, which was no surprise. Alpine's Alonso had showed top performance in the last free practice, and the Spanish two-time world champion kept on the momentum in the qualifying being second fastest in Q1. Perez, on the other hand, had it difficult, and the Mexican could only make it P13 in the first session. The Ferrari aces Sainz and Leclerc mastered the slippery conditions convincingly.
Due to the grid penalty, which was to drop Charles at the back of the pack, the Monegasque set no time in Q2. The track was slowly improving, and drivers opted for differing tyre strategies. Verstappen came out on the full-wets, whilst Alonso for example opted for the intermediates. The green-walled intermediate compound proved to be the most competitive choice, and Alonso went fastest, leaving Verstappen second. Although there had appeared a drying line on track, the conditions were challenging. Perez, who had the intermediates on, locked up his front right tyre, ending up into the tyre wall, nose first. The Mexican tried to put the reverse on, but the RB18 wouldn't move. The session was red-flagged, as there were 9 minutes in the clock. During the suspension the rain stopped, and when the session was resumed, everyone came out on the intermediates. Verstappen mastered the second session as well, with Alonso second, Mercedes' Russell third and Sainz fourth.
Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou made it in the top ten for the first time in his F1 career, whilst teammate Bottas had been knocked out of the final session due to failed timing. Dominant Verstappen claimed provisional pole by 1.1s to Carlos, which left no doubt about the king of rain. At the end of the session the drivers switched to a fresh set of intermediates, except for Russell, who made a risky call to switch to slicks. Sectors two and three were quite dry already, but the first two corners definitely weren't. Russell span on the grass in Turn 2, so taking slicks proved a wrong decision. Verstappen improved his lap time by three tenths in the end, and Alonso made it sensational P2. His previous front row grid slot had been in Germany in 2012. Carlos made it third, but the Ferrari ace was massive seven tenths off Verstappen. Hamilton qualified fourth, which was nice progress for the 7-time world champion. Haas had quite an ace up to their sleeves, as Magnussen and Schumacher locked down the third row. Ocon qualified 7th in the sister Alpine and Russell completed the fourth row in the sister Mercedes. McLaren's Ricciardo and Alfa Romeo's Zhou rounded out the top ten.
The conditions on the race day were sunny and dry, although the air temperature was still under +20 degrees. The top ten drivers had opted for the medium compound, whilst Charles on P19 had the hard Pirellis on his SF75. Verstappen took a self-confident start and stormed into the lead. Alonso maintained his second place, with Sainz third and Hamilton fourth. Hamilton had small contact with Haas' Magnussen on the opening lap, which damaged the right hand side endplate of the Dane's front wing. Magnussen was still able to maintain his 5th place. A moment later he was showed the black and orange flag, and he had to pit for a new front wing, which was an unfortunate turn in terms of the Dane's race.
As DRS was enabled, Sainz didn't hesitate to take advantage of it. He attacked his countryman Alonso, jumping second. Further back in the pack, Perez hit problems. The Mexican had started to the race from P12, but on lap 8 he suddenly lost drive and his RB18 came to a halt. Virtual safety car was deployed. Both Verstappen and Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of hard Pirellis. Max rejoined the track in P3, and Hamilton squeezed his way past Alpine's Ocon, claiming P5.
Charles had slowly but determinedly made his way through the field. On lap 14 he passed McLaren's Norris, making it P12. Meanwhile, Verstappen stormed past Alonso, robbing the Spaniard of the second place. Lap 20 saw the second DNF in the race, as Schumacher's Haas stopped on track. Virtual safety car was deployed for the second time. Sainz drove into the pits, switching to the hard compound. Alonso, on the other hand, stayed out. The Spaniard was finally called to box on lap 29. He dropped down to P7 behind Leclerc, who hadn't pitted yet, having started to the race on the white-marked hard rubber.
On lap 42 Charles finally pitted for medium Pirellis. Unfortunately not everything went to the plan during his pit stop. The jack man dropped Charles' SF75 down too soon, which cost the Monegasque some valuable seconds. Charles dropped down to P12, when rejoining the track. Two laps later Verstappen pitted for the second time. Sainz was now leading the race, with only one pit stop done.
On lap 49 AlphaTauri's Tsunoda exited the pits on fresh hard tyres, which were still cold. Slippery conditions combined with cold tyres caught the Japanese by surprise. Tsunoda slided wide, ending up into the tyre wall. Safety car was deployed. Sainz pitted from the lead. Unfortunately Carlos' pit stop was slow, and Verstappen snatched the lead back to himself. Behind the safety car the top four were Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton and Russell, who were all on the hards. The next quartet -Ocon, Alonso, Leclerc and Bottas- had medium Pirellis.
Safety car ended with 16 laps to go. One after the other Charles managed to overtake the Alpine drivers, moving up to P5. Teammate Carlos was also putting mega pressure on Verstappen, who had to use all the energy he had to defend his lead. Verstappen and Carlos put up a staggering show for the last ten laps, but Max drove flawlessly, giving Carlos no chance to try any tricks. Verstappen drove to the chequered flag as the race winner for the sixth time this season. Carlos tried everything he could, but in the end he had to settle for being the runner-up. Hamilton made it on the podium for the second time this season, and Russell completed the good day for Mercedes by finishing 4th. Charles made it P5 having started to the race from P19. The Alpine duo of Ocon and Alonso finished 6th and 7th. However, after the race Alonso was handed a 5-second time penalty for changing the line more than once to defend against Bottas, and the penalty dropped Alonso down to P9. This meant, that the Alfa Romeo duo of Bottas and Zhou rose up to P7 and P8. Aston Martin's Stroll scored the last point in front of his home crowd.
Verstappen has a 46-point lead to his teammate and a 49-point lead to Charles in the drivers' championship standings. Red Bull are 76 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors' standings in spite of Perez's DNF. The Red Team need to bounce back in Great Britain!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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