Red Bull Max Verstappen survived changeable conditions, several restarts and a tight challenge from rivals to emerge victorious in Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris had been on course to win for a second time but a rueful Safety Car hampered his hopes and left him second, while polesitter George Russell was third.
The intermittent showers had been prevalent in the build-up to the start and more rain was scheduled to arrive, but the conditions were adequate for a standing start.
Haas elected to gamble on the precipitation increasing in the nascent stages with its drivers on the Wet compound, while the remaining cars chose the Intermediates.
The run towards the first corner proved to be more a crawl than a stampede in the treacherous conditions, but Russell managed to maintain the lead over Verstappen.
Norris and Oscar Piastri retained their positions in the two McLaren cars, while Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton demoted Daniel Ricciardo’s RB down to seventh.
Yuki Tsunoda in the other RB also dropped a place as Charles Leclerc began his strive to climb the grid, but the pair would lose a position to Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
The Wet tyres were proving to be the optimal ones for the conditions and Magnussen breezed through Lance Stroll, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Alonso over the next lap.
Magnussen would then clear Oscar Piastri on Lap 4 to split the McLaren pairing, while Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was also making progress as he was eighth.
However, the next lap saw the top three cars lap quicker than Magnussen as the sun emerged from out behind the dark clouds and the crossover period edged closer.
Alonso cut across the final chicane and presented Hamilton with the chance to pass, but the Aston Martin squeezed his rival towards the wall and retained the place.
Hamilton missed the first turn but returned to the track without losing a place to Hulkenberg’s Haas, while Leclerc was told he was losing 0.5s due to an engine issue.
Haas called Magnussen into the pit lane to change onto the Intermediates on Lap 8, but the American team’s mechanics were unprepared and there was a slow stop.
Verstappen was starting to close on Russell ahead as the Dutchman posted the fastest lap on Lap 10, with Norris now languishing over seven seconds further back.
Elsewhere, Hulkenberg was lapping near three seconds slower than those on Intermediates and Ricciardo overtook the Haas at last down the back straight on Lap 11.
However, the Australian would be given a five-second time penalty for an earlier starting infringement as Stroll, Leclerc and Tsunoda all passed Hulkenberg with ease.
Hulkenberg’s troubles were put to an end as Haas hauled him in to switch from Wets to Intermediates, with Sargeant’s Williams the sole car that he didn’t drop behind.
Verstappen locked up into Turn 1 and went across the grass, putting him under pressure from Norris as the McLaren had been closing on the front two at a rapid rate.
With a clear drier line now emerging on the track, the stewards chose to enable DRS on Lap 18 to improve the Briton’s opportunities to mount an attack on Verstappen.
Norris got a better exit than his rival out of the hairpin on Lap 20 and breezed past with DRS to move into second and then latched onto Russell’s the next time round.
The McLaren would replicate his pass on Verstappen to go into the lead as Russell struggled with rain on his rubber and had a moment that allowed Verstappen past.
Further behind, Leclerc’s engine hitch made him vulnerable to Alex Albon and the Williams took ninth place before Tsunoda also demoted the Ferrari out of the points.
Sargeant’s miserable outing came to an abrupt end on Lap 25 as he dropped it on a kerb and spun coming out of Turn 4 and his stranded car prompted the Safety Car.
Norris would not come into the pits to receive fresh Intermediates and that cost him when he came in on the next lap as Verstappen and Russell passed the McLaren.
The race restarted onto Lap 30 with Verstappen heading Russell, Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Alonso, Tsunoda Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Ricciardo to complete the top 10.
Albon was opportunistic to take two places from Ricciardo and Ocon’s Alpine to rise back into ninth, but Ferrari’s own gamble backfired as Leclerc struggled on slicks.
The Monegasque trailed back to the pits at a reduced pace and reverted to Intermediates, but the time loss saw him issued with blue flags as the leaders approached.
Verstappen was controlling proceedings right at the sharp end as he extended his advantage over Russell to three seconds when DRS was activated again on Lap 40.
Alpine decided now was the time to sample the slick compound with Pierre Gasly, while Leclerc’s race was curtailed on Lap 43 as Ferrari called him in to retire the car.
Hamilton had been running right behind the two McLaren cars in fifth spot and Mercedes decided to bring the seven-time champion into the pits to go onto Mediums.
However, both Russell and Norris were not instructed to respond to that call and remained on track, but Piastri came in and emerged with Hamilton still in his mirrors.
Verstappen and Russell pitted on Lap 45 with the Mercedes driver going to the Hard rather than the Medium, while Norris continued to circulate on the Intermediates.
The overcut had worked as Norris returned to the track with Verstappen behind, but the Red Bull driver utilised the sufficient heat in his rubber to reclaim the position.
Norris was then under intense pressure from Russell and team-mate Piastri and a lock-up into the hairpin on Lap 49 gave the Mercedes the chance to retrieve second.
However, Russell’s strong work would be undone on Lap 51 as he went wide through the Turn 8 and 9 chicane and his compromised line allowed Norris back through.
While Verstappen was continuing to pull clear despite suspension issues, Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez lost the car under braking at Turn 6 and went into the wall.
The Mexican limped back to the pits with a broken rear wing in order to avoid a Safety Car from materialising which would eradicate the gap Verstappen had built up.
But Red Bull were helpless when Sainz spun at the same corner where Perez’s race came undone and he tangled with Albon to add two more to the retirement count.
Mercedes capitalised on the interruption to pit both cars onto the Medium, which promoted Piastri into the top three as Russell dropped to fourth with Hamilton fifth.
The race would return to racing conditions on Lap 58 with Verstappen acing the restart once again to be under no threat from Norris or Piastri going into the first turn.
McLaren’s focus was on retaining the podium places over Russell rather than chasing Verstappen as the reigning champion scampered more than one second clear.
Russell was camped behind Piastri in the battle over third, but his attempt to overtake was thwarted on Lap 63 as the McLaren held the inside going into the chicane.
Next time around, Russell and Piastri duelled into the same chicane and could not avoid contact. Russell dropped behind Hamilton, who then passed Piastri for third.
Piastri’s drop down the order would continue as Russell was more clean with his next passing move and then closed up to his team-mate in the battle for third place.
There was increased drama elsewhere as Tsunoda went wide at Turn 8 behind Ocon’s Alpine and lost the car on the wet grass to drop from eighth back down to 14th.
Meanwhile, Russell utilised the DRS on the back straight to overtake Hamilton with three laps to go and then resisted his team-mate’s retaliated advances into Turn 1.
Russell would ensure that he retained third on the last lap over Hamilton as the Mercedes duo trailed behind the victorious Verstappen and Norris’ McLaren in second.
Piastri trailed home a distant fifth in the end, while Alonso led an Aston Martin sixth and seventh with team-mate Stroll bagging points on his sixth home appearance.
Ricciardo converted his promising starting berth into a points finish with eighth place in the RB, with Gasly and Ocon bringing both Alpine cars back inside the points.
