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F1 to 10: Max Verstappen is the man for all seasons in Montreal
Rain, hail or shine, Max Verstappen wasn’t to be denied a third consecutive victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s world champion shining brightest to extend his F1 series lead.
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1. Canada in exactly 75 words*
Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix for the third year running, Oracle Red Bull Racing’s reigning Formula One world champion surviving a chaotic race in Montreal interrupted by two safety cars to take his sixth victory in nine starts this season. Lando Norris (McLaren) and George Russell (Mercedes) rounded out the podium, while Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez was one of five retirements in a race held in treacherous conditions, crashing out on Lap 53.
* 2024 is the 75th season of the F1 world championship
2. The Canadian GP in 6 pics
It wasn't easy, but Max was back on top in Montreal again
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Visibility was close to zero as Verstappen trailed Russell at the start
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The Dutchman controlled the race after both safety car interruptions
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Verstappen and Russell set identical lap times (1:12.000) in qualifying
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
3. Different route, same result for Verstappen
A third Canadian GP win was extra satisfying for Verstappen
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The record books will show Verstappen as the winner in Montreal for the third year in succession. However, the latest win of that hat-trick was far more complicated than 2022 and 2023, where he’d qualified on pole and led for 123 of the past 126 laps at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve.
Saturday’s qualifying session saw Verstappen and Russell each record a Q3 lap time of 1m 12.000s – the first time in 27 years that there’d been a dead-heat in qualifying – with Russell taking pole as he’d set his time earlier in the session. The front-row pair stayed in formation as the field slithered around on a soaked track for the race 24 hours later, but a Verstappen mistake at the first corner on Lap 17 saw Norris close up and pass him three laps later, demoting the Dutchman to third.
A Lap 25 safety car for Logan Sargeant’s crashed Williams blocking the track proved to be crucial, with Verstappen – who had overtaken Russell for second three laps earlier as Norris led – and Russell both pitting, with Norris staying out for one more lap. When racing resumed on Lap 30, Verstappen was back in the lead and was able to retain it for the remainder of the race as the conditions went from dry to wet and back to dry again.
A second safety car was called following an accident between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Williams driver Alex Albon, turning the race into an 11-lap dash to the chequered flag. Verstappen managed the restart perfectly to ease away to his 60th F1 victory by 3.879s.
By contrast, Pérez’s annual visit to Canada peaked before he set foot in Montreal. The Mexican driver signed a new multi-year contract to stay with the team in the lead-up to round nine of the season.
Canada has never been a particularly happy hunting ground for Pérez – his sole podium at the circuit came 12 years ago – and this year was no different. Struggles to find rear grip saw him stuck in Q1 and in 16th on the grid after Saturday.
A top-10 points finish from there was always going to be difficult in such tricky conditions, and he retired with a damaged rear wing from contact with the barriers at Turn 6 with 17 laps remaining for his second non-score in succession.
4. Ricciardo breaks the drought
Ricciardo fought through several setbacks to score points in eighth
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo returned to the circuit where he’d broken through for his maiden F1 win a decade earlier with Red Bull Racing. He had good memories but no points in a Grand Prix this season. The Visa Cash App RB driver left Montreal in buoyant spirits after a fighting recovery to eighth place on an afternoon where things looked to have unravelled for the Australian.
Ricciardo was superb on Saturday, qualifying a season-best fifth and just 0.178s off pole position, but his quest for a first top-10 race result this season (he finished fourth in the Miami sprint race for his only previous points of 2024) looked shot when he was judged to have jumped the start to Sunday’s 70-lap race, a five-second time penalty his punishment.
The 34-year-old dug in and moved forward late, gaining three places in the last 11 laps after the safety car interruption to score four points to jump to 12th in the world championship standings.
Like Pérez, Yuki Tsunoda’s Canadian Grand Prix had its high point off the track. The announcement that the Japanese driver had been re-signed by the team for 2025 came before qualifying on Saturday, where he finished eighth.
Tsunoda used a long first stint on intermediate tyres to be well-placed for a strong top-10 result on Sunday but spun with five laps to go while running ninth to cross the line in 14th place.
5. The number you need to know
4: Verstappen’s win in Canada marked his fourth victory in succession when he started second on the grid after Hungary, Italy and Las Vegas in 2023.
6. The word from the paddock
It was a pretty crazy race, a lot of things were happening and we really had to be on top of our calls. As a team, we did really well today. It was a lot of fun out there
7. The stats that matter
Drivers' Championship top 5
Position
Driver
Team
Points
Gap
1
Max Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
194
-
2
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
138
-56
3
Lando Norris
McLaren
131
-63
4
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
108
-86
5
Sergio Pérez
Oracle Red Bull Racing
107
-87
Constructors' Championship top 5
Position
Team
Points
Gap
1
Oracle Red Bull Racing
301
-
2
Ferrari
252
-49
3
McLaren
212
-89
4
Mercedes
124
-177
5
Aston Martin
58
-243
8. Away from the track
We know the Monaco Grand Prix as the race adjacent to the water, but what about the ‘real’ Monaco race – the one in the water? The Red Bull Energy Station (and particularly its pool) has hosted many a team celebration in Monaco, but this year, it was used for something completely different…
Take four F1 drivers (Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez from Oracle Red Bull Racing, plus Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo from Visa Cash App RB), have them build miniature DIY rafts, insert dolls that look a bit (emphasis on ‘ bit’) like the drivers themselves and… you can probably guess the rest.
Who won the race? Who got the wettest? Who adhered to the rules, and who downright broke them? Watch the video below to find out.
4 min
DIY Raft Building. What Could Go Wrong?
Max, Checo, Ricciardo and Yuki compete to build rafts to race miniature versions of themselves across the Monaco Red Bull Energy Station pool.
9. Where to next, and what do I need to know?
Round 10 (Spain), June 21-23
Circuit name/location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmelo
Length/laps: 4.675km, 66 laps
Grands Prix held/debut: 33, 1991
Most successful driver: Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (six wins apiece)
Most successful team: Ferrari (eight wins)
2023 race recap: 1st: Max Verstappen (Oracle Red Bull Racing), 2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 3rd: George Russell (Mercedes)
10. Inside the wide world of Red Bull Motorsports
That's 10 Hard Enduro World Championship wins in a row for Lettenbichler
© Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool
How tough is Red Bull Erzbergrodeo? Only the toughest enduro race in the world, that’s how. Consider: of 500 starters, only nine made it to this year's finish line …
Of course, it’s no surprise to learn Manuel Lettenbichler got to the finish line first; the German was in a class of his own as he re-wrote the record books with victory to mark his 10th consecutive win in the Hard Enduro World Championship. He also made it a hat-trick of wins on the Iron Giant, the Red Bull KTM rider becoming only the second rider to take three wins in a row since Poland’s Taddy Blazusiak 15 years earlier.
Catch up with everything that went down at this year’s Red Bull Erzbergrodeo right here – and give a round of applause to those nine riders who went the distance.
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