Hamilton puts Russell in his place on Mercedes' breakthrough day

Hamilton puts Russell in his place on Mercedes' breakthrough day

 

 

 
WINNERS Max Verstappen An absolutely flawless performance from Max Verstappen all weekend long in Canada as he dominated qualifying and held off a late-charging Carlos Sainz to register his sixth victory in nine races this season. It was a real champion’s drive from Verstappen. Having largely controlled the race, he appeared completely unflustered when Sainz emerged right on his gearbox with a tyre advantage following a late Safety Car period. Verstappen worked out how to keep Sainz behind and never once flinched under some intense late pressure to resist his rival and seal a sixth straight win for Red Bull. Given his relentless and remarkably consistent form, the reigning world champion is starting to look untouchable. With a convincing 49-point advantage over Charles Leclerc, Verstappen appears on course to land a second world title this year.Related Hamilton: ‘Max doesn’t know what I’m talking about’ – Will they battle again? Magnussen says FIA too easily influenced after Ocon radio call3128445.0064.jpg Carlos Sainz In the absence of his teammate Charles Leclerc from the lead battle due to being hit with engine penalties that left him starting at the back, responsibility fell on Sainz to offer a challenge to Verstappen. Sainz wasted no time getting himself past Fernando Alonso and up to second, before engaging with Verstappen in a direct heto-head for the race victory. Sainz slowly reeled Verstappen in during the second stint and benefitted from a late Safety Car which gave him a six-lap tyre advantage over the Red Bull. But he ultimately came up just short after following within a second for the final 15 laps. In reality, Sainz’s Ferrari was always lacking the true performance needed to be able to pull off a move on Verstappen, whose slight pace advantage and smart driving enabled him to prevail. Related Alonso handed five-second penalty for weaving, drops to ninth DRIVER RATINGS: 10/10 for Max Verstappen and one other driver… but for who?It was another near miss for Sainz in his ongoing quest for his maiden grand prix win but a much-needed performance and result for the Spaniard. 3128420.0064.jpg Mercedes Mercedes enjoyed a stronger showing than expected in Canada as Lewis Hamilton returned to the podium for the first time since the opening race of the season and ended a run of difficult races.Hamilton finished a few seconds up the road from teammate George Russell, who rose from eighth to fourth as both Mercedes cars demonstrated encouragingly-competitive race pace. “4The seven-time world champion ended the race just seven seconds behind winner Verstappen, and at times he was able to match Verstappen and Sainz’s pace. But Hamilton would have likely been much further behind had it not been for the late Safety Car, while Mercedes’ final result was boosted by Sergio Perez and Leclerc being out of position from the start. Mercedes unquestionably still have a lot of work to do before they can truly join the Red Bull-Ferrari fight, but there were some positive signals to take away from Montreal.”5It was an important result for Hamilton, who brought an end to Russell’s recent momentum and stopped his younger teammate from beating him for a record eighth race in a row.3128441.0064.jpg Guanyu Zhou/Alfa Romeo Following a streak of mechanical failures, Guanyu Zhou finally ended his run of misfortune at the Canadian Grand Prix with his best display in F1 yet. F1’s first-ever Chinese driver was one of the star performers in Saturday’s wet qualifying as he secured his maiden Q3 appearance and out-paced Alfa Romeo teammate Valtteri Bottas for the second successive event. Although Bottas got the better of him in the race, Zhou turned in a really impressive drive to finish ninth on the road, before being promoted to eighth after Alonso’s post-race penalty. “6Zhou has already demonstrated he is a capable grand prix driver, even if his results haven’t reflected it. But on Sunday he finally reaped the rewards for what has been an impressive start to his rookie season. A double points finish for Alfa Romeo means the Swiss squad have closed to within six points of fifth-placed Alpine in the constructors’ championship. 3128569.0064.jpg Lance StrollThings looked pretty bleak for home hero Lance Stroll after being dumped out of Q1 and lining up from a lowly 17th on the grid. But Stroll stealthily worked his way through the field – including a late overtake on Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren – en route to fighting his way back into the points in P10. “7It was a solid drive from the Canadian, who ended a run of three races outside of the points with his third 10th place of the season. 3128201.0064.jpg LOSERS Sergio Perez After his excellent recent form had turned him into a genuine championship contender, all of Perez’s hard work was undone as he endured a nightmare weekend in North America.Sliding off into the barriers in Q2 meant he was left with it all to do from 13th on the grid, but the Mexican’s afternoon had barely got going before his car broke down nine laps in.Perez’s second retirement of the season marks a huge blow to his title hopes, with teammate Verstappen’s fifth win in the last six races opening up a massive 46-point margin between the pair. “83126961.0064.jpg Fernando AlonsoAlonso had hoped to challenge Verstappen for the lead on the first lap after securing his first front-row starting spot in a decade following his sensational qualifying performance. After initially running second during the early stages, the two-time world champion’s race totally unravelled. Alonso lost out to both Mercedes and Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon after Alpine failed to take advantage by pitting under two Virtual Safety Car periods. The timing of the VSC ruined his race but Alonso was also left to battle an engine problem on his car that prevented him from passing Ocon despite being “100 times faster”. To rub salt into the wounds, Alonso was demoted two places to ninth with a post-race time penalty for weaving on the straight and impeding Bottas. “93128580.0064.jpg Mick Schumacher/HaasAfter Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher equalled Haas’ best-ever qualifying result by locking out the third row of the grid, the race started with huge promise for the American outfit. But Haas ultimately came away with nothing to show for their efforts in what turned out to be a day of disappointment as neither driver scored points. Magnussen dropped out of the top 10 when he was shown a black-and-orange flag for car damage after a first-lap clash with Hamilton, and the Dane never recovered.Meanwhile, Schumacher’s hopes of a first-ever points finish went up in smoke when he suffered a race-ending power unit issue while running seventh. “103128471.0064.jpg McLaren It was a truly horrible Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren as both Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finished outside of the points. An attempt to double-stack their drivers went spectacularly wrong when Ricciardo had a slow pit stop, which in turn delayed Norris. Things went from bad to worse when McLaren initially fitted the wrong tyre onto Norris’ car, costing him yet more time. Ricciardo found himself in ninth after the late Safety Car but was relegated to 11th by Zhou and Stroll come the chequered flag. McLaren’s misery enabled midfield rivals Alpine to capitalise and close to within eight points of the fourth-placed team. 3128630.0064.jpg AlphaTauri A really frustrating weekend for AlphaTauri as the Faenza outfit were well off the pace in Canada. Yuki Tsunoda’s race ended up in the Turn 1 barriers when he rather clumsily lost control of his car on cold tyres when exiting the pits, while teammate Pierre Gasly didn’t fare much better.The Frenchman finished a lowly 14th after struggling with grip and pace throughout. 3128362.0064.jpg  

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