In a thrilling display of strategic acumen and relentless driving, Max Verstappen cemented his authority in the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship by claiming victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Red Bull ace endured lap after lap of intense pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr., ultimately prevailing in a race filled with drama, tactical gambles, and shifting fortunes. This crucial win further extended Verstappen’s championship lead, particularly significant as his closest rivals started the event outside the top ten, allowing him to capitalize fully on their compromised grid positions.
Anticipation was palpable before the race began, largely fueled by Fernando Alonso’s unexpected charge to the front row, marking his first such achievement in a decade. Many wondered if the wily veteran could challenge pole-sitter Verstappen, but the Dutchman quickly dispelled any doubts. As the lights went out, Verstappen executed a flawless start, leaving Alonso’s slightly slower reactions no room to challenge for the lead. The championship leader swiftly pulled away, never looking back in the early stages. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz Jr., starting from third, attempted an ambitious move around Alonso at Turn Two but was forced to slot in behind the Alpine driver.
Further down the grid, Lewis Hamilton, enjoying his best starting position of the season in fourth, had a strong getaway. He soon found himself in a familiar battle with Kevin Magnussen, reminiscent of their Spanish Grand Prix skirmish. Contact was made again, but this time it was the Haas driver who suffered, sustaining minor damage to the right-hand side of his front wing endplate. Esteban Ocon and George Russell both gained positions from Mick Schumacher on the opening lap, while Daniel Ricciardo maintained a solid ninth place ahead of Zhou Guanyu.
Sainz, demonstrating Ferrari’s inherent pace, wasted no time in latching onto Alonso’s gearbox. It became evident that as soon as the Drag Reduction System (DRS) was activated, a pass was inevitable. Indeed, on lap three, Sainz confidently claimed second place. However, he found himself unable to pull away from the Alpine, complaining of graining on his front-left medium tire. Alonso, cleverly utilizing DRS himself by staying within a second of Sainz, managed to keep Hamilton at bay, creating a mini-battle for third place.
Concurrently, Charles Leclerc embarked on an impressive recovery drive from the back of the grid. Having started fourteenth due to power unit penalties, the Monegasque driver began systematically picking off rivals. He overtook Nicholas Latifi on lap one, followed by Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll in quick succession over the next two laps. By the fifth tour, he had dispatched Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin, moving into 15th, and continued his ascent as incidents unfolded further up the field.
Magnussen’s earlier contact eventually caught up with him. Having dropped to fifth after being passed by Russell, Ocon swiftly brought attention to the Haas’s damaged front wing to the race director. In a swift ruling, Magnussen was shown the black and orange flag, compelling him to pit for a new front wing. A frustrated Magnussen later remarked, “We were forced to pit with the damage we had but it was nothing,” his early stop effectively ending any hopes of scoring points and highlighting the strict enforcement of safety regulations.
The race then experienced its first significant turning point on lap eight when Sergio Perez, who had started 13th after a Q2 crash, suddenly slowed. Having just moved into a points-paying position due to Magnussen’s pit stop, Perez reported a catastrophic engine failure: “I lost the engine, man. I’m stuck in gear,” he relayed to his race engineer Hugh Bird as his car ground to a halt near Turn Eight.
The race director promptly deployed a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period. Perez’s car, though stopping close to a marshal access point, was known by Red Bull to be stuck in gear, making a quick recovery unlikely. This allowed Red Bull to pit Verstappen confidently, knowing the VSC period wouldn’t suddenly end and cost them track position. Ferrari, however, decided to split strategies, instructing Sainz to do the opposite of Verstappen. As the Red Bull pitted for fresh tires, Sainz opted to stay out, inheriting the race lead.
Sainz now led a procession under VSC conditions, followed by Alonso, Verstappen, Russell, Ocon, and Hamilton, the latter having also taken the opportunity to pit. Upon hearing Hamilton had rejoined behind Ocon, Alonso famously declared, “So we know what to do now,” implying a coordinated effort. However, Ocon proved no match for the freshly-shod Mercedes, and Hamilton swiftly swept around the outside of him at Turn One to claim fifth place. Verstappen, on his newer tires, passed Alonso with similar ease in a DRS zone, immediately beginning to chip away at Sainz’s five-second lead at a rate of roughly three-tenths of a second per lap.
Before Verstappen could close the gap entirely, the VSC was triggered once more. Mick Schumacher, who had been battling with Zhou Guanyu, suddenly saw his Haas’s Ferrari power unit give up the ghost. On lap 18, just as Zhou lined him up for a pass into Turn Eight, Schumacher’s car pulled to a stop at the exact spot where Perez had retired earlier, prompting the second VSC of the day.
Crucially, Sainz had just passed the pit lane entrance when the VSC was deployed, meaning he had to complete another full lap at VSC pace before he could pit. Fourth-placed Russell, however, arrived just in time to dive into his pit box. A nervous wait ensued for Ferrari as Sainz completed his lap, then pitted successfully, rejoining the track just before the race went green again. He emerged behind Alonso, who had once again opted against pitting under the VSC.
As racing resumed, Sainz quickly dispatched Alonso, now finding himself nine-and-a-half seconds behind race leader Verstappen. Ferrari’s race pace had looked strong in practice, and with twelve-lap fresher tires, Sainz steadily began to erode Verstappen’s lead. The gap initially decreased gradually, then more rapidly, making it clear that Verstappen would eventually need another set of tires. When his lap times began to rise sharply on the 41st tour, Red Bull made the decisive call, bringing him in.
Verstappen’s second pit stop, executed without the advantage of a VSC or Safety Car, meant he emerged almost eleven seconds behind Sainz after taking on another set of hard tires. Before that, he had a brief but intense battle to clear Hamilton’s Mercedes, narrowly failing to beat him out of the pits. Verstappen lost only three-quarters of a lap behind his 2021 world championship rival, a testament to Mercedes’ significantly improved competitive shape in Canada compared to previous rounds.
Despite being significantly quicker than the leading Ferrari at this juncture, Verstappen was still at least nine laps away from catching Sainz when the race was disrupted for a third time on lap 48. Frustratingly for Red Bull, the culprit was their junior driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who skidded straight into a barrier at Turn One while rejoining the track after his own pit stop. This triggered a full Safety Car period, once again shaking up the race order.
For Ferrari, the delay in deploying the Safety Car proved agonizing. Sainz, still lapping at race pace, was rapidly approaching the pit lane entrance with the crash scene only covered by yellow flags. The Safety Car was finally deployed at the very last second, allowing Sainz to dive into the pits for fresh tires. This incident prompted Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto to once again voice his dissatisfaction with the race director’s timing and procedures, reflecting a recurring theme of the season.
Once all lapped cars were cleared, the race resumed with 17 laps remaining. Verstappen held the lead, but Sainz, now on tires six laps fresher, was directly behind him. When Sainz managed to stay within the crucial DRS activation window for the opening two laps of the restart, it appeared an epic fight to the finish was imminent.
However, the anticipated duel never quite materialized. Time and again, Sainz deployed his DRS, closing in on Verstappen, but he never managed to get close enough to launch a genuine overtaking attempt. For all the efforts made to design the 2022 cars for closer racing, this final segment proved somewhat anticlimactic, with Verstappen’s formidable defense proving impenetrable.
Verstappen’s defense was made even more challenging by a radio failure during his final stint. While he could still receive updates from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, the Red Bull pit wall was unable to hear their driver. “I have no clue when it stopped,” Verstappen commented afterwards. “But at one point GP told me that it was not working anymore. I think the in-lap, after the line. I guess it must have been working before or maybe it already didn’t work before, which probably they don’t mind! As long as I can hear him, that’s the most important.”
Nonetheless, he stoically weathered lap after lap of intense pressure from his rival. The pressure finally eased on the very last lap when Sainz made a small, critical error, dropping him out of DRS range. With that, Verstappen secured his sixth victory of the season, a truly dominant performance.
The Mercedes drivers followed, delivering a much-needed morale boost with third and fourth places. Hamilton was visibly elated to return to the podium for the first time since the season-opener in Bahrain, while Russell expressed surprise at the relative ease with which he managed to keep the recovering Leclerc behind him, showcasing the silver arrows’ significant step forward.
The second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, after his incredible charge through the field, arrived in a commendable fifth place. He executed a brilliant late move down the inside of Fernando Alonso at the hairpin, taking advantage of Alonso’s struggles with a suspected engine problem following the restart.
A race that had promised so much for Fernando Alonso, starting on the front row, ended on a sour note. After arguing unsuccessfully with his team to be allowed back in front of Ocon, Alonso resorted to some rather extreme defensive maneuvers in an attempt to keep Valtteri Bottas behind. These actions earned him a censure from the stewards and a five-second time penalty, dropping him from seventh place to ninth, thereby promoting Bottas and his Alfa Romeo teammate Zhou Guanyu.
Lance Stroll secured the final point in his home race, having been allowed past his teammate Sebastian Vettel to successfully attack Daniel Ricciardo. This marked a miserable race for McLaren, who lost significant time for both drivers due to a double-stack pit stop during the second VSC period, costing them valuable track position and ultimately points.
While Carlos Sainz’s quest for a maiden Formula 1 victory continues, Max Verstappen’s pursuit of a second consecutive world championship appears increasingly credible with each passing race. Having delivered Red Bull Racing’s sixth victory in a row, a championship that initially promised a Ferrari resurgence is now in serious danger of morphing into a dominant Red Bull rout, signaling a powerful shift in momentum in the 2022 season.