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Tyres NorthamptonStill, there were signs of progress behind him as fellow world champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton remained relatively close throughout the 70-lap race.
The three podium finishers started and ended the race in the same positions. That fact masks an entertaining Sunday afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where close racing featured from start to finish. Alonso and Hamilton engaged in wheel-to-wheel action, and the midfield saw a race-long duel that had as much action as it did suspense with a defensive masterclass from Alex Albon's Williams.
Alonso lost out from his front-row starting slot off the line as Hamilton's launch saw him leapfrog the Aston Martin into the first corner to take P2 and pursue Verstappen. However, the Red Bull doing battle on the opening lap was that of the low-starting Sergio Perez against Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. The pair repeatedly fought, with Sainz going over the kerbs at Turn 9 after inching by, letting Perez back through by the hairpin before drag racing into the final chicane. Sainz emerged as the victor with P11 as his Lap 1 prize.
While the leading quartet of Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, and George Russell got into their stride, there was another story for Nico Hulkenberg, who had started in P5. The Haas driver's qualifying heroics had him the second-fastest driver on Saturday before a grid penalty demoted him, but he did not have the pace of the frontrunners. Hulkenberg became a rolling roadblock for the top 10 as he slid further down the order, choosing an early pit stop for fresh rubber, but falling back P15, one lap down by the chequered flag.
With Logan Sargeant's retirement on Lap 7 from an oil leak not creating a slowdown long enough to pit, Russell's error on Lap 12 instead saw most of the field pitting. The Mercedes driver unsettled his car over the Turn 9 kerb and whacked into the exit wall, breaking his front wing and right-rear wheel. The resulting debris had the race director call for the Safety Car for a clean-up operation, although Russell did limp back for repairs.
Pit lane shenanigans up and down the field followed as most runners opted to swap their Pirelli tyres in the Safety Car slowdown, with Hamilton's exit coming close to hitting Alonso, and Lando Norris making Albon brake as he emerged from McLaren's box. Investigations brought no punishments for either incident. However, the stewards later found Norris guilty of 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' for a slow in-lap to avoid a delay when pitting behind his teammate Oscar Piastri.
It was a frantic affair for the midfield racers when the racing resumed. Norris overtook Piastri at the hairpin before Piastri lost out to Albon at the final chicane. Those roles reversed one lap later as Albon tried to overtake Kevin Magnussen but locked up. All the while, Esteban Ocon eased past Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas, who the stewards found guilty of overtaking under the Safety Car.
This scrapping was ideal for the Ferrari pit wall, who had kept their low-qualifying pair out during the Safety Car, instead choosing a late-pit one-stop strategy that worked to perfection. Charles Leclerc jumped from P10 to P4 and Sainz from P11 to P5, with neither losing out to those behind when they eventually pitted on Laps 38 and 39.
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While the Scuderia benefitted from the midfield action behind them, they couldn't close in on the fight in front. Alonso's DRS overtake on Hamilton on the final straight left the Mercedes driver powerless to defend, even after slipping into Alonso's slipstream as they approached Turn 1. Hamilton kept close to his long-time rival, though, and began to make in-roads when the pair pitted for the final time. Alonso chose Pirelli's hard tyre and Hamilton on the mediums to let Hamilton close in lap after lap in the dying stages. Unfortunately for Hamilton, the showdown never materialised as Alonso's pace had him do enough to secure P2 and his sixth podium of the year.
Elsewhere, Russell had scrapped back to the tail of Albon to sit P8 on a recovery drive but could not get past the Thai driver thanks to the Williams' straight-line speed. A DRS train formed behind the duo, with Ocon, Norris, Bottas, and later, Lance Stroll, all piling in on the fun. As Russell eventually retired with damage, Albon held firm, and his P7 finish marks his best result since returning to the sport last year.
Verstappen's lead atop the standings now sits at 69 points, nearly three race wins. F1 now has a weekend off before a July with two double-headers for a fast four-round blitz of classic European circuits before the August summer break.