Verstappen overcomes rain, safety cars, and restarts to win in Canada, Jumps to 56-point lead

9 June 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News

MONTREAL, CANADA — The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix was a wet wild 70 laps on the 4.361-kilometer Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal. Max Verstappen, who suffered a difficult Monaco GP starting and finishing 6th, was ready for business. Verstappen fought an ill handling car and weather ultimately qualifying P2 Saturday behind pole sitter George Russell in his Mercedes.

FORMULA 1 AWS GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2024 — QUALIFYING RESULTS

Of particular note, McLaren was on target with setup and upgrades qualifying P3-P4, but the biggest surprise of qualifying was Daniel Ricciardo bring his RB Honda in at P5- likely motivated by Canadian racing legend Jacques Villeneuve making disparaging remarks on live television questioning why Ricciardo still had a seat as an F1 driver.

Jacques Villeneuve and Daniel Ricciardo battled, verbally, in Canada (Image Credit: planetf1.com)

Sunday’s GP was an afternoon of rain, crashes, safety cars, and restarts … where the reigning World Champion ultimately drove to victory and reestablished a significant points lead in the Drivers' Championship. Lando Norris took second after a spirited battle with Russell who finished third, with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton P4 and the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri finishing P5.

Top 5 finishers, noting the Top 4 within 5 seconds of each other (Image Credit: formula1.com)

Verstappen came into his own as the race developed and the track dried out (Image Credit: formula1.com)

Verstappen Win Combined with Charles Leclerc’s DNF = Points Shift

After Monaco, Max Verstappen’s lead over Ferrari driver and Monaco winner Charles Leclers was a down to 31 driver championship points. But Sunday’s win in Montreal combined with a Leclerc DNF (one of five DNFs which also included the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz) results in Verstappen’s lead jumping back up- now at 56 F1 Driver Championship Points.

Go Full Throttle Formula 1 AI Driver Rankings following the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix on June 9 at the Circuit de Monaco street course (Image Credit: GFT Digital)

Final Results from the AWS Canadian Grand Prix

Winners quote:

“It was a pretty crazy race,” said Verstappen. “A lot of things were happening and we had to be on top of our calls. I think as a team we just did really well today, we remained calm, and I think we pitted at the right time. Of course, the Safety Car worked out nicely for us, but even after that I think we were managing the gaps quite well. I loved it — that was a lot of fun. Those kinds of races, you need them once in a while!”

Verstappen made it three victories in a row in Canada with another fine drive (Image Credit: formula1.com)

Up Next:

Up next on the 2024 F1 calendar is the Spanish Grand Prix on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya June 21–23.