Verstappen equals Senna, race win number 41 ahead of Alonso and Hamilton

There are victories in Formula 1 that have a special taste, because they are capable of binding champions of different eras who have never had the opportunity to battle on track. Who knows what Max Verstappen must have thought when he crossed the finish line as winner of the Canadian GP: the race win on the Montreal circuit is his 41st, as many as those of a Formula 1 giant like Ayrton Senna...

Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Comparing drivers who have won in different historical periods is difficult, but it would be wrong not to see in Verstappen the generational talent that is branding these years.

Race classification and strategies adopted

As expected, the positions of the first three classified mirrored the starting order; this is, however, the complete classification:

The Canadian race, which - speaking of milestones - marks Red Bull's 100th victory in the top class, was one of those GPs played more on pure speed than on strategy... Leaving aside the one-stop tactic adopted by Ferrari (which was forced to recover after suboptimal qualifying), pretty much all the rivals instead made two pitstops, starting on Medium tyres and switching to Hards in the middle stint.

Among the drivers who adopted - and made it work - the one-stop strategy, we find the "Driver of the Day" Alex Albon, splendid seventh driving a Williams that had very little to offer him other than a high straight line speed. His long stint on the Hards lasted 58 laps: no one else managed to do the same, especially if we think he had to defend his position from a "DRS train" of 6 cars behind him.

The race at the top: very leveled performances, with a surprising Ferrari

After a start in which Hamilton managed to overtake Alonso to than chase the race leader Verstappen, in the first stint on the Mediums the latter was able to create a gap of about 5 seconds on the Mercedes driver.

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

A heavy impact of George Russell into the barriers while running fourth meant that the Safety Car was called on track, which allowed the top three to pit and fit some fresh sets of Hard tyres.

Those who preferred to stay on track (thus avoiding the traffic) were the two Ferraris, which with this move were able to gain fourth and fifth position. Many talked about a great strategy, and in fact it was indisputably a good idea in retrospect; however a good car always helps to make strategies work. And the SF-23, for the second time this year after the Azerbaijan GP in Baku, was a car as competitive as "kind" on the tyres...

Patrick Vinet / Motorsport Images

Leclerc's long stint in P4 and Sainz in P5 allowed them to open a gap on their chasers and make a pitstop that didn't cause them to lose positions (not even on a struggling Perez...). Thus the Prancing Horse duo achieves 22 vital points in the fight against Aston Martin and Mercedes for second position in the Constructors' World Championship.

"Today we certainly saw the best Ferrari of the season. Yes, what I saw today makes me smile, but I will have a real smile when we go back to fighting for first position and not for fourth as we are doing today. But let's say that we took a good step in the right direction. We are happy today, but starting tomorrow we have to go back to working hard to make up for the gap we still need"

Charles Leclerc

“We had a solid race, and from the start the feeling was as good as on Friday. We could attack and manage the tyres in the best way. I felt particularly good in the middle stint, I felt I had a great pace and was able to manage the tyres well. We also made a good strategy, which is good news: in the end we got a fourth and a fifth position"

Carlos Sainz

But whether this will be the base level for the next Grands Prix is impossible to predict at the moment, given the atypical nature of the Montreal track. Further confirmations in this sense are required - more than in the next round in Austria - on the high speed corners of Silverstone, in the British GP.

Analysis of race laptimes

Analysis of race laptimes - Top 5 classified drivers

In terms of performance, over the course of the race we witnessed not very dissimilar laptimes between the top 5 drivers... Having said that about the first stint, in the other two there was a performance convergence which can be explained by the same difficulties of the Red Bull RB19 on the high kerbs of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve which we had discussed in the analysis of the free practices.

Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

The usual gap between the Milton Keynes team and their opponents was therefore greatly reduced in Canada, and Max had to give his all to ensure the race win: an example of this is the close call after hitting a kerb in the Turn 8-9 chicane a few laps from the end (a mistake similar to the one that put Russell out of the game).

A moment of high tension that risked sending him to the wall, but which the World Champion himself minimized over the radio, even laughing. Whether it's recklessness, the desire to hide the mistake or tranquility given by the large margin over his opponents in the standings, in any case Verstappen has a level of confidence in himself that I have rarely seen in Formula 1.

Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

"Obviously I'm very happy at the moment. It wasn't a particularly easy race, because the tyres often didn't stay in the right window: today it was very cold compared to Friday and we were sliding a bit. Today we won the 100th Grand Prix for the team. It's incredible"

Max Verstappen

Behind him, the duel for second position between Alonso and Hamilton was very intense, with the former overtaking the latter and Lewis closely following the Spaniard's Aston Martin in the final stages of the race. We can say that Alonso had more pace in the race, but some problems (we don't know if related to brake temperatures or high fuel consumption) slowed his pace just enough to keep Hamilton close.

The race in the midfield: Albon rules half the grid!

In the middle of the group, the most impressive performance was, as mentioned, that of Alex Albon. A seventh place which - by virtue of the 6 points earned - allows the Grove team to overtake Alpha Tauri in the Constructors' standings and leave them in the last position.

Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

It is not the first time that Williams found itself using defensive strategies to protect (thanks to a high top speed) the position from a group of drivers approaching. To succeed in such feats you need a driver capable of managing the car and not making mistakes: Albon proved exemplary in this.

And after the race he even admitted that on his shoulders was the extra pressure of having to finalize a monumental work done by the team in bringing updates despite being short on time and material. With this result Albon is now on 12th place in the Drivers' standings, an apparently off-target position for the potential of the Grove team, but surely deserved.

Behind him, a "botched" race for Magnussen and De Vries, while the other Haas of Hulkenberg - as expected - did not keep the fifth starting position (even ending up in P15) also due to an unfortunate timing of the Safety Car.

Next race is in Spielberg, at Red Bull's home

In two weeks the Circus moves to Austria, to Spielberg's Red Bull Ring, for the ninth round of the season. A high-speed track with 4 long straights and huge DRS zones, which will certainly be a nice advantage for the Red Bull RB19.

Until next time!

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