Good evening and welcome back to Montreal. We hope you’re excited because this 2024 Canadian Grand Prix has the ingredients to be a classic. George Russell gave Mercedes took his second career F1 pole position after he set the same time as Max Verstappen in a dramatic Qualifying. Russell took pole as he set his time before Verstappen in Q3.
Lando Norris starts in third in an all-McLaren second row, with team-mate Oscar Piastri in fourth. Daniel Ricciardo had his best Qualifying of the year and will start fifth, in front of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
Down the order you will find both Ferrari cars in 11th and 12th after Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were both knocked out in Q2, with the Maranello team looking for a comeback in the top 5. Even further back is Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was eliminated in Q1, so he will start in 16th. There promises to be action everywhere when the lights go out at 7pm in Montreal!
Charles Leclerc on Ferrari’s chances of a recovery in the race after a qualifying shocker left them down on the sixth row:
“It wasn’t an easy day yesterday but today the weather is quite unpredictable, which gives us some opportunities to come back in the front. So we have to use that opportunity in the right way. If it’s dully dry the pace that we have shown until now hasn’t been very strong, but everything is possible. If we get on the podium that would be amazing, but realistically the top five is a good target to have on a track like this with the performance with what we’ve had until now. But a podium is my target today.”
We are 50 minutes away from lights out and we had a brief period where the rain stopped and the sun actually came out. However, it’s started raining again and there’s no chance the drivers will be starting on dry tyres.
A very wet pit lane has just opened, allowing the cars to begin to make their way round to the grip. The drivers are using a mix of intermediate and wet tyres at the moment, which means there could be interesting decisions to be made if conditions remain similar for the start of the race. The track is extremely wet in the middle sector where there are plenty of trees and some camber at the corners, which causes puddles.
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All drivers have four sets of intermediates and two wets to play in today’s 70-lap race. The entire field are starting on intermediates apart from Haas duo Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, who start from P14 and P17 respectively.
The formation lap is under way and every cars gets away cleanly, including Esteban Ocon’s Alpine at the back, whose car was being worked on just 10 minutes ago.
Lap 1/70: George Russell gets enough traction to stay ahead of Max Verstappen at the start.
The McLarens follow through in order, but it looks as though Lewis Hamilton may have made progress behind!
Lap 1/70: It looks like everyone has got through the first half of the lap cleanly as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton overtakes Daniel Ricciardo to move into the top six. Further down, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc is up to ninth and Sergio Perez is now in 18th. Charles Leclerc tries to make a move at the final chicane but cuts it and drops down to 10th place. His Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz is down in 15th!
Lap 2/70: The wet tyre gamble is working at the moment! Kevin Magnussen has gained seven places to move up to P7, while Nico Hulkenberg is up five places to P12. Ted Kravitz says the rain is still coming down heavily, which is making Haas look like rock stars at the moment!
Lap 3/70: Kevin Magnussen is still moving forwards. He gets past Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, and is now up to P5 having gained nine places. He’s now closing up on the McLarens!
Lap 4/70: Lewis Hamilton is currently in seventh place, which is where he started. He’s about to be overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg though it looks like as those Haas drivers continue to move up the field.
Lap 4/70: Lewis Hamilton is currently in seventh place, which is where he started. He’s about to be overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg though it looks like as those Haas drivers continue to move up the field.
Lap 6/70: Logan Sargeant is in the wall at Turn Six but he reverses back out and carries on. The Williams driver will come in for a new front wing but he’s at the back. Lap 10/70: The sun is now shining at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and George Russell’s lead is down to 1.7 seconds over Max Verstappen. Third-placed Lando Norris is seven seconds behind Verstappen.
Lap 11/70: Verstappen is just 1.3 seconds away from Russell now as the leaders trade fastest laps.
Lap 12/70: Daniel Ricciardo is under investigation for an alleged false start. Ricciardo is in seventh place as he’s just overtaken Nico Hulkenberg, who is still out there on the wet tyres and holding up a queue of drivers.
Lap 13/70: And Daniel Ricciardo has got a five-second penalty for a false start. It’s not a disaster but far from ideal for the RB driver.
Lap 15/70: Lando Norris sets a new fastest lap of the race and is just five seconds away from the lead battle. Russell is holding up Verstappen and there’s no DRS yet in these conditions. Everyone is looking for wet patches to cool the tyres as a dry line is emerging.
Lap 17/70: Max Verstappen makes a mistake! He runs wide at Turn One and loses a little bit of time. He cuts the second corner slightly and carries on. It’s now a three-way fight for the win at the front.
Lap 18/70: It wasn’t available while Max Verstappen was on George Russell’s tail, but it is now that Lando Norris is behind the Dutchman. The track has been deemed sufficiently dry for DRS to be enabled, and Norris has a great chance to pass the Red Bull.
Lap 20/70: Verstappen is back within 1.5 seconds of Russell as Norris continues to push the Red Bull driver. Piastri is closing in too in fourth place at just six seconds behind and he’s set a new fastest lap of the race.
Lap 21/70: Lando Norris gets in the slipstream of Max Verstappen, uses DRS and bravely goes around the outside in the braking zone of the final chicane and takes second place, setting the fastest lap too. Norris is just one second behind race leader Russell.
Lap 21/70: Lando Norris eases past George Russell just like he did Max Verstappen. Russell then compounds the moment by running off at the final chicane, and being passed by Verstappen too. Norris leads Verstappen, with Russell third- this is a bit of a thriller!
Lap 24/70: Norris is the fastest driver on track and he’s 5.5 seconds in front of Verstappen. This is all going very well for the McLaren driver right now, who says it’s slicks everywhere apart from Turn Two.
Lap 26/70: Dark clouds surround the circuit and that rain which the teams expected 20 minutes ago could be coming very soon…
Lap 25/70: Logan Sargeant has crashed at Turn 4 and we have a Safety Car!
Lap 26/70: Lando Norris stays out and everyone else pits. Max Verstappen just comes out ahead of George Russell and Oscar Piastri is fourth. It’s new inters for everyone it looks like. Have McLaren made a mistake by not pitting Norris though?
Lap 27/70: Lando Norris pits now but Max Verstappen and George Russell go through. Norris just comes out ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri. Lewis Hamilton got past Fernando Alonso when they both stopped at the end of lap 25. Not only is the seven-time world champion up to P5, but he’ll be just a few seconds off the lead when the race resumes.
Lap 29/70: Charles Leclerc has just come in and put on slick tyres, hard ones. He was stationary for a long time in the pits, with Ferrari perhaps attempting to fix the engine issues that have troubled him to this point.
Lap 30/70: We are back under way as Max Verstappen goes for it out of the final chicane, with George Russell tucked up behind him. No overtakes in the top 10 going into Turn One…
Lap 30/70: Ferrari have told Charles Leclerc that they think his engine issue has been fixed during that stop. However, he is on slick tyres and the rain is falling. Good news and bad news…
Lap 32/70: Max Verstappen is only about a second ahead of George Russell, with similar margins between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind. We’re told the rain is expected to stop in two or three minutes, and then no more is expected for the remainder of the race.
Lap 35/70: If the radars are right and we’re about to see the end of the rain, the big question is whether the track will be dry enough for slick tyres before the end of the race.
And if the answer is yes, will that moment come soon enough that it’s worth the time loss that will be caused by a pit stop. Will one of the top five take a gamble? McLaren and Mercedes have the advantage of each have two runners in the top five. Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez is down in 16th.
Lap 37/70: Charles Leclerc is shown the blue flags, so let’s Verstappen, Russell, Norris, Piastri and Hamilton through. From winning in Monaco to a nightmare weekend in Canada for Leclerc.
Lap 40/70: Well that could spice things up. DRS is enabled. Lewis Hamilton is just half a second back from Oscar Piastri and could be the one to watch here.
Lap 42/70: Lando Norris goes deep at Turn One, cuts across the corner and just about feeds back into third place in front of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc OUT of the race. Lap 43/70: Charles Leclerc comes into the garage and he is out of the Canadian Grand Prix. That’s the second retiree in this race after Logan Sargeant crashed earlier.
Lap 44/70: Lewis Hamilton pits from fifth place and it’s the medium tyres that go on. This is a risk from Mercedes but one that might pay off. Crucial moments coming up…
Lap 46/70: Max Verstappen and George Russell pit but Lando Norris stays out! Verstappen remains ahead of Russell and Piastri is three seconds behind Russell. Verstappen is on the mediums and Russell on the hards.
Lap 47/50: Lando Norris is still going on the intermediates. McLaren have gone for a big split in strategy here. Norris is surely going to come in this time around, but has he built a big enough lead to stay ahead of Max Verstappen?
Lap 48/70: Lando Norris comes into the pit lane for medium tyres and he’s just behind! Norris briefly took the lead but gets a huge slide on the exit and Max Verstappen is back in front. WOW.
Lap 50/70: Max Verstappen comes onto the radio and says “the ride is very bad. It’s like a locked suspension again. I can’t touch the kerbs. I almost can’t stay on.”
Lap 51/70: Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton has dropped backwards. We’re not sure what exactly happened, but he lost several seconds to Piastri and for now, is out of the battle for the top four.
Safety Car: Sainz and Albon collide! Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon make contact going into Turn Six which sees Sainz on the grass and Albon in the wall. Albon is out of the race and Sainz is down to 15th place.
Lap 55/70: Mercedes have stopped both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, given there was a big gap behind the latter.
Russell has given up P3 to Oscar Piastri, but will have new tyres for the rest of the race.
Russell is on mediums, Hamilton on hards.
Lap 56/70: It’s a disaster for Ferrari. Carlos Sainz is out of the race, so both Ferraris have retired from the Canadian Grand Prix.
Sainz apologises for his mistake but Ferrari won’t score any points today. Albon has climbed out of his car, so that’s Sainz, Albon, Perez, Leclerc and Sargeant out of the Grand Prix.
Lap 57/70: Lando Norris is told there is no rain on the radar but there are showers around the circuit. Norris is in second place and surely he will try to attack Verstappen.
Lap 58/70: The Safety Car is coming in at the end of this lap. We’ve got a 12-lap sprint to the finish. Can Max Verstappen hold off McLaren and Mercedes?
Lap 59/70: Verstappen leads the field away and immediately moves one second clear of Norris. Russell and Hamilton are just being patient at the moment.
Lap 59/70: That’s an incredible first lap after the restart for Max Verstappen. He opens up a 1.8s advantage over Lando Norris. That will be disappointing for the McLaren driver. RS is enabled, but it won’t be helping Norris for the moment.
Lap 62/70: Norris is dragging along Piastri and Russell, with the latter two having DRS. Russell will need to make a move soon if he wants to have any chance of getting near Verstappen, who leads by two seconds.
Lap 64/70: Russell goes for it on Piastri into the final chicane but the pair make contact. Russell cuts the chicane but loses a spot to Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who is now in fourth.
Lap 65/70: Lewis Hamilton is now within DRS range of Oscar Piastri, and will be on the podium if he can pull off a pass on the Australian. There is action absolutely everywhere in Montreal!
Hamilton up to third! Lap 66/70: Lewis Hamilton uses his DRS to ease past Oscar Piastri, and now he’s right on the tail of Lando Norris!
Lap 67/70: George Russell breezes past Oscar Piastri this time going into the final chicane and is up to fourth place.
Lap 67/70: Yuki Tsunoda has spun and dropped from ninth to 14th.
Lap 69/70: Russell bravely goes to the inside of Hamilton at the final chicane, on the wet part of the track and squeezes through. Hamilton tries to come back at him into Turn One but Russell holds on. Brilliant racing.
Lap 70/70: One more lap to go and it looks like Max Verstappen is going to make it a sixth win in 2024… That collision between George Russell and Oscar Piastri will be investigated by the stewards after the race.
Max Verstappen overcomes the rain and incidents to win the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix. It’s a hat-trick of wins for Verstappen in Montreal. Lando Norris comes home in second, while George Russell just about holds off Lewis Hamilton for the final podium spot. An encouraging result that for Mercedes, to have two cars in the top four.
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