Photo: © IMAGO

Max Verstappen and Red Bull have extended their championship leads at the Canadian Grand Prix after a disastrous weekend for Ferrari.

The three-time world champion led McLaren’s Lando Norris across the line in Montreal to claim his sixth grands prix victory of the season, with the cars of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz parked up in their respective garages.

After a late battle with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes’ George Russell claimed third place and took the final step on the podium having started the race on pole.

With multiple drivers vying for the victory, naturally, the focus of the television broadcast was largely at the front of the pack, but there was plenty of action throughout the order well worth discussing.

Here at GPFans, we were keeping an eye on the best moments throughout the race that might have gone under the radar and not got the full attention that they deserve.

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix

Verstappen avoids mid-race collision

Despite having won the race, Max Verstappen still had plenty to do in Canada this weekend to do so, including a manoeuvre that he would not have been expecting to make.

Post-race it emerged that the three-time world champion was forced to take avoiding action on his way to victory after encountering a groundhog mid-race.

The Canadian Grand Prix has seen its fair share of animals on track over the years, including this weekend, and it appears they once again made an appearance on Sunday.

On the incident, Verstappen told the media: “He was almost dead,”

“I thought it was debris initially, but then I was like oh my god, it’s an animal.

“I really had to slow down for it.”

Alpine tension intensifies

After an incident at the Monaco Grand Prix that saw Alpine driver Esteban Ocon collide with teammate Pierre Gasly, team boss Bruno Famin was rightly unhappy.

After that incident and ahead of this weekend in Canada, it was even confirmed that Ocon would leave the team ahead of 2025, although how much impact the above had on that decision is unknown.

In Canada, both Alpines finished in the points, which should have been a cause for celebration in the team after a very difficult start to 2024. However, things will no doubt have been marred by events at the end of the race.
Esteban Ocon initally refused team orders in Canada
With three laps to go, Ocon was asked by his team over the radio to allow Gasly through so he could try to chase down Daniel Ricciardo ahead, but Ocon refused initially, telling his race engineer to ‘forget it’.

Eventually, a couple of laps later, Ocon did allow Gasly through, but by that point, any potential opportunity to catch Ricciardo had been missed.

Albon produces impressive double overtake

After picking up their first points last time out in Monaco, it was to be a forgettable weekend for Williams in Canada.

Things were looking promising on Saturday after Alex Albon made it to Q3 and qualified 10th, but come the chequered flag on Sunday, both drivers had registered a DNF after separate incidents.

Albon did have some fun in the race whilst he lasted, though, producing an incredibly impressive double overtake in damp conditions heading into turn 13 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

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In ninth place at the time, under braking, Albon neatly placed his Williams between RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to move up to seventh.

Unfortunately for Albon, he wouldn’t finish there, or at all, but it was great to watch nevertheless.

Haas blunder after impressive start

Away from the lead of the race, one of the biggest talking points in the early stages of the Canadian GP was the ascent of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

Gambling on the wet tyre whilst the majority of the grid opted for intermediates, the Dane flew up the order in the early laps, climbing to as high as fourth place having started 14th.

Unfortunately for Magnussen and Haas, things quickly went wrong after that.
Magnussen went from P14 to P4 at one stage of the race
When it came time to call their driver in to change over from the wet tyre to the intermediate option on lap eight, Haas’ pit crew were not ready, resulting in a painfully long 8.6 second stop.

This blunder saw Magnussen tumble down the order to 12th place, further than would have been the case had the team performed even an average pit-stop.

Perez summoned to the stewards after the race

The lead up to the Canadian GP was a good one for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

Despite a very mixed start to the season, it was announced ahead of the weekend that the Mexican had secured his future within the Milton Keynes-based team, signing a new, two-year deal.

If Perez wanted to repay the faith shown in him by Red Bull with a strong performance on track, he will have to wait until the Spanish Grand Prix next time out.
Sergio Perez registered another DNF at the Canadian GP
In Canada, Perez had a disastrous qualifying, heading out in Q1 and starting the race in 16th and, after not making much progress in the race, the Mexican then went on to register a DNF on Sunday after losing control of his car and causing huge damage to his rear wing.

Perez made it back to the pits, avoiding a safety car, helping teammate Max Verstappen maintain his lead at the front.

However, for doing so, the Mexican was was later summoned to the stewards, with the allegation being that he continued to drive with an unsafe car.