Red Bull’s Max Verstappen held off Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr. for the final 15 laps of the race to win the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix with seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton taking the third and final podium position for Mercedes.
Verstappen began the race on pole position alongside a surprising Fernando Alonso of Alpine in the front row, but Alonso was quickly dropped on the first lap by Verstappen, passed by Sainz, Jr. on the fourth lap and eventually by Hamilton on Lap 24.
With Alonso essentially out of the mix and a couple of virtual safety cars in the first 20 laps – one of which was issued for Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, who suffered a gearbox failure – the race was basically reduced to a two-car battle between Sainz, Jr. and Verstappen but Sainz, Jr. could never establish a consistent lead and when another safety car emerged with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda’s crash on Lap 49, Sainz, Jr. had his final chance but with the race restart on Lap 55 of the 70-lap race, Sainz, Jr. was never able to pass Verstappen while Hamilton remained in the rear view mirror of both cars as the top three race order remained unchanged for the race’s final 15 laps.
With the victory, Verstappen has 175 points and pads his 2022 Formula One driver’s championship lead over his Red Bull teammate, Perez, who, at 129 points has a mere three-point advantage over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third place with 126 points.
2022 Canadian Grand Prix – Top 10 Finishers
1] Max Verstappen Red Bull
2] Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari
3] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
4] George Russell Mercedes
5] Charles Leclerc Ferrari
6] Esteban Ocon Alpine
7] Fernando Alonso Alpine
8] Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo
9] Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo
10] Lance Stroll Aston Martin
