Verstappen Wins Rain-Soaked Canadian Grand Prix After Multiple Safety Cars

Max Verstappen held his nerve and he was able to win the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix, which featured multiple safety cars.

The start of the race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve certainly didn't resemble the 'pinnacle of the motorsport' as all cars got off the line very carefully in the wet conditions, crawling at a snail's pace, but all showed their incredible driving capabilities, as there were no significant incidents on the opening lap of the race.

Pole-sitter, George Russell in Mercedes controlled the start of the race, as he did the opening laps of the race in Canada, but that didn't last for too long, despite creating a gap to the second Max Verstappen in Red Bull, as the Dutch driver slowly started closing up on him.

With almost all the drivers on the intermediate tires, Haas took a risk as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg started on the wet tires, and they were much faster than everyone else, overtaking one driver after another, with the Danish driver even making it into the Top 5.

However, the risk soon stopped paying off, as both had to go into the pits, and exited them far away from the Top 10. Still, the team enjoyed some prime time with nice overtakes early in the race.

Meanwhile, pushing to overtake Russell in P1, Verstappen made a mistake, leaving the track, and Lando Norris in McLaren immediately closed up on his good friend, and it didn't take too long before he managed to overtake him, and with Russell making a mistake very soon after, Norris went from P3 to P1 in a few seconds, while Russell dropped from P1 to P3.

It seemed that Norris will be able to control the race, as he was leading, and seemingly the fastest man on the track, however, when Logan Sargeant in Williams crashed, the Safety Car had to come onto the track, and with everyone behind Norris choosing to pit and the British driver staying out, he lost positions, coming out only ahead of his teammate, Oscar Piastri, in P3, with the Australian fourth.

At the restart, Verstappen led ahead of Russell, and with more rain approaching, no driver wanted to go onto slick tires, but that changed only a few laps later, as the race track dried just enough and the pit mania started.

Everyone was trying to gain on their rivals with some kind of tactics, with Lewis Hamilton, who was in P5, coming in first, but that didn't pay off, as the track was not yet ready, and those who waited, massively benefited.

The driver that stayed on the intermediates the longest was Norris, and it paid off for him, as he came out of the pits ahead of Verstappen, leading the race at the start of Lap 48, but struggling to warm his tires, the World Championship leader just flew past him, but the Brit stayed in P2.

Since the start of the race, Charles Leclerc has struggled with an engine issue in his Ferrari. During the race, his team decided to retire his car. Soon after that, the other Ferrari also had problems, as Carlos Sainz spun out of nowhere, hitting Alex Albon in Williams. Both were forced to retire, triggering yet another Safety Car.

Only seconds before that, Sergio Perez, who had terrible qualifying, also spun out. As a result, only 15 cars continued after the Safety Car, with Verstappen leading the pack, Norris and Piastri behind, and Russell and Hamilton in P4 and P5, as both Mercedes drivers have decided to change their tires.

After the restart, however, Verstappen flew into the distance, and no one was able to catch him for the remainder of the race, as he crossed the finish line first to win the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix and increase his lead in the 2024 World Drivers' Championships even further.

Behind him, Russell attempted a move on Piastri for the last podium position into the last corner, but the Australian defended fiercely, as the Brit had to bail out, losing a position even to his teammate Hamilton, who moved into P4, wanting to get onto the podium himself. He managed to do just that, overtaking Piastri with 5 laps to go to get into the Top 3.

Still, Russell was there to come back, and he was able to do that, finishing the race in P3, ahead of fourth Hamilton and fifth Piastri. Norris finished ahead of all of them in P2.