- Max Verstappen led every lap for the third consecutive race on his way to the win at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
- The win, the 41st of Verstappen’s career, tied him for fifth place on the all-time Formula 1 list with Ayrton Senna.
- Verstappen also extended his points lead to 69 points—nearly the amount of points possible in three whole races—in the championship over teammate Sergio Perez.
Max Verstappen dominated the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday for his sixth win in eight starts, leading every lap for the third straight race, and he now leads the championship by a colossal 69 points.
In notching his 41st career win, he equalled Ayrton Senna’s tally of career victories.
It moves Verstappen to equal fifth on the all-time win list, with the next target Alain Prost’s 51, a number surely achievable this season due to the pace of the Red Bull RB19 and the increasingly lengthy schedule.
More than half of Verstappen’s victories (21 of 20) have now come in the last one-and-a-not-quite-half seasons since Formula 1 introduced new regulations. Verstappen won 15 races last year.
Verstappen reached his 41 wins in his 171st Grand Prix, 10 more than it took Senna to reach 41 before Senna’s fatal crash at the 1994 San Marino GP.
“When I was a little kid and in go-karting, I was dreaming of being a Formula 1 driver,” said Verstappen. “I could never have imagined winning 41 Grands Prix. Of course, to tie with Ayrton is something incredible. I’m proud of that. But I hope it’s not stopping here. I hope we can keep on winning races.”
Elsewhere on the all-time lists, Verstappen has more podiums than Senna (85-80). Senna leads in pole positions, 65-25.
The Dutchman is on course to equal Senna as a three-time champion this year considering his 69-point advantage in the championship.
Other numbers of note:
• Michael Schumacher earned his 41st win (of 91) on the occasion of his 141st race, while Lewis Hamilton achieved the feat at his 162nd race. Sebastian Vettel equaled Senna in his 149th race.
• When age is factored in, 25-year-old Verstappen’s tally of 41 wins is unmatched. Vettel was 28 when he hit the milestone while Hamilton was 30, and Schumacher 31, while Senna was 33.
Max Verstappen’s win in Canada was No. 100 for Red Bull Racing in Formula 1.
How Red Bull Made It to Win No. 100
Verstappen’s victory maintained Red Bull’s unbeaten start to the campaign and was also the 100th for Red Bull Racing in Formula 1.
Only four other Formula 1 teams in history have reached 100 wins—Ferrari (242), McLaren (183), Mercedes (125) and Williams (114). Each of those teams have had their dominant periods in which the tally has rapidly rocketed and this is very much Red Bull’s era in which wins are being ticked off at a swift speed.
Red Bull’s first victory was a 1-2 finish, achieved by Sebastian Vettel, in a rain-lashed race in Shanghai, China, in 2009. That came in Red Bull’s fifth season after buying out the previous Ford-owned Jaguar squad.
It proved the catalyst for Red Bull to establish itself as a front-runner and from 2010 through 2013 it claimed four successive Constructors’ Championships, with youngster Vettel taking four world titles.
Ferrari lead the all-time Formula 1 wins list for teams with 242.
Mercedes’ emergence as Formula 1’s pacesetter under new engine regulations in 2014 led to a revised order.
After taking 47 wins from 2009 to 2013, including nine in a row to round out the V8 era, it added only 17 to its tally between 2014 and 2020 – and none at all in 2015, its sole season without a victory since its rise as a race-winning force.
That was still a respectable total and included several high moments, such as Daniel Ricciardo’s ever-popular triumphs, Max Verstappen winning on his debut for the team, as well as the first win for the Red Bull-Honda partnership.
Red Bull finally presented Mercedes with a year-long fight in the memorable 2021 campaign, with Verstappen taking the title as Red Bull returned to double-digit wins in a season.
That continued under revised Formula 1 regulations in 2022 as Red Bull recovered from a tardy start to dominate the season, taking 17 victories, its best haul in the course of just a single year.
In 2023, it has won all eight races so far this year and holds a commanding lead in both world championships.
The best on-track race of the day might have been the spirited battle for second between Fernando Alonso (14) and Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso Beats Hamilton in Fun Fight for Second
While Verstappen has dominated in 2023, the battles behind him have frequently been entertaining.
In Canada, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton proved once again that the older guys can still cut it as they fought it out for second place. Both drivers went over the limit, with Alonso escaping a brush with the Turn 4 wall at one stage, as he chased down the faster-starting Hamilton. They came close in the pit lane, with stewards clearing Mercedes of unsafely releasing Hamilton into Alonso’s path, before the Aston Martin driver overtook into the chicane.
Alonso eventually put some breathing room between himself and Hamilton as they came home second and third respectively.
“It was a battle with the Mercedes, and Lewis was pushing all the race,” said Alonso. “I didn’t have one lap where I could relax a little bit, so it was an amazing battle. At the beginning I had a little bit more pace, and at the end I think Lewis had a little bit more pace. It was tough, a very demanding race, all 70 laps of qualifying today.”
Hamilton added that “to have this consistency and to be up on the podium once again here is fantastic. It’s quite an honor to be up on the podium with two other world champions. We didn’t quite have the pace today to challenge for more. We knew this wouldn’t be our strongest circuit though as we struggle in the low-speed corners in particular. We’ve still got a lot of work to do to add more performance and efficiency. We are slowly chipping away at those ahead though. I do believe we will get there at some stage and we are going in the right direction.”
Sergio Perez, once thought to be a possible title contender, is now a distant 69 points pack in the standings to teammate Max Verstatppen.
Perez Messes Up in Qualifying Again
Sergio Perez conceded earlier in the year that he could not afford slip-ups and had to minimize the damage on his bad days considering the superiority of the Red Bull RB19. He has failed to do that so far in 2023.
In Canada, Perez couldn’t get the tires in the right operating window straight out of the box in the second segment of qualifying and was then half a lap too late onto slicks before the rain returned. The result was only 12th on the grid. It marked Perez’s third straight failure to make the Q3 shootout and fourth time overall in 2023, meaning he has a 50% miss rate on even making it into the top half of the starting grid this year. No one is going to compete for a title with those statistics at the best of times, let alone when the driver in the identical sister car is Max Verstappen.
From 12th on the grid, Perez recovered to sixth. But considering the speed of the RB19, second should be the minimum for Perez on every occasion. His deficit to Verstappen is an insurmountable 69 points in the standings.
“It’s how it is, but I think it’s something mentally you have to be strong and I’m strong and I know I will overcome this difficult period of basically two races – because Monaco, yeah I did a mistake, it was a bad weekend, but I think without that we had the pace,” he said. “But it’s a little bit more frustrating not having the pace.”
Alexander Albon scored a season-best seventh for Williams.
Albon Grabs Best Williams Result of the Season
Alexander Albon starred for Williams to pick up its best on-merit result in years.
Albon and Williams avoided the errors that caught out others in qualifying to make Q3 and from ninth place he executed a one-stop strategy to move into seventh spot. Williams has always had strong straight-line speed but Albon still had to defend his position on older tires against a train of ostensibly faster cars.
He accomplished it with aplomb and seventh lifted Williams from last place in the Constructors’ Championship and within striking distance of both Alfa Romeo and Haas.
“I feel like realistically, where we were, we had to do something different to them in front as they were in front to get the points,” said Albon. “We had to stick to the one-stop. And when the guys told me I had, I don’t know what it was, 35, 40 laps, I think they even told me 20 to make me feel better! I looked at the TV screen, and I was like oh my god, I hope that’s not real!”
Williams accelerated the upgrade package in order to ready it for the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which it knew would play to the inherent strengths of the car in the first place.
“I’ve been at the factory the last two weeks quite a lot, in terms of simulator work, but also with (team principal) James (Vowles) and I can’t tell you how much of a parts deficit we were at after Barcelona,” said Albon. “We were on the edge. We decided to fast-track the upgrade into Canada, and the people at the factory, composites, everyone, actually we went, James and I went to meet them and discuss with them (to say) we’ve got to try and get this upgrade ready for Canada.
“It’s going to be our only chance possibly until Monza come along. The guys worked absolutely flat out to get it ready. It’s great to be able to put it on the car. We put a new PU in it this weekend, we put everything into this weekend. Actually [there was] a bit of pressure in some respects coming into this weekend to deliver, and we did.”
Teammate Logan Sargeant was forced to pull out of the race after only a few laps due to a suspected oil leak that was impacting the power unit.
Max Verstappen’s win was his sixth of the F1 season.
Results
F1 Canadian Grand Prix
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 70 laps
- Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +9.570 seconds
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +14.168
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +18.648
- Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +21.540
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +51.028
- Alex Albon, Williams, +1:00.813
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +1:01.692
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1:04.402
- Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo, +1:04.432
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +1:05.101
- Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +1:05.249
- Lando Norris, McLaren, +1:08.363
- Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri, +1:13.423
- Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +1 lap
- Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas, +1 lap
- Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri, +1 lap
- George Russell, Mercedes, +17 laps
- Logan Sargeant, Williams, +64 laps
Updated Driver Standings
- Max Verstappen 195
- Sergio Perez 126
- Fernando Alonso 117
- Lewis Hamilton 102
- Carlos Sainz 68
- George Russell 65
- Charles Leclerc 54
- Lance Stroll 37
- Esteban Ocon 29
- Pierre Gasly 15
- Lando Norris 12
- Alex Albon 7
- Nico Hulkenberg 6
- Oscar Piastri 5
- Valtteri Bottas 5
- Zhou Guanyu 4
- Yuki Tsunoda 2
- Kevin Magnussen 2
- Nyck de Vries 0
- Logan Sargeant 0
Constructors’ Standings
- Red Bull 321
- Mercedes 167
- Aston Martin 154
- Ferrari 122
- Alpine 44
- McLaren 17
- Alfa Romeo 9
- Haas 8
- Williams 7
- AlphaTauri 2
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