MONTREAL: Max Verstappen returned to form and completed a hat-trick of Canadian Grand Prix wins on Sunday when he triumphed for Red Bull in a thrilling, tactical and incident-filled race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“Pretty crazy race,” said the Dutchman at the finish. “A lot happening. We stayed calm.”
The series leader and three-time champion rode his luck through changing wet and dry conditions and two safety car interventions to win by 3.879 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton came home fourth, after being passed by Russell in the closing laps. Oscar Piastri was fourth in the second McLaren ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
It was a 60th career victory for Verstappen and his 50th from the last 75 races.
Local hope Lance Stroll was seventh in the second Aston Martin ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
“What a race guys,” Verstappen told his team on the radio. “Not easy, but we did it! A great job by everyone. We made all the right calls. I enjoyed that one.”
“A lot of fun,” said Norris, whose result together with Piastri, brought McLaren their first points in Canada since 2014 on the 56th anniversary of the team’s first win, with Bruce McLaren, at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix.
“An ugly race on my behalf and I am sorry for that,” Russell said, conceding he was disappointed not to convert his pole position into victory.
Five cars, including both Ferraris and both Williams, failed to finish.
On a day of showers, only the two Haas cars chose full wet tires to start as Russell, on intermediates, pulled clear of Verstappen. The entire field slithered through the opening laps. Hamilton passed Ricciardo to sixth.
When the sun returned, a dry line emerged and lap times tumbled, Russell and Verstappen swapping fastest laps at the front, nearly eight seconds clear of Norris.
Russell resisted Verstappen before the champion ran wide at turn two and fell within Norris’s reach, the McLaren man passing on lap 20, using Drag Reduction System (DRS) to sweep by. He then passed Russell on lap 21.
Behind the top four, Alonso in fifth resisted Hamilton before Sargeant crashed his Williams, prompting a safety car intervention. Norris stayed out, but Verstappen, Russell and Piastri pitted for inters, as did Alonso and Hamilton.
As the marshals struggled to remove Sargeant’s car, Norris pitted from the lead and re-joined third behind Verstappen and Russell, a harsh setback for the McLaren man.
“The safety car helped me in Miami but now it held me. It happens that’s racing,” Norris who enjoyed good fortune on the way to his maiden win in May, said after the race.
The race resumed on lap 30 with Leclerc gambling on hard tires, but as rain arrived again he dropped to 19th. Alonso then ran off and Hamilton surged to fifth, just behind Piastri.
As the track dried, Leclerc pitted again, before retiring.
As the other leaders pitted, Norris staying out to pad his lead and build an ‘over-cut’ before pitting on lap 47.
He took mediums, but as he re-joined , Verstappen speared through.
“The ride is bad, like a locked suspension,” grumbled the Dutchman with 20 laps to go in dry conditions. “I can’t touch any kerbs, it almost knocks me out.”
Another crash on lap 54 brought out a second safety car, Albon and a spinning Carlos Sainz tangling after Perez had smashed into the barriers and broken his rear wing.
Mercedes promptly pitted both cars, Russell for mediums and Hamilton for hards. They were fourth and fifth behind Verstappen and the two McLarens when racing resumed and the late drama unfolded.
Max Verstappen wins ‘crazy’ rain-hit Canadian Grand Prix
https://arab.news/2tsm5
Max Verstappen wins ‘crazy’ rain-hit Canadian Grand Prix
- The series leader and three-time champion rode his luck through changing wet and dry conditions
Australia depth shows up England’s Ashes ‘failures’
SYDNEY: A well-drilled Australia are on the cusp of retaining the Ashes after just six days of cricket — not bad for a team lambasted by England great Stuart Broad before the series began as its weakest since 2010.
The hosts take a 2-0 lead into the third Test at Adelaide on December 17 needing only a draw to keep the famous urn and pile more humiliation on Ben Stokes’s tourists.
Australia have put themselves on the brink despite missing injured pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, with the performances of stand-ins Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett a reflection of their depth.
“The great and the healthiest thing for Australian cricket right now is that they’ve got almost a second XI or an Australia ‘A’ side that could come in and play some outstanding cricket too,” said former Australia Test quick Brett Lee.
“The guys who have had their opportunity, the Doggetts and the Nesers, have stood up. They’ve taken their opportunity and taken it with both hands, which is brilliant.”
The strength of the country’s talent pool was driven home by Australia ‘A’ crushing England’s second-tier side by an innings and 127 runs at Allan Border Field while Stokes’s men were being thrashed down the road in the second Test at the Gabba.
Young prospects Fergus O’Neill, Cooper Connolly and Campbell Kellaway stood out, while discarded Test batsman Nathan McSweeney fired a double-century reminder to selectors.
It is a far cry from the pre-Ashes war-of-words where England were hyped as having their best chance in a generation to win a series in Australia, with seamer Broad’s comments coming back to haunt him.
“It’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won and it’s the best English team since 2010,” said Broad, who retired in 2023 and is now working as a pundit.
“It’s actually not an opinion, it’s fact.”
At the time, he pointed to questions over the make-up of Australia’s batting line-up and a perceived lack of bowling depth.
Both have been blown out of the water.
On the go
Australia went into the first Test in Perth dogged by uncertainty, with the uncapped Jake Weatherald as Usman Khawaja’s sixth opening partner since David Warner retired nearly two years ago.
In a quirk of fate, Khawaja was unable to bat in the first innings because of back spasms with Marnus Labuschagne replacing him.
But it was when he pulled out again in the second innings and Travis Head stepped up that the tide turned on England with his stunning 69-ball match-winning century.
“Ever since Travis Head stuck his hand up to open when Khawaja got hurt in Perth, Australia have looked like a different team,” said Australian legend Glenn McGrath.
Labuschagne said Head and Weatherald’s confidence trickled down to the lower order in Brisbane, where himself, Steve Smith and Alex Carey all blasted quick-fire half centuries.
It leaves selectors with a dilemma for the third Test: recall now-fit 85-Test veteran Khawaja or persist with Weatherald and Head, whose home ground is Adelaide.
Smith, who stood in for Cummins as skipper in the first two Tests, attributed Australia’s success so far to being able to adapt “in real time.”
“We play ‘live’. We adapt on the go, instead of getting back in the sheds and going, ‘We should have done this’,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s just playing the long game. I think we’ve just adapted so well the last couple of years, and played in real time, I suppose.”
For former Australia captain Greg Chappell, Australia’s success has been as much about England’s failures.
While their aggressive “Bazball” approach might be suited to flat English pitches and small grounds, it has been brutally exposed by the bigger boundaries and demanding conditions in Australia.
“The failure that has ensued across the first two Tests is a whole-of-system one, a catastrophic breakdown of both the game plan and its execution,” he wrote in a column.
“While the players have been the immediate culprits, the off-field leaders — Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes — are equally responsible for not recognizing the different challenges presented by Test cricket in Australia.”
