6 Winners and 5 Losers from the Canadian Grand Prix – Who mastered the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?

Max Verstappen’s title defence gathered more speed in Montreal as the Red Bull driver clinched a fifth win in six races – but F1’s return to Canada for the first time since 2019 didn’t go so well for everyone. We’ve picked out six winners and five losers from the Canadian Grand Prix…

Winner: Max Verstappen

This was a near faultless weekend for Max Verstappen, the Dutchman delivering a sublime qualifying performance to take pole position and then absorbing pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to clinch victory.

It was his 26th career win – passing greats Jim Clark and Niki Lauda to move into ninth on the all-time win list –and his first triumph in Montreal. That win puts him an impressive 46 points clear at the summit of the drivers’ standings.

READ MORE: ‘It was proper racing’ says Verstappen after withstanding Sainz assault to extend title lead in Montreal

Loser: Sergio Perez

While his Red Bull team mate flourished, Sergio Perez had – as he put it – a “weekend to forget”. First he crashed in qualifying, then he retired from the race with a gearbox problem.

That ended a run of seven straight races in the points (which included three successive top-two finishes) and means Red Bull have now had more mechanical retirements this season than Ferrari (4-3).

Winner: Lewis Hamilton

After a frustrating time in Friday practice, Lewis Hamilton’s mood improved dramatically as he qualified encouragingly in fourth. The seven-time world champion then raced strongly on Sunday, with the Mercedes showing an improved turn of pace.

READ MORE: Hamilton says there’s ‘more to come’ after claiming first podium since Bahrain in Canada

He scored his second podium of the season and first since the season opener in Bahrain. It was his fifth score on the bounce and the first time he had beaten George Russell in eight races.

Losers: Haas

Haas equalled their best-ever qualifying performance with fifth and sixth in Canada, with Kevin Magnussen edging out team mate Mick Schumacher. But the race did not go to plan.

Magnussen was given the black and orange flag to mandate a pit stop to fix minor front wing damage caused by contact with Hamilton at the start, dropping him to the back of the pack. Schumacher was in good shape for points before a power unit issue forced a DNF. That’s now five races without points for Haas.

READ MORE: What the teams said – Race day in Canada

Winner: Zhou Guanyu

Zhou Guanyu arrived in Canada on the back of seven straight races without points, having been particularly unlucky with reliability in recent races.

But he stopped the rot in Montreal, qualifying in the top 10 and showing strong race pace throughout to finish ninth – which became eighth when Fernando Alonso was penalised post-race – to secure his best finish in F1.

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda had an uphill battle ahead of him when AlphaTauri changed a host of engine components that triggered penalties for a back of the grid start.

The Japanese driver made very good progress through the field to put him within a shout of the top 10, only to crash on exiting the pits for his third straight race without points.

MONDAY MORNING DEBRIEF: How did Mercedes go from an 'undriveable' car to the podium in Canada?

Winner: Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon was a little disappointed with qualifying seventh, given his team mate Alonso was on the front row in second, but he made up for it in the race.

The Frenchman rose up to sixth and then tactically gave Alonso behind DRS to help his team mate fend off Valtteri Bottas. Sixth equals his best finish of the season and pushes him 21 points clear of Alonso in the drivers’ championship.

Loser: Fernando Alonso

Alonso was visibly despondent after the race, having failed to convert his best grid slot in a decade into a podium. The Virtual Safety Cars came at the wrong times for him, while an engine issue from Lap 20 meant he lost a bunch of time of the straights.

He was then handed a five-second time penalty for weaving on the straights in defence of Bottas, which dropped him two places to ninth – although it was at least his fourth successive points finish.

READ MORE: Alonso drops from P7 to P9 after being hit with five-second time penalty in Montreal

Winner: Charles Leclerc

Fifth place from 19th on the grid would be a solid recovery for most drivers, but Charles Leclerc was left wanting more. The Monegasque knew it would be a tough weekend when he took engine penalties that landed him with a back of the grid start.

He struggled to cut his way through the field – and a slow pit stop meant he fell back into traffic and lost more time. But while he lost 15 points to title rival Verstappen, seeing the chequered flag after his Baku retirement was important.

READ MORE: Leclerc calls Canadian GP ‘super-frustrating’ despite recovering from back row to P5

Losers: McLaren

McLaren leave Montreal disappointed after they lacked performance, had reliability issues and suffered an operational issue in the double-stacked pit stop during the Virtual Safety Car.

Daniel Ricciardo dropped out of the points to finish 11th, while his team mate Lando Norris was down in 15th. It was the first time they had failed to score with either car since Miami.

READ MORE: Sainz proud to be 'fastest on track for first time this year' despite missing out on first victory in Canada

Winner: Canadian Grand Prix

You’d be hard pressed to find someone at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve who wasn’t excited to be back after a three-year hiatus – and, as ever, it delivered a fantastic atmosphere.

Around 338,000 people attended over the course of the weekend. The grandstands were packed, fans cheered the drivers as they drove in each day and the circuit delivered a cracking qualifying – with the help of some rain – and an enthralling Grand Prix. It was good to be back.

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from an exciting race in Montreal, as Verstappen holds off Sainz to seal victory