F1 Takeaways: Verstappen earns hat trick at wet and wild Canadian Grand Prix

Holy moly, indeed. Red Bull's Max Verstappen scored a hat trick in Montreal, winning his third consecutive Canadian Grand Prix during a thrilling Sunday drive.

Verstappen's previous pair of victories at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were won from pole position and were opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of finishes. The Dutch driver fended off Carlos Sainz by less than a second in 2022 and cruised with a nearly 10-second advantage over Fernando Alonso in 2023.

This one was somewhere in the middle, with Verstappen crossing the line about four seconds ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris. Pole-sitter George Russell pipped Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton with only a couple laps remaining to grab third place and the final spot on the podium.

Russell, who had more than one "holy moly" moment during the weekend, denied Verstappen a third straight start on pole position at the track in dramatic fashion. Both drivers posted identical times, right down to a thousandth of a second, but Russell was first past the post and remained ahead on the chart.

Clear skies emerged following a wet and wild start and Verstappen dropped from second to third. Norris breezed by with DRS on lap 20 — definitely an unfamiliar sight this season — but the three-time reigning world champion went to work to earn his sixth win of the season and 60th of his career.

Norris caught Russell for the lead on the following lap, but while he was the benefactor of a timely safety car en route to his first career victory last month in Miami, luck rolled the other way this time for the British driver. Norris was caught out at the wrong spot after Logan Sargeant crashed to bring out the safety car as Verstappen and Russell were able to pit on lap 26. By the time Norris made his way back around for his stop, Verstappen and Russell erased the advantage and were ahead of the McLaren when he returned to the track.

Norris opted for the overcut pit strategy when he had to stop again on lap 48, and briefly assumed the lead when he rejoined the track. Emphasis on briefly, as Norris immediately fish-tailed and Verstappen jumped back ahead.

Verstappen wasn't challenged again and although he said on the radio it felt “like a locked suspension again,” whatever issues he was experiencing with his car weren't enough to rain on his parade.

With Charles Leclerc retiring from the race, Verstappen extended his lead in the championship over the Ferrari driver to a comfortable 56 points.

SILVER LINING FOR NORRIS?

You win some, you lose some. Norris looked like he was in control when he took the lead from Russell, but then the safety car came out and shuffled the deck.

Norris was actually doing too good of a job as had he been a bit slower he might have been able to make it in and out of the pits ahead of his rivals.

"That’s what it is," Norris said, according to formula1.com. "It helped me out in Miami, so I’m not going to be the one to complain. It happens, that’s racing sometimes."

Still, it was the fourth top-two finish in the past five races for Norris, who is third in the standings and cut the gap to Leclerc down to seven points.

WHAT ABOUT GEORGE?

It was a three-horse race for the final spot on the podium, with both Mercedes drivers plus McLaren's Oscar Piastri in the mix.

Russell dropped to fifth at one point as he lost control on more than one occassion and banged into Piastri's car that was chalked up as a racing incident with no further action.

Hamilton has won a record-tying seven times in Montreal and just when it was looking like he would earn his first podium of the season, Russell swooped in on lap 68 amid some likely nervous moments from their crew.

Instead, it was Russell who picked up his first podium of 2024.

Although Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 it was "one of the worst races I've ever driven," he still finished a season-best fourth place and set the fastest lap to earn a bonus point.

Mercedes have had a slow start, by their lofty standards at least, but now appear more like a team ready to contend.

HEROES TO ZEROES

From a double podium finish in Monte Carlo to a double DNF in Montreal, it was a disastrous weekend for Ferrari.

Things were bad enough in qualifying: Leclerc and Sainz struggled for grip, missed the cut for Q3 and had to start 11th and 12th, respectively. It only got worse during the actual race.

Leclerc, fresh off of winning his home Monaco GP, experienced engine problems that appeared to have been sorted out following a lengthy pit stop, albeit dropping him to the back of the pack, but it wasn't long until he was told to shut it down.

It was not only the first time Leclerc did not finish a race this season, it was also the first time he didn't finish within the top four.

Misery loves company and Sainz bowed out after he went for a spin on lap 54 and damaged his rear wing when he collected innocent bystander Alex Albon of Williams.

Ferrari entered the weekend 24 points back of Red Bull for the lead in the constructors' standings and were primed to close in on a track that best suited their cars. Instead, Ferrari ended up empty-handed and are now 49 points back of the championship.

REBOUND FOR ASTON MARTIN

Fernando Alonso had failed to get out of the first session of qualifying during the previous two grands prix, but the two-time world champion made it all the way to the final stint this time, qualifying sixth with Aston Martin teammate (and Montreal's own) Lance Stroll in ninth.

Both drivers converted their strong starting positions into points with Alonso holding steady to finish sixth and Stroll moving up into seventh — getting by the RB's of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda — for his best result on home soil.

A double-points finish was precisely what Aston Martin needed to get back on track as the series now heads to Alonso's home race in Spain.

"I'm pleased Lance was able to get a solid result in front of the Canadian fans," Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said in a team release. "It has been a better weekend for us as we learn more about recent upgrades and extract more performance from the AMR24. Our focus now shifts to Barcelona and Fernando's home grand prix but we need to keep unlocking more pace to challenge our closest competitors."

RICCIARDO DOES HIS TALKING ON THE TRACK

For anyone who thought Ricciardo had left, he never left. Former world champion and Canadian racing icon Jacques Villeneuve joined Sky Sports' F1 commentary team this weekend and pulled no punches when he questioned why Ricciardo was still in F1.

Ricciardo responded on the track by qualifying fifth — less than two-tenths of a second behind Russell and Verstappen — and responded off the track saying: “I think he's hit his head a few too many times, I don't know if he plays ice hockey or something." Ouch.

Although Ricciardo ended up in eighth, he received a five-second penalty for a false start, it was still his first points finish in a grand prix this season. Ricciardo added four points to the five he earned from the Miami sprint and is now 12th in the standings — finally moving ahead of Ollie Bearman. Ferrari's reserve driver is still hanging in there in 13th with the six points he scored while filling in for Sainz during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

While RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda had the one-year option on his contract picked up Saturday, Ricciardo remains a pending unrestricted free agent. More weekends like this one will prove he does still belong in F1, much to Villeneuve's chagrin.

GROUNDHOG DAY FOR PEREZ

Speaking of contract renewals, Sergio Perez was rewarded with a two-year extension and that's about the only positive thing to say about his week. Perez was eliminated in the first session of qualifying for the second race in a row and was forced to start way back in 16th once again.

The parallels continue as Perez posted a second straight DNF, although this time he had no one to blame but himself, unlike in Monaco where he came into contact with Kevin Magnussen.

Perez spun out on the wet track and backed into the barriers on lap 53, damaging his rear wing, as he limped to the pits to avoid bringing out the safety car and potentially ruining Verstappen's race. (As it turned out, Perez wasn't the only one who treated the track like a slip 'n' slide as shortly thereafter Sainz had his accident as well.)

While it was Verstappen who narrowly missed hitting a groundhog on the track, it might be feeling like "Groundhog Day" for Perez. It was around this time last year when he started to show a dip in form and his June gloom appears to have returned.

MAXIMUM EFFORT FOR ALPINE

Alpine have taken their lumps this season, so props to them for delivering their first double-points finish of the season with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finishing ninth and 10th, respectively.

Ocon had an interesting race as he qualified 18th, dropped to 20th due to his grid penalty from Monaco (when he crashed into Gasly), was promoted back to 18th when Sauber's Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu had changes made to their cars and were forced to start from the pit lane, and then managed to finish in the points. Did you get all that?

Of course there was controversy as Ocon was ahead of Gasly, but the team told him to trade places near the end of the race.

Alpine more than doubled their points total (from two to five, the math checks out) and jumped Williams for eighth place in the constructors' standings.

Ocon is currently out of a job for next season with the team announcing they'll be parting ways, but his efforts from here on out will help decide if there's a spot somewhere else on the grid for him.