2023 Canadian Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 Canadian Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix du Canada 2023**) is the eighth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the weekend of June 16 to June 18, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship with 170 points, 53 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 71 from Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 287 points, lead the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes by 135 points and Aston Martin by 153 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Practices

The weekend is scheduled to have three practice sessions, two on June 16, 2023 and one on June 17, 2023. The first practice session started at 13:30 local time (UTC−4), but was abandoned few minutes of running after a CCTV failure at the venue. The session was initially stopped to recover the Alpine car of Pierre Gasly, which had stopped on track. Ultimately only twelve drivers set a time in the much curtailed first session with Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo fastest ahead of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in the two Aston Martin cars. The FIA also announced the intention to commence the second practice session at 16:30 local time (UTC−4) rather than the originallly planned time of 17:00 (UTC−4), also extending the length of the session from the planned 60 minutes to 90 minutes in order to give teams a chance to make up for some of the lost running in the first session.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualifying was held on 17 June 2023, at 16:00 local time (UTC−4).

Rain, initially reported by Logan Sargeant during Q1, befell the second and third session.

Only three minutes after Q1 began, Zhou Guanyu reported an issue with his Ferrari power unit and caused a red flag with a stranded and powerless car on track. However, during the red flag period, his car was able to restart and he went back into the pits. However, he did not set a further time, so he started at the back of the grid. Max Verstappen topped Q1 ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, with Carlos Sainz Jr. impeding Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly, the latter who was shown to be furious over the team radio. His impeding resulted in a three-place drop for the Ferrari driver. Gasly joined Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda, teammate Nyck de Vries and Sargeant as the drivers all out of Q1.

It was during Q2 that the rain started to fall. As such, drivers used intermediate tyres; Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll made contact with the wall, and joined Charles Leclerc, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas as the drivers out of Q2. Alexander Albon set the fastest lap of the session, but could not set a time in Q3. Hamilton set a time for 10th.

Verstappen began Q3 with a slide off the final corner, with Oscar Piastri going fully off the exit of turn 6 and crashing out. This resulted in the second red flag of the day as Nico Hülkenberg set a time as it went out. The session was soon resumed. Before penalties, Hülkenberg's time for second place gave Haas its second-highest qualification result after Magnussen's pole at the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix. He was behind polesitter Verstappen and ahead of Alonso. Hülkenberg was surprised with his performance, saying that it "comes a bit unexpected," but expected a challenge during the race.

Hülkenberg was summoned to the stewards for a red flag infraction, dropping him three places; Tsunoda and Stroll were also given three-place drops for impeding.

## Race

### Race Report

The race was held on 18 June 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC−4).

As the race began, polesitter Max Verstappen was challenged by Lewis Hamilton as the cars went into the first corner. Soon, Verstappen would create a lead which he would keep throughout the 70 laps ran during the race. Meanwhile, Esteban Ocon overtook Nico Hülkenberg, while Hülkenberg's teammate Kevin Magnussen brushed the wall and continued on. Logan Sargeant retired from the race, his first retirement of the season. This resulted in a brief virtual safety car period, allowing the recovery of the stranded Williams car. Soon, George Russell hit the wall on turn nine, this time with a full safety car period. All drivers, including Russell, who received a new front wing and repairs to his car, went into the pit lane for their stops. The only drivers who did not stop were the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sainz. During this period, a close call between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso was reported, and Lando Norris for an unsafe release. All three drivers were investigated with no further action taken, though Norris was given a five-second penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour; he had slowed down during the safety car period.

As the safety car period ended, Verstappen sped ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso unable to fight the two. Alonso would regain second place. A brief yellow flag was observed for a collision between Magnussen and Nyck de Vries. Alexander Albon, having set the hards on his earlier stop, began to hold up Russell, Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Norris behind him as Russell retired from eighth place and Norris went for Bottas on the final corner, sending him up to ninth.

Verstappen won the race, giving Red Bull its 100th Formula One victory; his teammate Sergio Pérez on sixth position set the fastest lap. Verstappen commented on his team's 100th win, "It is amazing, I never expected to be on these kind of numbers myself as well, so we keep enjoying it and we keep working hard but this is another great day." In addition, his victory meant Verstappen has now matched three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna's number of victories at 41.

## Notes

1. ↑ Nico Hülkenberg received a three-place grid penalty for a red flag infringement in qualifying.
2. ↑ Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in qualifying.
3. ↑ Lance Stroll received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Esteban Ocon in qualifying.
4. ↑ Yuki Tsunoda received a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hülkenberg in qualifying.
5. ↑ As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.
6. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
7. ↑ Lando Norris finished 9th, but he received a five-second time penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour.