MONTREAL (Reuters) - Red Bull’s Max Verstappen held off Carlos Sainz’s charging Ferrari to win the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday and surge 46 points clear in the Formula One world championship after his 150th race.
The 24-year-old Dutch driver took his 26th career win 0.9 of a second ahead of Spaniard Sainz,who closed the gap and set up a thrilling final chase thanks to a safety car deployment.
Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton completed the podium for Mercedes in a remarkable turnaround for the Briton, who had dismissed his bouncing car as undriveable only days earlier.
Sainz collected the bonus point for fastest lap as the Italian team trimmed the gap to runaway leaders Red Bull in the constructors’ championship to 76 points from a previous 80.
“It was really exciting at the end. I was giving it everything I had and, of course, Carlos was doing the same,” said Verstappen after his sixth win of the season and Red Bull’s sixth in succession.
“I could see he was pushing and charging, but when you’re on the DRS (drag reduction system) it’s a lot easier to charge. The last few laps were a lot of fun.”
The victory was his first in Canada.
Sainz, who had fresher tyres than Verstappen, said he had tried everything he could to end his long wait for a first win at a circuit named after Canada’s late Ferrari great Gilles Villeneuve.
“We were very, very close to winning today. I will take the positives and keep trying in the next one,” he added.