Canadian GP Proves Lando Norris Is Max Verstappen’s Main Rival In 2024

Reports of Max Verstappen’s and Red Bull’s demise were, it would appear, if not exaggerated certainly premature.

The three-time world champion arrived in Canada on the back of one win in the last three races, a veritable lean spell for a man who won 19 of the 22 races on the calendar last season.

The suggestion Red Bull’s stranglehold on Formula 1 could at long last be waning were strengthened on Saturday, when George Russell put his Mercedes on pole position ahead of Verstappen.

Having started from the front of the grid in eight consecutive races, pole has now eluded the Dutchman in both Monaco and Montreal - a glimmer of hope for rivals starved of success.

But, as it has almost always been the case over the past two seasons, ultimately Verstappen had the last laugh as he secured his sixth win of the season and his third consecutive triumph on Notre Dame Island.

The Dutchman now leads Charles Leclerc by 56 points after the Monegasque followed victory on home soil with a dismal weekend in Canada, which ended in a double retirement for Ferrari.

Lando Norris, second in Montreal, is seven points further back but consolidated his position as arguably Verstappen’s most serious rival this year and the in-form driver at this stage of the season.

The Briton claimed his maiden Formula 1 win in Miami last month and could have secured a second had McLaren acted more decisively.

Having qualified third just 0.021 seconds behind Russell on Saturday, Norris showed some fearsome pace in the early stages, with the track drying out following a downpour that had left it sodden just before the start.

Norris passed Verstappen and then leapfrogged Russell at the final chicane to take the lead after 21 laps, before circumstances conspired against him.

Five laps later, with the Briton well clear of his rivals, the safety car was deployed after Logan Sergeant had spun at Turn 4 and crashed into the wall as a result.

While Verstappen and Rusell stopped for for fresh tyres, McLaren kept Norris out for two more laps. It proved to be the wrong call, as the safety car picked him up and slowed him down.

By the time he remerged from his pit stop, Norris found himself behind Verstappen and Russell. Then, as with the track rapidly drying, McLaren left Norris out on intermediate tyres as his closest rivals pitted for slick tyres instead.

Again, it proved to be a costly mistake, as the Briton again rejoined the race in third place and could not catch Verstappen in a tense finale.

McLaren have closed the gap on Red Bull

“Yes, we should have won the race today and we didn’t,” a frustrated Norris said after the race.

“Frustrating, we had the pace. We should have won today, simple as that.

“We didn’t do a good enough job as a team to box when we should have done and not get stuck behind the safety car.”

Norris’ frustration speaks volumes for how far McLaren have come in closing the gap to Red Bull.

Excluding his win in Miami, the second place in Canada was Norris’ fourth podium of the season in nine races, compared with seven in the whole of last year.

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri, meanwhile, finished fifth. The young Australian has just one podium to his name this season, but has scored points in every race bar Miami - where he clinched points in the sprint race - and has finished fourth on three occasions.

McLaren, in short, are displaying the kind of consistency and competitiveness of a top team and are Red Bull’s most credible challengers.

Ferrari’s weekend to forget

Ferrari would dearly love to claim that mantle for themselves, but the Montreal weekend provided the most brutal of comedowns for a team still high on Leclerc’s triumph in Monaco two weeks ago.

On the circuit named after the late Gilles Villeneuve - a mythical figure for Formula 1 fans and even more so for the supporters of the Scuderia - Ferrari qualified 10th and 11th on Saturday.

It got worse on race day, as Leclerc’s engine troubled him for 43 laps before he was eventually forced to retire.

His teammate Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, had just fought his way back into the top-10 when he spun out of the race.

On this showing Ferrari will need to much better to trouble McLaren, let alone Red Bull, which increasingly resembles a one-man band.

Having just signed a new deal with the team, Sergio Perez had a weekend to forget, qualifying 16th and then clattering into the Turn 6 barriers on Lap 53.

The Mexican is now without a point in the past two races, but Ferrari’s double retirement on Sunday meant Red Bull’s lead in the constructor championship increased to 49 points.

Verstappen, as ever, remains Formula 1’s great constant but the gap is closing.