Charles Leclerc was forced to fight back from a grid penalty due to a Ferrari engine change after his retirement in the Azerbaijan GP and finished fifth in Canada, while Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez crashed in qualifying and then suffered his own mechanical heartache in the race.
But Verstappen didn’t have a straightforward path to his 26th career F1 triumph, surpassing both Jim Clark and Niki Lauda on the all-time wins list, as the Dutch driver fended off late pressure from Carlos Sainz.
