Formula One Canadian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen holds off Carlos Sainz for sixth win

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen leads the pack at the Canadian Grand Prix. Photo / AP

Max Verstappen has won a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix for his sixth victory of the Formula One season.

Verstappen has further extended his championship lead after he narrowly edged out Ferrari's Carlos Sainz in a thrilling final lap battle.

Sainz was less than 0.5 seconds behind the reigning world champion in the final laps, but couldn't find a way to get through.

Verstappen had to do it tough at times as he dropped down the standings during the pit stop mayhem.

He also raged at his own team in a heated radio message after Lewis Hamilton came out ahead of him when he exited the pits for the second time.

🏁 TOP 10 (LAP 70/70) 🏁

Verstappen
Sainz
Hamilton
Russell
Leclerc
Ocon
Alonso
Bottas
Zhou
Stroll#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/L8eWII0lIw

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 19, 2022

Verstappen raged on his team radio: "Why didn't you make sure I f***ing end up in front".

His team engineer responded: "We didn't have the pace".

The Dutch driver was singing a different tune when he crossed the line to win a dramatic race.

Sainz finished second and Hamilton finished third.

There was huge early drama in the opening laps as Verstappen held off Fernando Alonso into the opening turn to take the race lead.

The reigning world champion started from pole position after he was six-tenths of a second faster than the rest of the field in qualifying.

The drama continued with a series of cruel DNFs in the early laps as the leaderboard went berserk with changes at the front of the field.

Daniel Ricciardo settled into the middle of the field in the early laps after he had a mini-win in qualifying, making Q3 and finishing ahead of his McLaren teammate Norris for the second time this season.

However, it all went wrong from there as a pit stop blunder dropped him out of contention. He was running tenth before being passed by Lance Stroll. Neither McLaren driver picked up a championship point.
More to come...