George Russell punishes Lewis Hamilton as Max Verstappen wins dramatic Canadian Grand Prix
George Russell pipped Lewis Hamilton to a podium
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Max Verstappen held off the challenge from McLaren and Mercedes to win what turned out to be an entertaining Canadian Grand Prix.
Torrential rain hit the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve before the race on Sunday with the changing weather conditions always set to wreak havoc.
There was drama early on with the two Haas cars taking a gamble on the extreme wet compound and it paid off massively as they propelled up the grid.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Russell were all jostling for position on track with little to separate them.
George Russell pipped Lewis Hamilton to a podium
GETTY
As the track began to dry out, the lead of the race continued to change hands with multiple Safety Car periods.
Verstappen held the advantage at the halfway stage, but there was still plenty of battles going on behind him with Hamilton bringing himself into play.
The seven-time world champion was the first to take the game on lap 44 in pitting for slick tyres with Piastri the first to react.
Norris was the only driver to stay out for a few more laps and it looked at one stage as though it was going to pay off as he momentarily came out in front of Verstappen, but the Dutchman managed to regain the lead immediately.
The Red Bull driver managed to extend his lead over the chasing pack in the latter stages with those behind him making costly errors at times.
Russell made a huge error on lap 51 that allowed Norris to go through into second place with another Safety Car being deployed a few laps later following a collision between Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
Both Mercedes cars pitted for fresh tyres at that stage to give them the extra speed for the final 10 laps and Russell appeared to have made another error on lap 64 when he was forced to take evasive action at the final chicane while trying a move on Piastri.
That allowed Hamilton through to take third, putting him on course for his first podium finish of the season.
Max Verstappen extended his lead at the top of the championship
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However, Russell managed to regain his lead over Hamilton in the penultimate lap before holding off the 39-year-old in a thrilling final battle.
Norris finished second as Verstappen was able to stay out of the drama and secure his sixth win of the season.
The Red Bull driver now extends his lead at the top of the championship over Charles Leclerc to 56 points.
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George Russell secured his first podium of the season
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Ferrari had a weekend to forget starting with a disappointing qualifying on Saturday which saw both cars fail to make it through to Q3.
Things went from bad to worse on Sunday as Leclerc had an engine issue that ultimately saw him retire the car.
And Sainz was unable to finish the race following his crash with Albon.
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