Sainz finishes second in Canada after a very tight race that Verstappen wins

Unlike what Ferrari has done, Red Bull is taking advantage of the sweet moment that both the energetic team and Max Verstappen, the mainstay of its project in Formula 1, are going through. The red buffalo team knew how to grit its teeth at the beginning of course, when he had to suffer, and then, once the youth problems of his car were overcome, chain a scandalous streak and catch some air at the head of the World Cup.

The pull given by the Austrian brand has also coincided with the collapse of Ferrari.

has condemned Charles Leclerc, his main bet to recover a title that he has not celebrated since 2007 (Kimi Raikkonen), riddled him with breakdowns and strategic failures, the worst possible combination to stand up to a competitive animal like Verstappen .

In a race that had everything, the reigning champion showed once again in Canada that there is no driver on the grid more competitive than him or car sharper than his.

Despite not enjoying a race as placid as some of the previous ones, the Dutchman and his troop were the fastest and also the smartest, perfectly reading the scene, the tremendous degradation of the tires and the irruption of the safety car, something that can be taken almost for granted in the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, a very fast track and embraced by walls, one of those tracks that does not forgive.

He has 175 points in the drivers' standings, ahead of Checo Pérez (129) and Charles Leclerc (126).

As usual, Verstappen was aggressive at the start, he managed wonderfully the air that was growing behind him between him and Fernando Alonso.

Half way through he regained ground and the lead lost after his first (and early) visit to the garages (Lap 9), and in the final 15 laps, when the

reinvigorated Carlos Sainz's options, he was undeterred despite the harassment to which the man from Madrid subjected him, who squeezed him as much as he could but who at no time was in a position to put the nose of his car.

The Spanish did exactly what he had to do;

that is, push his former teammate to the limit to force him to make a mistake that never came.

This victory is the sixth of nine possible for Verstappen, who puts the direct and already has a cushion of almost two grand prizes ahead of the general points table over Checo Pérez, his workshop neighbor, who left the first change (eighth lap) after breaking the engine.

Sainz's second place allows him to break the negative inertia that led him to leave Baku with a donut.

Lewis Hamilton climbed back into the box three months after having done it in Bahrain, at the first stop on the calendar, while Alonso crossed the finish line in seventh.

"I pushed as hard as the car gave and I didn't leave a millimeter when I hit the wall, but we lacked that bit of pace that would have allowed me to overtake Max," agreed Sainz after accumulating his fifth podium of the season.

The good news for the

is that the Ferrari is undeniably fast, something that was amply proven in Montreal.

Maranello must now be asked not to break.

Otherwise, it will be difficult for the fight between the two main forces of this 2022 to last as long as the fans would like.

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