Canadian Grand Prix - F1 AS IT HAPPENED: Max Verstappen starts on pole in Montreal

Thank you very much for keeping up with today's race with Mail Sport. We all wondered if anyone would catch Max Verstappen, and the answer in Montreal was no. 

The next race is in Red Bull's Austria in two weeks time - will anyone be able to eat into the dominance shown by the constructor?

Keep an eye out for the fallout from the race today, and any other F1 news in the next fortnight. Thanks for reading. Have a great day. Goodbye. 

'It's been a great weekend for us, we're slowly chipping away,' Hamilton said. 'We're going in the right direction.' The Brit also paid tribute to the Canadian fans.

Three World Champions on the podium yet again. 

Fernando Alonso's 104th podium in his F1 career, and he was able to overtake Hamilton after losing second place. He called it a 'demanding race'. 

Verstappen said he was 'very happy' to get the 100th win for Red Bull in their career. 'I never expected to be on these kind of numbers myself,' he says. He'll definitely keep adding to them if today's performance is anything to go by. 

He secured 28% of the fan vote, as he ran a superb race to keep hold of seventh spot. 

Lando Norris drops to 13th with his five second penalty enforced. 

1, Versappen

2. Alonso

3. Hamilton

4. Leclerc

5. Sainz

6. Perez

7. Albon

8. Ocon

9. Stroll

10. Bottas

Lando Norris tries desperately to overtake - but is forced to bail out. 

Back-to-back podiums for the Brit 

The Dutchman extends his lead at the top - and matches Ayrton Senna's race wins in F1. 

Perez pits - soft tyres and fastest lap?

Lando Norris is just too far back to challenge Ocon for eighth. 

Lance Stroll in 11th - but he might be picking up a homeland point if things keep going the way they are. 

Max Verstappen says he almost knocked himself out in a rocky incident with a kerb. He's able to laugh it off. But one moment nearly brought the whole house crashing down. 

Lando Norris overtakes Bottas to get into ninth place - but he needs to step on the gas with the five second penalty looming. 

Perez is unlikely to get past the Ferraris in front with these tyres. Then Hamilton is falling further behind Alonso. Max Verstappen far out ahead in front. 

Mercedes claiming Alonso has a rear brake issue - but is it going to allow Hamilton to close down the 1.7 second gap between the pair before the end of the race? 

Lando Norris is facing a five second penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour - for backing up the cars behind as he planned to come into the pits during the safety car earlier. 

Might be an odd way of phrasing that particular offence, but that's what the FIA have done. 

Magnussen and de Vrirs are the only cars to be lapped so far, after their tussle earlier on. 

Russell's exit is a boost for Ocon, Bottas and Norris - the latter moves into the points, although he also faces a five second penalty so that will drag him back down again. Stroll set to capitalise there. 

The commentator's curse there, after they praised car reliability. Two drivers out for the first time in many races. 

Just as he got himself back into the points, George Russell suffers a brake problem, and he's told to come into the pits and retire from the race.

Such a shame after fighting from 19th to 8th - but the damage was done when he hit the wall. 

Lap 52 now - and it's all the same as it was at lap 1, in the top 3 places. 

Hamilton is still the fastest lap. 

Albon's Williams is fighting valiantly to keep seventh place ahead of George Russell - but his car has been a big step up in performance this weekend, and he should be among the points.

Leclerc is ahead of Sainz - and Ferrari have told the Monaco driver he won't be challenged for fourth. 

Only two retirements in the last four races... Lance Stroll in Monaco, and Sargeant today.

Will these cars manage to get through the next 23 laps without any drama? 

Now Hamilton has the fastest lap of the race. 

1. Verstappen

2. Alonso

3. Hamilton

4. Leclerc

5. Sainz

6. Perez

7. Albon

8. Russell

9. Ocon

10. Bottas 

Sergio Perez has the fastest lap now.

As if Red Bull need the extra points... 

Verstappen comes in to the pits, and he gets back out ahead in plenty of time to get ahead of Alonso yet again. 

Hamilton comes in to pit, and comes back out on the track in third, amidst the lapped racers at the back.

Leclerc comes in too - and he's out ahead of his teammate too. Great work to be in fourth after starting the race out of the points. 

The Ferrari of Sainz finally comes in, ages after the rest of the pack has pitted - except his team-mate. He's come back out in 5th, ahead of Albon. 

Unsportasmanlike behaviour cited for Norris's punishment. 

He's rising up through the ranks today - despite smashing into the wall after misreading a chicane. Where will the Brit finish? 

De Vries locked up, and took Magnussen with him. Magnussen got back on the track, and is now pitting. 

Nyck de Vries and Kevin Magnussen are stuck in an awkward place just off the track, and there needs to be an element of caution to get them back into safety. 

Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton - the top three is as it was at the start. 

Alonso still has the fastest lap, but the Dutchman is over five seconds clear at the front. 

Russell up to 17th place, with Hulkenberg forced to pit for a second time today, and then 16th after Zhou comes in too. 

Verstappen 4.4 seconds up on Alonso

Verstappen is losing grip with his tyres, he tells his team. Is this a turning point in the race??

40 left on this Montreal track -can he keep himself ahead of Alonso and Hamilton? 

Still only one retirement so far, the loss of American Logan Sargeant earlier in the race. 

Russell is no longer last - Lance Stroll came in to pit, and has come back out for 19th spot. 

1. Verstappen

2. Alonso

3. Hamilton

4. Leclerc

5. Sainz

6. Perez

7. Ocon

8. Bottas

9. Norris

10. Piastri 

The Ferrari's have not been in yet, but they're fourth and fifth respectively.

The same for the Red Bull of Perez in sixth. 

Alonso has the fastest lap as well, but Verstappen is more than three seconds clear at the front of the pack.

The Spaniard spots a gap and breezes past. Hamilton back down where he started. 

While everyone bunched up under the safety car, Verstappen has gained 1.2 seconds on Hamilton in less than a lap under full race conditions. The dominance of Red Bull keeps on showing itself. 

This is the incident that caused the problem, with his wing strewn across the race track. Now it's all been cleared up, and we're nearly back racing. 

Safety car coming in at the end of this lap

Still under the safety car, we've completed 15 laps now. 

Leclerc having a sterling race to get up to fourth place in the race after the troubles he had yesterday. 

Perez also proving why Red Bull are having one of their best seasons, up to sixth now. 

1. Verstappen

2. Hamilton

3. Alonso

4. Leclerc

5. Sainz

6. Perez

Norris and Albon have come very close together in the pit lane - they might review that, might be a poorly timed release. 

But the issue has forced Russell down the pack from 4th to 19th. 

Russell is in for a lengthy pit stop, but he's still in the race, and coming back out again. 

Verstappen came in to pit, Hamilton followed him, both acting quickly with the safety car out. 

Safety Car deployed to deal with the debris of Russell's wall after going too deep on the chicane. It's a proper accident, and there's bits of his car across the track. 

George Russell's hit the wall, and is missing part of the wing. He's trying to get into the pits to save his race... 

Gasly goes to the pits - the second driver to come in. Tsunoda came in at the end of the first lap, but is back out again trailing the field in 19th. 

Russell has DRS as well, a benefit to be used against Alonso, who doesn't have that. 

Verstappen in control, Hamilton second, Alonso under pressure from Williams for third place. 

Verstappen now three seconds clear of Hamilton after that brief safety car. 

He's out for the first time this season - but he's done a good job to get the car out of danger.

The situation has passed, and we're back racing again. Gotta feel sorry for Logan though. 

Everyone's at 40% while we clear up the Sargeant issue. 

There's a yellow flag in sectpr 2, with Sargeant having a problem causing him to stop on turn six. 

Verstappen leads - with the fastest lap - and is over 2 seconds clear of Hamilton. 

George Russell came close to overtaking Alonso as well, but didn't quite pull it off. 

Magnussen has dropped from 13th to 15th, but it was only pure instinct that stopped something serious happening, after the cars in front held back. He had to go next to the wall, but he got through it. 

Max Verstappen has taken the fastest lap on the second loop around this track.

Two laps down, 68 to go for the Dutchman in the Red Bull. 

1. Verstappen

2. Hamilton

3. Alonso

4. Russell

5. Ocon

6. Hulkenberg 

Charles Leclerc had a stunning opening lap, with the fastest time, and creeping up to ninth place. 

But he's able to ride it out and rejoin the action, while avoiding any serious accidents. 

Verstappen has a great start, and the Mercedes of Hamilton comes past Alonso to take second place. 

Verstappen won last year at the Canadian Grand Prix, and he comes in to take pole for this... 

Almost everyone is on hard  tyres for the start of this race, including the entire front half of the grid. That's a two-stop strategy is everything goes to plan. 

Is the 100th coming in the next couple of hours? 

70 laps, a dry course, and a popular option for overtaking. Will anyone topple Max? 

Five minutes until we're underway in Montreal. It looks very dry - a stark contrast to yesterday's wet chaos. Will that make any big differences to the way things unfold?

With this looking a lot like Red Bull's most dominant year yet, many eyes will be on what Sergio Perez can do from 12th on the grid. 

The crowd are getting excited. The starting grid is making the final preparations ahead of the start of this one.

Will anyone stop Verstappen from tying Ayrton Senna?

15 minutes until we're underway in Montreal

Ferrari are not letting anyone get too close to Charles Leclerc's car on the grid, as they made a last-minute switch. It's not clear if the 25-year-old Monaco driver ran wide somewhere causing a problem, or if there's something else afoot.

He starts 10th after Perez was forced down the pecking order - Leclerc was not impressed to be out after Q2 yesterday. 

About half an hour until we're underway at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. 

Max Verstappen has started 24 races before from the front of the pack, and Montreal today is a 25th. It's his fifth of this season so far - and it's three in a row for the Dutchman now.

A victory today would mean he equals Ayrton Senna's 41 race wins - and edge closer to other greats in F1 history.  

Hulkenberg was moved from 2nd to 5th for exceeding the speed limit under the red flag.

Carlos Sainz was moved from 8th to 11th for impeding Pierre Gasly.

And Stroll's home GP will start in 16th place, not 13th, after getting in Ocon's way. 

Yuki Tsunoda was also given a three-place penalty for impeding Hulkenberg, pushing him to 19th place, just ahead of Zhou Guanyu at the back of the pack.

Lance Stroll has had a busy time as this is his home GP. The Canadian struggled yesterday in his Aston Martin, and was demoted by three places for impeding Esteban Ocon, but he will be hoping native support will boost his place from 16th once the lights go out. 

Verstappen is 53 points clear of Perez at the top of the standings, the Dutch driver securing five wins and 170 points. The Mexican has sweeped up the other two race wins, and has 117 points.

Alonso is in third on 99 points, and is expected to pass the 100 mark today. Hamilton is in fourth on 87 points, 22 points clear of Russell. 

It's all solid news for Max as he looks to add to his 2021 and 2022 championships. 

If you're looking for the lowdown on what took place in qualifying yesterday, Mail Sport reporter Jonathan McEvoy was on hand to talk you through another achievement for Verstappen.

The Dutch great achieved his third pole position in a row for Red Bull Racing.

Second place was initially Nico Hulkenberg, but he was demoted three places for driving too quickly under red flag conditions in the pouring rain in Montreal.

Alonso was boosted to second and Hamilton was promoted to third having initially finished qualifying in fourth. 

Hello and welcome to Mail Sport's live coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen is on pole position for Red Bull, with Fernando Alonso alongside him on the front row of the grid.
Behind them are the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
The action in Montreal gets underway at 7pm UK time, or 2pm trackside - that's just over an hour away.