19 Jun 2023

Verstappen cruises to sixth F1 win of season; Dixon fourth at Indycar

8:42 am on 19 June 2023
Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix from pole position this morning to stretch his Formula One championship lead and take Red Bull's milestone 100th victory.

The Dutch 25-year-old led every lap as he took his career tally to 41 wins, stepping up alongside Brazil's late triple champion Ayrton Senna in the record books.

Fernando Alonso finished second for Aston Martin at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the Spaniard's sixth podium in eight races, with Britain's seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.

Red Bull have won every race so far this season and Canada was double world champion Verstappen's sixth of the campaign and fourth in a row.

Verstappen's team mate and closest rival Sergio Perez finished sixth but took a bonus point for fastest lap.

- Reuters

Meanwhile, Alex Palou of Spain passed Colton Herta late in the race to speed away for his second straight win and third of the IndyCar season at the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America in Wisconsin.

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon at 2021 Indianapolis 500.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Palou steered his No.10 American Legion Honda past Herta, the polesitter, on the outside and into the lead before Herta faded to the finish because he was one lap short on gas.

Palou won by 4.561 seconds over Josef Newgarden. Mexico's Pato O'Ward was third, while Herta finished fifth.

New Zealander's Scott Dixon, Scott McLauglin and Marcus Armstrong fourth, eighth and 24th respectively.

The 2021 IndyCar champion, Palou extended his season points lead to 74 over second-place Marcus Ericsson of Sweden. Palou won last week in Detroit, as well as the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course.

"We're going to try and keep it rolling," Palou said on the USA Network broadcast. "We have an amazing team behind (me)."

Making victory taste even sweeter for Palou was how his team got there. Palou crashed during practice on Saturday and his team had to scramble to get a backup car ready.

"It's been an amazing weekend, honestly," Palou said. "We started with a lot of speed. Big mistake by my part in practice, too. But it was amazing. They had only an hour and a half to rebuild all the car. We went back on track and it was even better than in practice too. Super happy. They gave me the pit stop that gave us the win, as well."

It marked Palou's seventh career IndyCar race victory.

- Field Level Media