Charles Leclerc was forced to fight back from a grid penalty due to a Ferrari engine change after his retirement in the Azerbaijan GP and finished fifth in Canada, while Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez crashed in qualifying and then suffered his own mechanical heartache in the race.
But Verstappen didn’t have a straightforward path to his 26th career F1 triumph, surpassing both Jim Clark and Niki Lauda on the all-time wins list, as the Dutch driver fended off late pressure from Carlos Sainz.
The race was punctuated by two virtual safety car periods – one for Perez’s stoppage and another for Mick Schumacher who also failed to finish with a mechanical problem – and a full safety car when Yuki Tsunoda crashed at Turn 2 exiting the pitlane.
Behind the fight for victory, Lewis Hamilton claimed his first podium since the 2022 opener in Bahrain, with Mercedes appearing to make progress and be less hampered by bouncing at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.