Champion Max Verstappen returned to winning ways as he was helped by the safety car in his triumph at the rain-affected Formula One Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
"Pretty crazy race, lots of things happening and we had to be on top of our calls. The safety car worked out nicely for us, but we were managing the gaps quite well," the Red Bull driver said.
The Dutchman started in second behind polesitter George Russell of Mercedes, and even dropped to third in the first half of the race in wet conditions, but took the lead during a safety car period after Logan Sargeant of Williams hit the wall.
"Those kind of races, you need those every once in a while. It was a lot of fun out there," he said.
Lando Norris of McLaren grabbed second place, while Russell was third after a tight dispute with team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the final laps.
"It was chaos, it was eventful. To be honest I felt I drove a good race from start to finish. I had amazing pace, the safety car had me over but like it helped me in Miami, it had me over," Norris said, referring to his maiden F1 win at the Miami GP last month.
Eventful first few laps in Canada
Russell escaped the racing line a bit but retained his lead ahead of Verstappen and Norris as drivers had a very careful start due to the wet track conditions and low visibility.
Haas were the only team to start on wet tyres, while all others were on intermediates. Their gamble initially paid off with Kevin Magnussen moving up from 14th to fourth and Nico Hülkenberg from 17th to eight by lap four
But Magnussen's effort was ruined by a terrible pitstop for intermediates and he dropped to 12th.
Up in the front, Verstappen was closing in on Russell but went off the track in lap 17, not only giving Russell some breathing room but also allowing Norris to close the gap.
With DRS enabled, Norris overtook Verstappen in lap 21 and just in the following lap, he successfully attacked Russell to take the race lead.
Russell, meanwhile, made a mistake and ran across the run off area, losing out to Verstappen too.
Safety car luck for Verstappen
The safety car was deployed in lap 26 after Sargeant lost control of his Williams and hit the wall.
Verstappen and Russell pitted for new tyres, with the Dutchman taking the race lead for the first time. Norris also pitted, but after the two opponents and returned to the track in third.
Both Verstappen and Russell pitted again for medium tyres in lap 46 as the track was already mostly dry. The Dutchman returned in second behind Norris, while Russell was third.
The McLaren driver pitted in the following lap and came out side by side with Verstappen. But Norris slipped a bit and couldn't properly fight for the position, as Verstappen again led the race.
The championship leader was in a comfortable position when Carlos Sainz lost his Ferrari and slid across the track, collecting an innocent Alex Albon in his Williams and bringing out the safety car again.
Verstappen and Norris stayed out, while Mercedes pitted Russell and Hamilton, who returned to the track in fourth and fifth respectively.
The duo were fighting for the best position amongst themselves, while also attacking Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren. After leaving Piastri behind, Russell eventually grabbed the last place in the podium.
"It felt like a missed opportunity to be honest, we had good pace at the beginning on the inters, made a couple of mistakes out there pushing the limits. To be back in the mix fighting for victory, that's what Formula 1 is about. We'll take all the positives from this race, podium, pole," Russell said.
Disastrous weekend for Ferrari
Ferrari took win at the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks ago with Charles Leclerc, but had a disastrous performance throughout the Canadian GP weekend.
Leclerc was forced to abandon the race due to engine issues, while Sainz also had to retire his car after the incident with Albon.
Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull also had a weekend to forget. The Mexican driver just this week extended his contract with the team for another two years, but there wasn't much else to celebrate.
On Saturday, he failed to make it out of Q1 in qualifying and didn't finish Sunday's race after crashing in lap 53.
Next up: Spanish Grand Prix
Formula 1 now heads to the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23.
Verstappen tops the drivers' championships 56 points ahead of Leclerc. Norris, meanwhile, shortened the gap to the Monegasque and sits seven points behind in third.
