Max Verstappen victory equals Senna's record and secures Red Bull's 100th win

Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

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Max Verstappen took his sixth victory of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix and the 41st of his career, drawing level with Ayrton Senna's win record in Formula One's history books.

The dominant victory, which was also his fourth in a row, means he is now joint-fifth with Senna in F1's record books, albeit 62 wins shy of Lewis Hamilton's ultimate record of 103.

"When I was a little kid and in go-karting, I was dreaming of being a Formula 1 driver," Verstappen said. "I could never have imagined winning 41 grands prix. Of course, to tie with Ayrton is something incredible. I'm proud of that.

"But I hope it's not stopping here. I hope we can keep on winning races."

The win also marked Red Bull's 100th victory in F1 since it made its debut in 2005.

Although the margin over second place was smaller than at recent races, a Verstappen victory never looked in doubt, with second-place Fernando Alonso engaged in a race-long battle with his old foe Hamilton.

Hamilton passed Alonso at the opening corner on the opening lap, but after both drivers pitted under an early safety car, the Aston Martin driver found his way back past the Mercedes on Lap 22 with an overtaking move at the final chicane.

Hamilton pushed hard in the closing stages of the race but couldn't pressure Alonso into a mistake, even though the Spanish driver appeared to be nursing a brake problem in the second half of the race.

The safety car, which was caused by Hamilton's Mercedes teammate, George Russell, slamming into the wall at Turn 9 on Lap 12, was pivotal to the way the race panned out from fourth place back.

Both Ferrari drivers opted not to pit under the safety car, which seemed like a brave call at the time but saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz elevated from ninth and 11th to fourth and fifth by the time the rest of the field had pitted for a second time.

Perez, who finished sixth with a bonus point for the fastest lap, and the Williams of Alex Albon in seventh also benefitted from the same strategy.

Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10, with Lando Norris, who finished ninth on the road, dropping to 13th as a result of a penalty.

The McLaren driver was deemed to have driven unnecessarily slowly behind the safety car to try to open up a gap to teammate Oscar Piastri so they could both pit on the same lap without losing too much time. Such tactics are not allowed under F1's regulations, and Norris was given a five-second time penalty.

Russell, who started fourth, retired from the race with a brake issue after his earlier contact with the wall.

Verstappen's win extended his lead to 69 points in the drivers' standings over teammate Perez, who is now just nine points ahead of Alonso in third.