Max Verstappen holds off Sainz to win Canadian Grand Prix: F1 – live!

A penny for the thoughts of Charles Leclerc. Two months ago the Monegasque was coasting away from the chasing pack, looking every bit the champion-in-waiting after two wins from the first three races took him 34 points clear in the drivers’ championship – and 46 clear of his most obvious title rival in Max Verstappen.

But two months is a long time in Formula One, as the saying doesn’t go, and poor Leclerc goes into today’s Canadian GP having to treat it as a damage-limitation exercise for his title hopes. A frankly ludicrous 80-point swing over the last five races has taken Verstappen to the top of the leaderboard, where he is joined by teammate Sergio Perez. And at the start line in Montreal, Leclerc will be watching Verstappen through a sea of traffic having been consigned to the back of the grid and penalised for using too many power-unit components. What’s Monegasque for sacré bleu?

Lewis Hamilton, who spent the week being treated for back injuries sustained from all that bouncing on the Baku straights, comes into the race after his best qualifying of the season so far – though his hopes of troubling Verstappen’s Red Bull from fourth are slim indeed.

Alongside Verstappen in the front row will be Fernando Alonso, 40 years young, who rolled back the years in qualifying, jinxing around a wet track and power-sliding his Alpine out of the last corner to cap a majestic lap. And the Spaniard has made no secret of disguising his plans for today. “The goal is to lead the race in lap one,” he says. “Turn one: maximum attack.”

It should be good. Strap in. Lights out at 19:00 BST.