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• Verstappen beats Norris at thrilling Canadian Grand Prix

  Max Verstappen beat Lando Norris to win a thrilling Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, the lead changing hands on several occasions in wet conditions in Montreal.

  Starting second on the grid behind George Russell, Verstappen was passed by Norris in the early stages but managed an expert restart after a safety-car period with 11 laps to go.

  Norris took the lead on two separate occasions but was unable to hit back when Verstappen pulled two seconds clear late on, having to settle for his third second-place finish of the season.

  An error-strewn performance saw Russell give up the lead and slip into a battle for third with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri.  

  Contact between Russell and Piastri allowed Hamilton to surge into third place with five laps remaining, but Russell overtook his team-mate with a neat move at the final chicane on lap 68.

  With Hamilton finishing fourth, both Mercedes drivers recorded their best finishes of the season thus far.

  The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso was sixth, while neither Ferrari managed to finish, Charles Leclerc retiring just past the halfway stage and Carlos Sainz following suit as he collided with Alex Albon's Williams.

  Data Debrief: Sixty up for Verstappen

  Verstappen's previous two victories in Montreal had come from pole position, but he had to fight his way past Russell and later Norris to make it three straight wins in Canada.

  The victory was his 60th in Formula One overall, from 194 races. Among drivers who have achieved at least 25 wins, only Jim Clark (25 – 34.7 per cent) has a higher win ratio than the Dutchman's 30.9 per cent.

• Mercedes in the sweet spot, claims Russell after taking Canadian Grand Prix pole

  George Russell edged out Max Verstappen to claim pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.

  Russell and Verstappen, the reigning Formula One world champion and championship leader, set identical lap times.

  Both clocked in at one minute and 12 seconds, but Russell was given the edge as he banked his first. That had not happened in F1 since 1997.

  It is a huge boost for Mercedes, who seem to have turned a corner in recent races following some upgrades to their car.

  "It's sort of come from nowhere," Russell said after qualifying in Montreal. "But maybe not a surprise with the upgrades we've been bringing.

  "We brought these upgrades to Monaco, which has been a really challenging circuit for us in the past, and we were 0.1secs from the front row and we thought going into Montreal we had a shot here.

  "It's just turning really nicely through the corners. We struggled a lot with understeer before.

  "Last year, we had a lot of oversteer and we've been trying to find the halfway house between what we had last year and what we had this year.

  "And it feels like we're sort of dialling in that sweet spot right now. So it feels like something we've been saying for a long time, in all honesty. But you know, just really a sense of relief to actually see it translate into a pole position. [There's] more to come.

  "We are the favourite at the moment because we have the fastest car and I was feeling great behind the wheel.

  "But there is rain on the horizon and the wind is picking up. We are going to have to be so on our feet. It's a bit of a shame in a way. But I am feeling optimistic."

  Verstappen said: "It's how it is. We had a good qualifying. The whole weekend has been still a bit tricky for us but to be P2, I'll take it. Going into qualifying I would have definitely taken that. It makes it more exciting for the race as well."

  Russell's team-mate Lewis Hamilton did not have as much luck, as he could only manage seventh place, behind the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Pisastri.

  Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate, Sergio Perez, also had a poor session, as he was knocked out in Q3 for the second straight race.

  Perez's Red Bull future was confirmed this week, though the team are also keeping on Yuki Tsunoda as back up.

  It was a poor day for Ferrari, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz missing out on the top 10.

  Sainz is hoping to claim a top seat for next season, with Hamilton replacing him at Ferrari, but Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed that would not be with his team.

  "Carlos deserves a top seat," Wolff said. "He's done a fantastic job, but for us we've embarked on a route now.

  "We want to reinvent ourselves a little bit going forward and Kimi Antonelli definitely plays a part in that.

  "We haven't taken a decision yet for next year but we didn't want to have Carlos wait as well because he needs to take decisions for himself and that's fair, but he's doing a super job."

• Verstappen frustrated by 'not ideal' start in Canada

  Max Verstappen admitted it was not an "ideal" start to his Canadian Grand Prix after enduring technical trouble with his car on Friday.

  The practice session in Montreal was heavily disrupted by intermittent rain, causing the headline lap times to be effectively meaningless.

  However, Verstappen, who was 18th fastest in the second session, suffered a problem with the energy recovery system (ERS) in Practice Two after just four laps, with the Red Bull trailing smoke before returning to the pits.

  Red Bull are investigating the cause of the fault ahead of Saturday's qualifying.

  "It's not ideal," said Verstappen.

  "I would have liked to drive more laps, some other people had a few more laps in the dry and a few more laps in the wet.

  "It's definitely not how I would have liked to get on in FP2 but it's more important to figure out what actually happened and what kind of implication it will have for this year and the rest of the year."

  Verstappen has won just one of the last three Grand Prix, with Red Bull now holding just a 24-point lead over Ferrari in the championship.