Red Bull take first podium of 2026 and double points finish at Canadian Grand Prix

Red Bull picked up both their first points finish and first double points finish of 2026 at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen would finish third in Montreal, taking his and Red Bull’s first podium since the 2025 season closer in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, teammate Isack Hadjar finished fifth despite picking up a penalty, earning Red Bull their first race of the year where both drivers finished in the points.

With five races of the 2026 F1 season done, Verstappen sits 7th on 43 points, with the Dutchman 5 points behind Oscar Piastri and 23 ahead of ex-teammate Pierre Gasly. As for Hadjar, the Frenchman is up to 14 points for the season and rose up to 12th in the standings.

In the Constructor’s Championship standings, Red Bull remain 4th with the Milton Keynes-based team on 57 points for the season so far. They are 49 points behind 3rd place McLaren and 22 clear of 5th place Alpine.

Having had a so-so sprint race where they settled for minor points, Red Bull had looked for more from the full-distance Canadian Grand Prix proper.

In cold conditions in Montreal, the race had an early twist when McLaren made the decision to start both their drivers on wet weather tyres.

After a belated start when the race had two extra formation laps following Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls failing on the grid, it quickly turned out McLaren had called it wrong. Both Lando Norris and Piastri had to pit within the opening two laps of the race after starting the race third and fourth.

This bumped up Verstappen into fourth place and he quickly made it third, as at the start of lap 9, he was able to make a move to get past Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. Hadjar, meanwhile, was passed by Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc on lap one and remained in sixth behind the Ferrari in the opening phase.

The race pivoted on lap 30 when the Mercedes of George Russell came to a stop by the side of the track with a power unit failure. This came after the British driver having been involved in a frantic fight over several laps with teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the lead.

That lead to a virtual safety car, with Red Bull pulling both cars into the pits. A slower stop for Leclerc saw Hadjar able to leapfrog the Ferrari and go up into fourth position, with Verstappen running second.

A few laps after the race restarted, Leclerc attempted a move on Hadjar and the Red Bull shut the door on Leclerc. Although the Ferrari would pass Hadjar a few laps later, the stewards felt Hadjar’s defending had crossed the line and handed the Frenchman was given a 10-second time penalty for multiple changes of direction.

Hadjar would then later get a second penalty, with the Red Bull driver given a stop-go penalty for a yellow flag infringement. This double whammy, along with taking a second pit-stop to absorb the penalty during another virtual safety car, meant Hadjar finished a long way behind Leclerc, although he was able to have a comfortable margin to finish ahead of the Alpine of Franco Colapinto in 6th position.

Verstappen initially had a margin on his one-time title rival Hamilton, but the Red Bull struggled to keep its tyres in the window, allowing the Ferrari to gain in the latter stages of the race. With 6 laps to go, Hamilton ultimately made his move to get past Verstappen, grabbing the second place for himself. But it was still enough for Verstappen to take his and Red Bull’s first podium of 2026.

Red Bull will now prepare for the next round as F1 returns on June 7 for the Monaco Grand Prix in F1’s first European race of the season.