WATCH: Enjoy the race start at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix as Hamilton claims P2 behind Verstappen

Max Verstappen enjoyed a textbook getaway as the five lights went out at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix to maintain his lead from pole position on Lap 1 of 70.

Verstappen’s old sparring partner Lewis Hamilton also had a fine start from P3 on the grid to pass the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso into Turn 1 and claim P2.

LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the action from the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix

Further back, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez enjoyed a duel throughout Lap 1, darting this way and that before Sainz definitively claimed the advantage into the final chicane – only for Haas’s Kevin Magnussen to get a scare as he came upon the squabbling pair, forcing the Dane into the run-off.

Enjoy the race start in the video above.