The rainy Canadian Grand Prix has become one of the most exciting stages of the current Formula 1 season. In changing weather conditions, the balance of power on the track was constantly changing. At first, George Russell, who won the classification, was in the lead, then Lando Norris took the initiative and at the finish line no one could do anything with Max Verstappen, who confidently distanced himself from the entire peloton.
At the same time, it would be nice to admit that the reigning champion was lucky with the appearance of the safety car, Russell himself lost all his chances and Norris has something to celebrate this weekend. These and other results from the Canadian Grand Prix are in the traditional “Championship” review.
How was the Canadian Grand Prix?
F1 action in Canada: the absolute failure of Ferrari and the bad luck of the leader McLaren
Max wouldn’t have won without the safety car.
At the time of Sargent’s exit on lap 25, Norris was seven seconds ahead of the field and continuing to pull away. At this point in the race, no one could stop Lando, and if there had been no yellow flags during the race, McLaren would almost certainly have won. Furthermore, if Norris had managed to enter the pits on the same lap as his rivals and had emerged as the leader from the pit lane, Max would not have overtaken him.
First of all, it would make no sense for Verstappen to take risks in the fight against Lando: in the championship, the McLaren driver is still no match for Max and the stops in Montreal are very close. Secondly, at the time of switching to slicks, Norris perfectly felt the capabilities of his tires and eliminated the intermediates exactly at the moment when they became slower than normal tires.
Verstappen overtook Norris only thanks to the safety car
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Verstappen’s victory cannot be considered undeserved. Max always stayed close to the leaders, and when fate gave him the opportunity, the Dutchman was out of reach of his rivals. At the same time, the reigning champion again makes mistakes: while he was chasing Russell, he missed one of the corners, thus missing Norris in the first phase of the race.
Lando himself shouldn’t worry. This time the Briton’s luck ran out, but in Miami he helped him, at least taking pressure off the mechanics during the pit stop. Be that as it may, McLaren has been able to fight with Red Bull for several stages in a row, and this is already great news for Norris.
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Russell also missed his chance
In Canada, Mercedes’ updates were in full swing: the German team really fought for victory with Red Bull and McLaren. Unfortunately, of the three candidates, it was Russell who made the most mistakes in Montreal.
George held the lead at the start, but was confused when at the end of lap 21 he was attacked by Norris, cut the chicane and let Verstappen pass along with Lando. If it were not for this episode, it would have been Russell who would have been in the lead at the restart on lap 30. And it is almost certain that, as in the case of Norris, Max would not take too many risks in the fight against Mercedes, which does not involve a threat in the general classification.
Russell made two mistakes in the fight against the McLarens
Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Russell made another mistake in the fight with Piastri, rushing to attack at the end of lap 65. George can be understood: he still had a chance to take second place, but for this he needed to quickly pass Oscar and start attacking Norris. However, the Mercedes driver underestimated Piastri’s speed, he closed the door when McLaren stayed inside and only lost time.
In the end, George overtook both Oscar and Lewis Hamilton, who did not even resist his teammate too much, and climbed onto the podium. But even the pilot himself admitted at the finish line that he had the opportunity to climb even higher.
On Saturday, Russell and Verstappen set the same time:
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The main disappointment is Ferrari.
Just two weeks ago, Ferrari won in Monaco and now failed to qualify for the final standings, fighting for a place in the top 10 and eventually retiring both cars. It was not possible to know what exactly happened to the Scuderia cars: what happens is that, starting from qualifying, there is not enough speed, the drivers repeat.
It’s a shame the Scuderia failed in Canada. After the race in Monaco, the gap between Maranello and Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship narrowed significantly – the reigning champions were under pressure. Yes, small, but it’s better than nothing.
Ferrari suffered a tough defeat in Canada
Photo: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
However, this also has positive aspects: firstly, the constant changes in the balance of power only benefit the championship and, secondly, imagine what the race would have been like if there were not three, but four teams, that had fought for the victory. When was the last time something like this happened in Formula 1?
There is hope that this will be the case for the Spanish Grand Prix. Milton Keynes believes that in Barcelona there will no longer be balance difficulties as in Imola, Monaco and Canada. However, could anyone have imagined that a team that had achieved unprecedented dominance for three straight stages would struggle with balance?
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Pérez and Tsunoda do not meet expectations
For Sergio Pérez and Yuki Tsunoda, last weekend ended in failure. Furthermore, in the case of the Mexican, the Canadian Grand Prix, in his own words, was catastrophic.
For the third time in a row, Cheko failed to qualify for the qualifying final and for the second time in a row he failed to qualify for Q1. On Saturday, Pérez simply gave up: he couldn’t warm up the tires. Be that as it may, he lost almost a second to Verstappen in the first segment! The race ended with a U-turn and a broken rear wing.
Consequences of Pérez’s change of direction
Photo: x.com/f1
Yuki Tsunoda also failed to stay on the track at the end of the race. In his case he did not crash into the barriers, but the Japanese lost his place in the top 10, although he was eighth and could have added four points.
Both extended their contracts this week and will spend at least next season with their current teams. But, as Christian Horner recalled, each contract has different clauses…
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Who is the worst driver of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix?
