Canadian GP Debriefing

THE GOOD

• Mercedes had a weekend of ups and downs, dominating in terms of performance but paying a very high price in terms of points. Antonelli secured his fourth consecutive victory. He admitted, however, that he wasn’t happy with the way he won, as he had hoped for a battle right to the end. Hats off to him.
  As for Russell, after dominating the weekend (pole in the Sprint, victory in the Sprint and pole for the race), a Power Unit failure brought him to a halt on lap 30. He left Montreal with a bitter taste in his mouth.
  Toto Wolff described the result as ‘bittersweet’, happy with the fifth consecutive win but disappointed by Russell’s misfortune, who now finds himself 43 points adrift in the standings.

• For Red Bull, it was their first historic podium finish with their own engine. Verstappen finished third, after a fierce battle with Hamilton, securing a podium place for the first time this season. Hadjar, meanwhile, impressed with his pace, finishing fifth despite a few penalties. He proved he was consistently close to Verstappen’s pace following a season start marked by ups and downs. They need to continue on this path to close the gap on Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari.

• Ferrari showed two contrasting sides, with Lewis in fine form and Charles struggling. Hamilton enjoyed his best weekend since joining the team. He described himself as ‘at ease’ with the car right from the first free practice session. He put on a show battling with Verstappen, brilliantly overtaking him with six laps to go. Leclerc, on the other hand, described the weekend as one of the worst of his career. He never managed to find a feel for the car, and will have to study Hamilton’s data to understand what went wrong. Overall, it was a good weekend.

• Alpine is enjoying a golden spell. Colapinto achieved his best result to date (sixth place). Despite hitting the wall and damaging the front wing, he was extremely fast, confirming his excellent form. Gasly secured valuable points, although the team is still investigating why he struggled more than his team-mate. Flavio Briatore, the team’s Executive Director, described the result as an excellent reward for the team’s work, emphasising the importance of having extended their lead in the standings.

• Racing Bulls ended the weekend with seven points to their name. Lindblad impressed right from Friday, reaching SQ3 (9th fastest). In Saturday’s Sprint, he then secured a valuable point with an eighth-place finish, describing himself as “very happy” with the result achieved on a track so treacherous for a rookie. On Sunday, however, at the start, his car failed to move: a clutch problem forced him to stop. On the other side of the garage, Lawson experienced a weekend of contrasts: a disastrous start, a strong finish and crucial points. A hydraulic leak in FP1 forced him to miss the entire Sprint Qualifying, leaving him to start 22nd and last in Saturday’s Sprint. Starting 12th on Sunday (after a good qualifying session despite limited track time), Lawson made the most of his car and the misfortunes of others. His race was a methodical comeback, culminating in an intense duel with Pierre Gasly, whom he fended off decisively to secure seventh place. The New Zealander’s good form continues.

THE BAD

• It was a bittersweet weekend for Williams too. The most bizarre story of the weekend involved Alex Albon: during FP1, he had a freak accident when he hit a marmot on the track. The inevitable impact sent him crashing into the barriers, causing extensive damage to the car that required the gearbox and power unit to be replaced, forcing him to miss Sprint Qualifying. In the race, his comeback was then cut short by a collision with Oscar Piastri on lap 11. Carlos Sainz was the only driver to qualify for SQ3, starting 10th in the Sprint and finishing in that position. In the race, the Spaniard took home a point with 9th place, but Team Principal James Vowles admitted that the strategy wasn’t perfect, stating: “We didn’t get everything right… there are decisions we would have made differently with Carlos”. Despite a disappointing Sunday, Vowles remained confident: “It’s good to see that in Miami and Canada we successfully added performance. We are making progress towards the pack”. Williams is working on a continuous development programme to aim for points on a regular basis.

• For Haas, the Canadian weekend was a solid one, culminating in the securing of a precious point in the points-scoring zone. Oliver Bearman finished in tenth place, securing the team’s only point of the weekend and confirming his progress in F1. Ocon didn’t fare so well, finishing 14th. A meagre haul for a team that started the season with a bang. They need to bounce back as soon as possible because their rivals are improving and closing in.

THE UGLY

• The Canadian Grand Prix has once again laid bare the deep-seated problems at Aston Martin, which is going through a very difficult period. Fernando Alonso summed up the situation with his usual candour. After crashing into the barriers in Q1 due to a lock-up, he admitted: "We’re a bit off the pace; we don’t have the speed. We were 14th, but we were pushing seven or eight places higher than we should have been". The two-time world champion’s race lasted just 23 laps before he retired. Alonso also explained that, given the huge gap to the front-runners, investing to gain “two tenths per race” would be pointless and detrimental to the budget cap. The team is waiting for a package worth “one and a half or two seconds” to make a real leap in performance.

• Audi saw any chance of scoring points slip away due to a bold but misguided strategic decision. At the start, with light rain and a dry track, Audi opted for intermediate wet tyres for both cars, in the hope that the rain would intensify. The gamble didn’t pay off: the rain stopped almost immediately, forcing Hulkenberg and Bortoleto to pit as early as the first lap to switch to dry tyres. This extra pit stop definitively ruled them out of the points. Hulkenberg finished 12th, but his race was also complicated by a penalty for speeding in the pit lane and a spin. Bortoleto finished 13th, admitting that it had been “a long race” and that “with a clean weekend, points would have been possible”. Sporting Director Allan McNish explained: “It was a borderline decision… with hindsight, the delayed start meant it wasn’t the ideal strategy”.

• For the new Cadillac team, the Canadian weekend was a rollercoaster of emotions, with moments of glory and the inevitable growing pains of a rookie team. The highlight was the Sprint Race. Sergio Pérez delivered his best performance ever for the team, crossing the finish line in 11th place after a fine comeback. The joy, however, was short-lived: a 10-second penalty for pushing Liam Lawson off the track cost him three places, dropping him to 14th. Despite the penalty, Checo showed good pace, finishing ahead of his team-mate. Valtteri Bottas finished the race in 16th place, whilst Pérez was forced to retire on lap 39. The Cadillac is paying the price for inexperience and a lack of performance, but moments such as Checo’s comeback in the Sprint race bode well for the future, demonstrating that the potential to compete in the mid-table pack is there.

• A disaster for McLaren. They took a gamble by starting on intermediate tyres, only to find themselves having to change them after just a few laps. A rookie mistake. Uncharacteristic of a team of their calibre. There’s little else to say. Time to put it behind them and start afresh in Monaco.