After being dropped from the schedule in the previous two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Formula 1 returned to Montreal with a lot of noise, especially due to the growing popularity of Netflix’s Drive To Survive. The Canadian Grand Prix was worth the wait, as the fans were treated to a fun event that reached the final lap.
Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen opposed Carlos Sainz of Ferrari for victory on the track Gilles Villeneuve.
Here’s what you need to know from Sunday’s race.
NO RAIN AT THE PARADISE OF VERSTAPEN
All I can say is that Max Verstappen’s life is not easy. The puddles rained over the weekend and the track was watered during training and qualifying, but the Canadian Grand Prix is a race, not a splash show.
And what a race it was, as Verstappen’s Red Bull had a faster pace over Sainz – although the Ferrari driver retired later and had fresher tires – and crossed the finish line in less than a second.
The current world champion has won six times this season, including five of the last six races. In all, Red Bull Racing have won six straight victories, with Verstappen team-mate Sergio Perez winning in Monaco last month.
Verstappen has already created a comfortable 46-point cushion for Perez in the standings, as the Mexican driver was forced to retire on Sunday due to a problem with the gearbox. Maybe Perez should take over this Zamboni again.
SILVER STAND FOR SAINC
“To finish first, you have to finish first” is a popular racing quote and applicable to Ferrari and Sainz at the moment, as both the Italian manufacturer and the Spanish driver must be happy with the second result after DNF last week in Azerbaijan. Sainz also scored the fastest bonus point for the tour.
Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, made a valiant effort to clear the field to finish the P5, although he started last due to a penalty for changing the engine. The loss of 10 seats in the network was difficult to swallow, however, given that his power unit exploded last week in Azerbaijan while leading the race, the change was necessary to ensure that Ferrari will not survive a new crash and throw more points.
Leclerc also came close to Perez for second place in the standings, now just three points behind.
VINTAGE ALONSO
Fernando Alonso of Alpine started P2 and first row for the first time at the German Grand Prix in 2012. It would have been nice to see the two-time world champion and winner of the Canadian GP in 2006 fight again, but Verstappen bounced back to the beginning . Alonso seemed to have engine problems late in the race and crossed the seventh line, but was penalized five seconds after the race to block Valtteri Bottas and fell to ninth.
Alonso proved that he can still captivate the audience, although this probably helped him appear this weekend in a Montreal Canadiens shirt.
Combined with Esteban Ocon’s P6 score, Alpine will be pleased with their overall performance as they narrowed the gap with McLaren to fourth place in the constructors’ standings. Only eight points separate the two teams now, as neither McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo nor teammate Lando Norris finished in the top 10.
HAMILTON RETURNED TO BUSINESS
After suffering severe back pain in Baku a week ago after rumors that he had to sit, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton looked good in his transition to claim a place on the podium in third place.
Mercedes was the most vocal on the issue of “defeat” and cars jumped around the track again Gilles Villeneuve. However, Hamilton told Sky Sports analyst Jenson Button after the race that his back was fine. After winning the Canadian GP seven times, including the first GP victory of his career in 2007, Hamilton was quick to praise the audience: “I love him here in Montreal.”
This is just the second podium for Hamilton this year and only for the second time he surpassed the new teammate George Russell, who was right behind in P4.
What turned out to be Hamilton, who fought for harder tires during the first period of the Virtual Safety Car, while Russell stayed out. Although Russell also received a cheap pit stop under the conditions of the VSC later in the race, Hamilton had the pace to stay ahead of his teammate.
Russell continued his run as the only driver to finish each race with points this season – and all in the top five no less.
CHAOS OF PAIN
Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher seemed ready to finish within the points, qualifying for P5 and P6 respectively, but both left Montreal empty-handed.
Magnussen messed with Hamilton in the beginning and suffered damage to the front wing, which required an unplanned trip to the pits to get him out of the dispute.
This was Schumacher’s best qualifying effort – his father Michael won a record seven times on the track – as he not only aspired for points but also his first points in Formula 1. However, the wait will continue as the younger Schumacher had mechanical problems and was forced to withdraw from the race.
WALKING IN POINTS
Montreal’s own Lance Stroll started on the second last row of the grid right next to compatriot Nicholas Latifi. Stroll and his Aston Martin team chose a one-stop strategy and managed to turn their start from P17 into a P10 final and gain a point after passing Ricciardo at the end of the race. This is the third time in the career of the 23-year-old footballer, in which he managed to score points by starting near the back of the package of his home event.
Latifi, who was born in Montreal and grew up in Toronto, was not so lucky with his Williams car. Already behind the ground, Latifi suffered a problematic pit stop when his front right wheel was not positioned correctly. The latest virtual safety car helped bring things together, and Latifi managed to get past Magnussen to complete the P16.
NEXT
left for historic Silverstone in two weeks for the British Grand Prix and the 10th round of the season. Hamilton has won the race a record eight times, including seven of the last eight years. The only other previous winners in the grid are Alonso (2006 and 2011) and Sebastian Vettel, who is the furthest from the aforementioned Hamilton series as the 2018 winner.
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