Oh, Canada!
After the dismal race weekend that was the Monaco Grand Prix, Canada came and Canada delivered. It was a race that will and has many people talking for some time to come, despite it being another victory to add to Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s ever growing list. But, we have to ask the question, is F1 really in Canada if it’s not a rain effected race? Probably not, so to speak. So, with the race start declared as wet, not wet enough for a Safety Car start thank the heavens, I’m sure many F1 aficionados were keeping everything crossed for a race on par with Canada 2011. Bar the lengthy red flag, we didn't need a repeat of that!
Let’s be honest, the start of the race was fun, and surprisingly clean. George Russell, who had qualified his Mercedes on pole ahead of Verstappen had a decent start, holding his lead into turns one and two. But, where everyone else was on the Intermediate tyre, Haas made the bold decision to throw their drivers on the Wets, giving Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg the chance to fly through the field over the course of the opening laps. And, flying they were, with Magnussen making it as high as 4th before the Inters came to life on lap six as the Wets started to wear away.
The weather conditions in this race were perfect for fans, but a headache for team strategists. As the Inters started to loose their grip, the threat of rain increased and the question mark as to when and whether drivers would pit was widely discussed by commentators alike. It would be Logan Sargeant, hitting the barrier in his Williams, that would bring out the first Safety Car, making up the minds of many teams as to whether they should pit before the rain. Three of the leading quartet - Russell, Verstappen and Oscar Piastri; Lando Norris was out in front leading in his McLaren, all pitted for fresh Inters. Norris would pit a lap later, losing his lead to Verstappen on pit exit. Down the back end of the field, Charles Leclerc, who’s Ferrari was having severe technical issues, took a gamble that shocked many an F1 enthusiast. He switched to Slicks just as the rain started to fall. You’d be correct in thinking that he came back in a couple of laps later for the Inter, after crawling around the circuit like a snail.
More fun came after the rain had gone away, with Pierre Gasly being the first brave sole to take a chance on the slicks. After a couple of slower laps, getting the compound up to speed, his times were getting good enough for other teams to take notice, and thus, we were in the middle of a tyre chain reaction.
Moving on from tyre and strategy talk, several drivers found themselves having a nightmare of a race. Take Leclerc, after his technical difficulties and faux pas on the Slicks, he ended up retiring, as did his Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, who sustained damage from a spin that also took out the Williams of Alex Albon. Daniel Ricciardo found himself on the end of a 5-second time penalty for jumping the start, and Sergio Perez and Gasly came close to blows on the opening lap. Yes, I said Perez. It’s almost the norm that the Red Bull driver finds himself involved in incidents in one way or another…
Things would get painfully worse for Perez as the race went on. After trying and failing to make up positions after another dismal qualifying, Perez would hit the wet track while on the slicks, sending him into a frenzied spin, backwards into the barrier and breaking his rear wing in the process. With the car still running, his team advised him to bring it back to the pits in its unsafe condition, something Perez will pay for in Spain with a grid drop. But why did Red Bull advise him that? Oh, we do love a good conspiracy, but it seems they did all they could to avoid a Safety Car while Verstappen was in the lead. A bit of a “moo point” really, when it was deployed only a couple of laps later to rescue a stranded Albon.
But, why do we watch Formula One so? Well, for the speed, the adrenaline and, most importantly, on-track battles! And boy, we were in for a treat in the latter stages of the Canadian Grand Prix.
A drying track, cars on slicks and enabled DRS were the perfect ingredients for a late race battle for the final point positions. Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo, Gasly and Hulkenberg were the drivers finding themselves going wheel to wheel with 8th, 9th and 10th all up for grabs! Three laps to go and after spending the majority of the race in the points, Tsunoda makes a mistake, locking up and spinning, dropping the VCARB driver to a dismal 14th. For the others, they would fight until the end with Ricciardo coming out on top in 8th. After a bought of team orders, Gasly would finish 9th ahead of teammate Ocon in 10th, who was less than impressed with how his team had treated him. I mean, he is leaving them at the end of 2024. Hulkenberg, after taking evasive action to avoid a backwards Tsunoda, had to settle for 11th.
However, while this battle was raging, the battle at the front was also starting to heat up, as it had done numerous times over the course of the 70 lap race. Verstappen, in the lead, had pretty much checked out, leaving Norris, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri to it, with Norris and Russell in particular having some nail biting, wheel to wheel battles. This included a hairy moment that saw Norris leave the track at Turn One, potentially gaining an on track advantage, an incident that race control deemed unnecessary to investigate. And, it wasn’t just Norris that Russell was battling with. The Mercedes driver attempted a move on Piastri into the final chicane, having to take to the run off to avoid an incident. The latter stages were very much Mercedes vs McLaren or McLaren vs Mercedes.
As we already know, despite the woes Red Bull faced going into the Canadian Grand Prix, this was Verstappen’s race all along. However, it wasn’t easy for him with both Russell and Norris making the reigning World Champion’s life that little bit more harder. Joining Verstappen on the podium in 2nd was Norris - another impressive performance from the McLaren driver has firmly proved that he is one to watch in 2024. Russell would finish 3rd.
Canada, you did us proud in 2024. Can Spain top it in two weeks time? Who knows!
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