CANADIAN GP REVIEW: Please Sir, I want some more
It’s 9:30pm on Sunday 9th June.
Max Verstappen has just won the Canadian Grand Prix. But don’t worry, this wasn’t the usual storm from the front type of victory, he was made to work for it.
Opportunity missed for George Russell?
For the first time in God knows how long, three teams and five drivers were in the hunt for the victory. Changeable weather conditions and genuine close competition of pace- Russell and Max couldn’t be separated in qualifying- made for a race that you just couldn’t take your eyes off.
Canada always seems to deliver close racing, the narrow track and unforgiving barriers means mistakes are punished, however long straights allow for overtaking. Throw in some wet-dry conditions and it brings everyone in contention.
At various points of the race, the entire top 5 would’ve fancied their chances. It seems a lifetime ago now, but at the start of the race Kevin Magnussen looked like he had played a blinder in the Haas. When he stormed up the field on his full wet tyres. At one point he was up to forth, however no more persistent rain, meant he quickly dropped down the field.
George Russell quickly built a decent lead, however on a drying track, Verstappen and Norris closed the gap behind him. We had a glimmer of how difficult overtaking would be without DRS- hello 2026! With Max and Lando breathing down his neck, but not yet allowed to open the window of fresh air, on the rear wing.
Soon enough DRS was enabled, Norris had blistering pace at this stage and passed both Max and George for the lead. George made his first mistake of the afternoon in combat with Lando and slipped behind Verstappen. He was playing catch up from then on really, on a race of ‘what could have been’ for the still maturing Brit.
Lando’s pace at this point of the race, was nothing short of astonishing really. He was almost too quick, blasting 6 seconds up the road from his nearest rivals, meant that an unfortunate timed safety car left him unable to pit. When he did finally manage to do so, he dropped behind Max into 2nd.
Max I feel is doing exactly what greats do, like Lewis Hamilton 2017-2020 and Schumacher 2000-2004, where they are there in the right place to mop up the pieces. He remained calm, kept the car on track and beautifully allowed the race to come to him. This is where George will feel disappointed, it should have been him in 2nd and ultimately probably had the overall pace to win the race. His lack of ruthlessness in this situation is becoming evident, something that may concern Mercedes, especially with their seven-time Champ soon to be departing.
Mysteriously, when the rain returned, and racing resumed. Lando’s blistering pace had deserted him. As we saw in Imola, the McLaren is kind on its tyres, so towards the end of stints keeps a lot of its pace. However, on fresh rubber Max had enough in hand to stay at the front.
And that’s how the order remained, the second round of stops allowed the switch to dry tyres. The Mercedes with both George and Lewis seemed the quickest car, but another sloppy George mistake when trying to chase down Max dropped him behind Lando and Lewis.
Verstappen ended up bringing it home fairly comfortably in the end, the drivers behind him to busy squabbling to really put him under any significant pressure in the last 10 laps.
Overall though it was a wonderful race, it does seem in the last few races that McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari (not this weekend) have closed the gap to Verstappen. All we want as fans is close racing and thankfully, we are getting that back again. Please Sir, I want some more.
Race Rating- 9/10
SIDE NOTE: Well done Martin Brundle and Sky Sports F1 on achieving the wholesome moment of the weekend. The wonderful interview with the great Mary McGee was a breath of fresh air. These are the interviews we want to see more of, people who are passionate about F1 and motorsport, not celebrities who don’t have a clue. I could’ve listened to Mary all day, and I was glad to see that Mercedes invited her to meet ‘Mr Hamilton’ after the race.
