The passes and fails of the 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in the Montreal report cards
June 10, 2024
Chi I am the passes and fails of the 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix? Let’s find out together by browsing the report cards of Montreal.
Max Verstappen: vote 10 cum laude
Dlet’s say it here loud and clear because the person concerned will hardly admit it, except perhaps in the mirror alone the evening after the race: this Red Bull, evolved and yet finally anything but unattainable, is the best thing that could have happened to Verstappen, because like everyone the best ones ended up in the best single-seater (a combination that tends to repeat itself in the history of F1) after a few world championships won in sequence, the merits of the driver are often forgotten – as only he would be able to do – to reduce everything to a cold triumph of engineering. Blessed then is this attackable single-seater, especially on a slightly crazy weekend like the one in Canada, on a track where you still crash if you go off line: a perfect opportunity to reiterate that the former child prodigy is and continues to be to being an unreachable champion, capable of harpooning a front row while his teammate collapses and then, having nothing to go away, staying there waiting for the race to turn in his favor. A wait conducted at the pace of a champion of course, against a generation of young up-and-comers who are champing at the bit for a place in the sun outside of its very cumbersome shadow. So vote 10 and praise to Verstappen, even if he didn’t take pole position (among other things due to a mere question of chronological order in obtaining the time), indeed precisely for this reason.
Lando Norris, vote 10
Veight 10 to Norris, 3rd in qualifying just a whisper away from pole position, 2nd in the race with merit and some regrets thinking that without the usual Williams crashing (or at least with a different strategic choice) he could have also won. The safety car had given him the victory in Miami, here perhaps it took it away from him: it remains yet another great performance.
George Russell, rating 8
TO podium deservedly too Russell, here too, however, with some regrets, because if you start on pole and finish 3rd it means that not everything went perfectly: a little Mercedes finally fast on the race pace but still a little below Red Bull (ok a Red Bull) and McLaren, a few too many mistakes deprived him of a greater result, but the podium remains a nice boost of confidence: vote 8fighter.
Lewis Hamilton, vote 7
Veight 7 to Hamilton, still outclassed in qualifying by his teammate, in the race he appears in the podium area at the end, but is unable to resist Russell’s return and in any case the English champion “wakes up” a little too late.
Oscar Piastri, rating 7.5
Sol 5° Plates, who at a certain point seemed to have at least the podium in his sights: instead in the end he had to give in to the Mercedes, a sign of a race management that could still be improved, but this time also in terms of speed Norris always outclassed him. Rating 7.5, because the performance is still more than positive, but he can do better.
Fernando Alonso, vote 8
Veight 8 upon the return of Alonso after a couple of “break” grand prix: the Montreal track was evidently more congenial to the Aston Martin and the Spaniard immediately started traveling with the leading group again, and above all he didn’t miss the opportunity to keep behind for a good a bit like Hamilton….
Lance Stroll, rating 7
Voto 7 to Stroll, for which the same reasoning applies to the performance of Alonso’s car, with one vote less for the overall lower performance than his teammate, but for him too the weekend was absolutely positive.
Daniel Ricciardo, rating 7.5
TO points (8th) Ricciardo, whose seat is starting to get hot: so here’s a great performance in qualifying and a finally solid race, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer, especially in F1. Keep going like this until the end of the season and maybe we’ll see him on the grid again next year. Rating 7.5.
Pierre Gasly, rating 7.5, and Esteban Ocon, rating 7
Cthe Alpines close the points area, with Gasly and Ocon 9th and 10th respectively, with the former ahead of his teammate also in qualifying: respectively rating 7.5 and 7, because scoring points with the French single-seater is always a small feat, even if the car has certainly improved compared to the beginning of the season.
Kevin Magnussen, vote 8
Fout of the points, vote 8 to Magnussen for the best special effects: his first laps are anthology-worthy, even if the tires made the difference. Too bad it stopped raining almost immediately.
Alexander Albon, vote 8
Veight 8 also ad Albon for the double overtaking before the last chicane: sometimes the difference between a great achievement and a great disaster is a matter of centimeters and he demonstrated an extraordinary sixth sense of where exactly to put the wheels. Too bad for the withdrawal (without fault).
Sergio Perez, vote 3
TO about retreats, vote 3 to Perez: dramatically out already in Q1, in the race he doesn’t even try to make a comeback, until he turns in the wet, disintegrating the rear and thinking well of returning to the track with a single-seater that is losing pieces (but this certainly has a hand in the team that he didn’t want a safety with Verstappen in the lead). Not exactly the best way to celebrate the renewal of the contract…
Yuki Tsunoda, vote 5
Veight 5 to Tsunodaanother one whose contract renewals give him a stomach ache: in qualifying he takes them from Ricciardo, then in the race he climbs well but ruins everything with an absolutely avoidable off-track excursion.
Charles Leclerc, vote 6
Veight 6 to Leclerc, a sufficiency understood more than anything as a release of responsibility, because in the race he was crippled by an engine problem which then forced him to retire and in qualifying he was the victim of an unfortunate strategy. But these drivers who no longer think about anything because that’s why there are engineers at the wall, the back garage, the remote garage and 200 computers… it left us a bit perplexed. Certain things would never have happened to a Prost or a Piquet.
Carlos Sainz, vote 5
Veight 5 to Sainz, who throughout the race did not move away from the bottom of the grid despite not experiencing any particular technical problems and at the end he spun on his own, hitting Albon and putting an end to a very difficult race for him. What happens? Ok that Ferrari didn’t understand much about how to make the tires work in Canada, but their performance was too bad to be true.
Haas, vote 10
Veight 10 instead to Haas for the “innovative” idea – in current F1 – of using Full Wet tires when there is a lot of water on the track, but it’s a shame that the track then quickly dried out, forcing them to make an extra pit stop which nullified any advantage. At least they remembered that they also had those tires available.
Race direction, vote 10
AND vote 10 at the Race Direction for having started the cars from the traffic lights in the wet, another almost subversive decision in modern F1. Everything went smoothly, reminding us once again that these are the best drivers in the world, not children in need of a blinking nanny.
