Tag Archives: Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Antonelli wins fourth on the trot in Canada as frustrated Russell DNFs; Hamilton makes late pass on Verstappen for P2; McLaren gamble on tires and come up snake eyes

Mercedes rising star Kimi Antonelli prevailed for the victory at a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, surviving a fierce 30-lap intra-team battle with his most serious rival, George Russell, that was spicier than a vindaloo curry and then sailing to an easy win after Russell’s Silver Arrow called it quits on Lap 31 of this 68-lap contest. No other cars could challenge Antonelli en route to his fourth victory on the trot and the teen sensation bumped up his points lead over Russell to 43 after five rounds in 2026. Russell’s DNF opened the door to second and third place wide open and Ferarri’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a ding dong battle for second place as then laps ran down. After hunting his old rival’s Red Bull over the course of several circuits, Hamilton was finally able to overtake the Dutch master on Lap 62 while using his full momentum from the start finish straight and steaming past into Turn 1. Verstappen did his best to regain P2 over the course of the final seven laps but Hamilton was able to keep the position for his and the Scuderia’s best finish of the young season. Despite being relegated to third on the day, that final podium spot was also Verstappen and Red Bull’s best finish so far in 2026.The second Ferrari’ of Charles Leclerc was never quite on top of the vicissitudes of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in the masterful manner of Hamilton, a seven-time winner here, and came home a respectable but rather forlorn P4. Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar survived a raft of penalties to take a solid P5, making it a strong double points day for what has been an inconsistent Red Bull campaign so far.

On the other side of the coin, McLaren had a disastrous day, beginning when they decided that the damp but rapidly drying conditions on Île Notre Dame warranted a gamble on wet weather Intermediate Pirellis, making them the only team in the top ten starters to see things that way. While the Papaya duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri did get away quickly from their slick grid spots, with Norris even passing both Mercedes for the lead on Lap 1, any benefit was going to be extremely short lived and the team baled as the track was clearly going to be dry for the foreseeable future. Piastri, who had been complaining about the risky tire choice from even before the formation lap, came into the pit for a switch to slick Mediums before completing his first race lap and Norris followed on the end of Lap 2. From there, McLaren were well and truly behind the eight-ball, with both drivers now having to fight their way back into the points after  qualifying on the second row. Things went from bad to worse when Norris was forced to retire on Lap 40 with a terminal gearbox issue and Piastri, after an incident-filled attempt to flight back to the front, including incurring a ten-second penalty for punting Alexander Albon’s Williams out of the race at the hairpin midway through, could only manage to scramble his way back up to P11. McLaren will be keen to turn the page on their pointless Canadian nightmare as they head to another grand casino in Monaco in two weeks. They’ll be hoping their self-made luck runs better at the principality than the unforced snake eyes they rolled in Montreal.

Top 10 finishers of the Canadian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:28:15.758 68 1 1:14.210 (68)
2

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +10.768 68 1 —
3

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +11.276 68 1 —
4

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +44.151 68 1 —
5

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull +1 Lap 67 3 —
6

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine +1 Lap 67 1 —
7

Liam Lawson

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 67 1 —
8

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +1 Lap 67 1 —
9

Carlos Sainz

 Williams +1 Lap 67 2 —
10

Oliver Bearman

 Haas +1 Lap 67 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight as the F1 circus heads to its most glamorous venue, the Monaco Street Circuit The cars will wend their way through the famously tight streets of the principality for the calendar’s slowest race where qualifying is essentially everything. With Anotnelli looking imperious, it will be interesting to see how the young Italian can pedal it in such tight quarters, and with Russell desperate for a bit of hope, Hamilton and Verstappen surging and the home favorite Monegasque Leclerc. Hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

 

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Russell nabs pole at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve with last-second flier, Antonelli P2 as Mercedes lock out front row; McLaren claim second row with Norris ahead of Piastri, P3 to P4

Having already aggressively diced with and prevailed over his Mercedes teammate in the Sprint race, George Russell came from down in tenth place to seize pole at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve with a stunning final flying lap during Saturday Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. Desperate to reestablish his championship aspirations and get back on terms with his points-leading Silver Arrows stablemate, Kimi Antonelli, Russell was all arms and elbows in the Sprint en route to victory there, earning the ire of the young Italian in the process, and then pulled one out of the bag in the dying moments of Q3 to relegate Antonelli to second on the grid here in Montreal. The opening lap battles between the two Mercedes men should set the tone for a potentially epic internecine fight for glory that could well end in tears for one or both men and potentially open the door for another contender to take advantage of any potential race-altering contacts between the two lead Mercs.

Chief among those trailing rivals appear to be a resurgent McLaren, whose tandem of reigning champion Lando Norris and the always capable Oscar Piastri steadily progressed on pace throughout quali and put themselves firmly ahead of both Ferraris with a P3 for Norris and a P4 for Piastri.  While the McLaren duo couldn’t quite match the pace of mighty Mercedes, team Papaya are inching closer to parity with some already significant early season upgrades. Lewis Hamilton flew the flag for Ferrari at a circuit he loves and where he has seven career victories. While his hopes for pole faded as Mercedes and McLaren showed their true one-lap pace, he put in a time good enough for a solid P5. That was quite a bit more rapid than his normally equal stablemate, Charles Leclerc, who struggled throughout qualifying with the balance of his Prancing Horse and ended up merely P8 on the time sheets. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar split the Scuderia in P6 and P7 respectively, despite Verstappen’s vociferous gripes about the abilities of his RB22. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers for Canada, rookie Arvid Lindblad pedaled his Racing Bull to an impressive P9 and Franco Colapinto was the lead Alpine in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:13.953 1:13.079 1:12.578 24
2

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes 1:13.380 1:13.076 1:12.646 24
3

Lando Norris

 McLaren 1:13.503 1:13.049 1:12.729 28
4

Oscar Piastri

 McLaren 1:13.559 1:13.285 1:12.781 29
5

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari 1:13.767 1:13.041 1:12.868 27
6

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull 1:14.067 1:13.479 1:12.907 23
7

Isack Hadjar

 Red Bull 1:13.654 1:12.975 1:12.935 22
8

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari 1:13.825 1:13.496 1:12.976 29
9

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls 1:13.895 1:13.548 1:13.280 28
10

Franco Colapinto

 Alpine 1:14.466 1:13.857 1:13.697 27

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Sprint Race results are here.

Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix airs live beginning at 4pm Eastern on AppleTV and Netflix here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Russell can keep Antonelli behind him or if the two come to grief amidst their increasingly heated rivalry and open the door to another contender to take victory!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Russell excels with superb final lap to take pole in Montreal, bests P2 Verstappen & P3 Piastri; Norris off the pace in P7

Saturday qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix delivered thrills aplenty, as the gap between the top three teams and the top four drivers appeared to narrow sharply here at the short and fast Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looking the favorite to take pole ahead of the two McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris late in Q3, it was Mercedes’ George Russell who seemed to come from nowhere and lay down a blistering lap to knock off Verstappen and Piastri and grab pole for himself. It was the second year in a row Russell earned pole in Canada and he clearly has an affinity for the temporary Notre Dame Island street circuit smack dab in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. Not only did Russell’s excellent effort burnish his own sterling credentials this season — the Briton has four podiums out of nine races so far — but it also might be evidence that Mercedes is finally closing the gap to McLaren and Verstappen’s Red Bull, as Silver Arrows teammate Kimi Antonelli also qualified a very solid P4. Verstappen’s best flying lap still kept him ahead of points leader Piastri and on the front row, P2 vs P3, but the second McLaren of Lando Norris fumbled his way to a poor P7 time and will have his work cut out for him fighting his way to the front from there. .

Lewis Hamilton was the highest placed Ferrari on a favored circuit where he has won a record-equalling seven times, besting his teammate Charles Leclerc P5 to P8. Fernando Alonso made the most of his vast experience and the Aston Martin’s latest upgrades to claim a surprise P6, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar earned P9 but was subsequently penalized three grid spots for impeding earlier in qualifying. Alexander Albon rounded out the top ten starters, putting in an excellent effort just to make it to Q3 let along set the tenth fastest time after his Williams’ engine cover literally blew apart midway through Q1. Albon’s mechanics deserve extra plaudits for getting the car ready to progress to Q2 during the not overly long Red Flag period caused by the cleanup of all that Williams debris on track

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:12.075

1:11.570

1:10.899

21

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:12.054

1:11.638

1:11.059

20

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.939

1:11.715

1:11.120

23

4

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:12.279

1:11.974

1:11.391

21

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:11.952

1:11.885

1:11.526

27

6

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:12.073

1:11.805

1:11.586

27

7

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.826

1:11.599

1:11.625

22

8

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:12.038

1:11.626

1:11.682

27

9

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:12.211

1:12.003

1:11.867

21

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:12.090

1:11.892

1:11.907

30

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 2PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out between the extremely competitive top three starters and really a top eight that could conceivably take the victory in Canada!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Verstappen returns to the top step in tricky wet-dry race; P2 Norris undone by Safety Car; pole-sitting Russell salvages P3; disaster for Ferrari with double DNF; Perez crashes out

Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix was a tale of two races thanks to the rainy weather that prevailed early on giving way to sunshine and a drying track in the second half, with the resultant mayhem that entailed for the Formula 1 teams and drivers. While McLaren’s Lando Norris looked like a genuine threat for the victory, he was undone by an ill-timed safety car on Lap 25 of this 70-lap contest from the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and when things had cycled out the young Englishman found himself behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Norris was leading by a whopping 12-seconds from Verstappen when the Safety Car was deployed to rescue Logan Sargent’s crippled Williams. But McLaren muffed their first opportunity to pit under yellow, while Verstappen and the other contenders dove in for fresh Intermediate Pirellis. When Norris came in a lap later, his track position had evaporated under the slow speed SC conditions and he reemerged in P3. Norris remained quick even as the track dried and he stubbornly stayed out on Inters, running two laps longer than Verstappen and the second place Mercedes of George Russell before diving to the pits for a set of Medium slick tires on Lap 47.

But when Norris reemerged again from that second stop, he was quickly gobbled up by Verstappen on fully warmed up tires, and then Russell also picked him off, though he managed to hold off his hard charging teammate Oscar Pastri. Russell then made an error steaming into the Turn 3 and 4 chicane, and Norris, now fully up to speed, pounced on his fellow Englishman to recapture P2. But even after another Safety Car was deployed to clean up a collision between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the Williams of Alexander Albon on Lap 54, Norris could never again find the pace advantage on slicks and a drying circuit that he had clearly held earlier in wetter conditions on Inters. Verstappen easily kept the McLaren at bay for the remainder of the contest, en route to the Dutchman’s sixth victory of 2024 out of nine rounds now run. Settling for a still solid P2, Norris & McLaren were left to wonder What If, as they replayed that fateful first Safety Car sequence and belated pit stop in their heads after the race.

Continue reading →

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Russell edges out Red Bull’s Verstappen by a whisker for surprise pole at Montreal in upgraded Mercedes; Norris P3, Piastri P4; both Ferraris out in Q2, Perez bounced in Q1

On the newly surfaced and washed-by-the-rains Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, it was the upgraded Mercedes of George Russell who found surprising pace amidst tricky conditions during Saturday Qualifying, besting Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to earn pole for Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. Despite setting identical times, Russell was awarded pole by dint of setting his time earliest in the final quali session, as Verstappen made his final near-perfect charge across the line when the checkers had already flown. It was an impressive achievement for Russell on a very green track, as the young Englishman wrestled his car and wrung its neck en route to the first Mercedes pole of the season. Despite the obvious performance enhancement wrought by the new Silver Arrows front wing design and despite looking like a contender for pole himself for a while, teammate Lewis Hamilton struggled in Q3 en route to only a P6 spot on the grid. That was nothing compared to Verstappen’s Red Bull stablemate, Sergio Perez, who, fresh off an extension that will keep him with the team for the next two seasons, struggled so mightily with rear grip that he was bounced out in Q1. The Mexican veteran will have it all to do come race day starting from down in P16 if he is to score much-needed points for Red Bull in the face of McLaren and Ferrari’s recent onslaught.

Speaking of those two challenger teams, McLaren continued its run of consistently good form, with Lando Norris and Oliver Piastri filling out the second row of the grid in P3 and P4 respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, Ferrari struggled mightily with their own grip issues after their sparkling weekend in Monaco a fortnight ago, with neither car able to escape Q2. Charles Leclerc will start in P11 and teammate Carlos Sainz was relegated to P12. RB Honda demonstrated superb improvement at this high compromise, old school track, with Daniel Ricciardo securing an impressive P5 ahead of Yuki Tsunoda’s P8. Aston Martin was also in the mix at team owner Lawrence Stroll’s and son and driver Lance Stroll’s home race, with Fernando Alonso back to form and outpacing the junior Stroll, P6 to P9. Alexander Albon’s Williams rounded out the top ten qualifiers with a lap good enough for P10 on the grid.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:13.013 1:11.742 1:12.000 26
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.360 1:12.549 1:12.000 27
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.959 1:12.201 1:12.021 25
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.907 1:12.462 1:12.103 29
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB HONDA RBPT 1:13.240 1:12.572 1:12.178 25
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.117 1:12.635 1:12.228 23
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.851 1:11.979 1:12.280 26
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:12.748 1:12.303 1:12.414 24
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.088 1:12.659 1:12.701 25
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:12.896 1:12.485 1:12.796 26

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve airs live at 3 pm Eastern on ABC here in the States. Then we’ll find out if Mercedes’ newfound pace is for real, if McLaren can make move for the victory from the second row or if Verstappen can return to the top step of the podium at all of their expense. Not to mention if Ferrari can rediscover their race pace that was sorely lacking in one lap trim — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out in what should be an action packed affair!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Supreme Verstappen romps to victory in Canada; Alonso outduels Hamilton for second

With no sign of the rainy weather that shook things up during Saturday qualifying, there was a decided lack of drama concerning who would win Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villenuve. As has become a recurring theme this season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again set the ultimate pace and no other car or competitor could come close to catching him. Verstappen led the field from pole and cruised to another dominant victory, earning the Red Bull team’s 100th overall victory, as well as equalling the late, great Ayrton Senna with 41 personal wins. It was also Verstappen’s sixth win from eight races run and his teammate Sergio Perez won the other two, making for a 100% success rate for the RB19 in 2023. Verstappen held his lead despite a Safety Car period that began when Mercedes’ George Russell hit the barriers of this temporary Albert Park circuit. This compressed the field back up after the pursuing Merc of Lewis Hamilton and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso followed Verstappen into the pits for the cheap stop and first change off of the Medium Pirelli ties and onto the durable Hards. But the Flying Dutchman simply darted away when the race restarted and quickly gapped Hamilton and Alonso, as he had done at the very start of the GP. It was drama free from there on out and Verstappen took the checkers nearly 10-seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Yes, we are not even halfway through this year’s World Chamipnhip calendar but it is certainly looking like one of those years in F1 where a dominant driver and a dominant car merge seamlessly into an unstoppable, untouchable force. Short of some major shock event, beating Verstappen now looks like a nigh impossibility, even for his previously more competitive teammate Perez.

While Max was in a league of his own in Canada, the battles behind him were fierce and well fought. Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso for P2 going into Turn 1 after the lights went out to start the race but was only able to keep that position until Lap 22. The Spaniard and his Aston still had the legs on the Silver Arrow and, after several patient laps setting up Lewis, Alonso was able to grab his P2 spot back and then gap him. While Hamilton was later able to again come close to Alonso, he could never quite get within DRS range and find a way by and the seven-time champ had to be content with a solid P3 finish. Hamilton’s teammate Russell, while able to carry on after his fairy heavy contact on Lap 12, was eventually forced to retire the car on Lap 53 of this 70-lap contest with break issues undoubtedly caused by his shunt, costing the team what should have been a good double-points day. On the other hand, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll hardly set the home fans on fire with his P9 finish, especially in relation to his far quicker stablemate, but at least he did earn those two points for the team. Aston Martin is now only thirteen points behind mighty Mercedes in the Contractors’ standings, so that error and subsequent DNF by Russell could loom large down the road.

Ferrari had another kissing your sister kind of day, with Charles Leclerc able to come home in P4 and Carlos Sainz in P5. That made for good points for the Scuderia, obviously, but it is becoming clear that the SF-23 has failed to develop as a race car to this point and Ferrari are actually the fourth best team on the grid at present rather than being a credible threat to Red Bull’s dominance. While the team and drivers struck an optimistic tone post-race, particularly regarding tire degradation, their key bugaboo, the cars still look hard to handle at times and not all that fast in race trim, not to mention Mercedes and Aston Martin are not exactly standing still regarding their own upgrades. The second Red Bull of Perez was able to recover somewhat from a yet another poor qualifying effort and a P12 start to secure P6 by race’s end. But that felt more like damage limitation rather than any kind of inspiring comeback. If Perez cannot qualify either first or second in tandem with Verstappen, he has no real shot challenging his teammate for wins, much less the increasingly out of reach title.

Rounding out the Top 10, Alexander Albon converted the Williams team’s excellent Saturday strategy decisions to get him into Q3 and a P10 start into an even more impressive P7 finish, besting the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in equal conditions in the process. And the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas took the last point in P10 with a very savvy veteran drive to clear other midfield runners after starting down in P14.

Top 10

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 1:33:58.348 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +9.570s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +14.168s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +18.648s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +21.540s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +51.028s 9
7 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +60.813s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 70 +61.692s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +64.402s 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 70 +64.432s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is is a fortnight’s time — the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. With seemingly unstoppable momentum going in, look for Verstapppen to hunt down his team’s one hundred and first win on their eponymous home track. Hope to see you then to find out how it all skies out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Verstappen prevails for pole but rain scrambles grid at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve; lucky Hulkenberg takes P2 when Red Flag disadvantages P3 Alonso

With variably wet and rainy conditions playing havoc during Saturday qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, Red Bull ace Max Verstappen nevertheless prevailed over both the elements and his adversaries to earn pole in tricky conditions at a sodden Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. While it wasn’t surprising to see Verstappen notch his third consecutive pole and fifth out of eight rounds run, he also benefitted from smart strategy by being first to set a banker lap in Q3 and then watching as conditions deteriorated and times got slower and slower as the final quali session wore on. This had the effect of scrambling the grid behind Verstappen resulting in the surprise result of Nico Hulkenberg setting the second fastest time in his Haas ahead of the P3 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Alonso lost out on a higher grid spot when a Red Flag came out for Oscar Piastri’s spun out McLaren directly after Hulkenberg crossed the line but before Alonso could get there with what looked to be a superior time. The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did well in those tricky conditions to take P4 and P5 on the grid respectively and will be the only contending team with two cars within the Top 10 to start the race.

To that point, Carlos Sainz had the lone surviving Ferrari in Q3 after teammate Charles Leclerc waited too long to make a quick switch to slicks in a briefly drying Q2 session. While the Spaniard was only able to qualify a relatively perfunctory P8, it’s likely he will be dropped form even that humble position after a couple of dangerous incidents where his Prancing Horse clearly seemed to be dawdling in the middle of the road to set himself up while other drivers sped his way at full chat. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate and, for now, closest championship rival Sergio Perez also missed the boat on tire strategy in Q2. He frankly seemed a bit spooked by the conditions in choosing to remain on Intermediate wet tires throughout rather than gamble on slicks, as many others had done successfully. Checo missed Q3 for the third race weekend in a row and will have fight his way to the front from down in P12. And Alonso’s Aston teammate Lance Stroll also failed to emerge from Q2 after a lurid slide in that session and will to start from P13 at his home race.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:20.851 1:19.092 1:25.858 26
2 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:22.730 1:20.305 1:27.102 25
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:21.481 1:19.776 1:27.286 25
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:21.554 1:20.426 1:27.627 26
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:21.798 1:20.098 1:27.893 25
6 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:22.114 1:20.406 1:27.945 25
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.998 1:19.347 1:28.046 26
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:22.248 1:19.856 1:29.294 26
9 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.190 1:19.659 1:31.349 24
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.938 1:18.725 DNF 24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race air live on ABC beginning at 2PM Eastern here in the States. With less of a chance of rain in the forecast for Montreal tomorrow, it should intriguing to watch the grid re-sort itself on a dry circuit. Whether anyone has anything for Verstappen is quite a different matter. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Verstappen holds off dogged Sainz to take victory in Canada; Hamilton finishes a strong P3, Russell P4 on good day for Mercedes; Leclerc salvages P5 after starting last

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a late Safety Car that allowed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to get back up to the Dutchman’s gearbox and hound him for the lead over the final laps to earn his first victory at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. Under sunny & clear skies following Saturday’s rain-effected Qualifying, Verstappen saw his comfortable lead erased when Yuki Tsunoda inexplicably binned his AlphaTauri coming out of the pits on cold tires. With the Safety Car deployed almost immediately to retrieve the disconsolate Tsunoda’s mount, Sainz took the opportunity to dive into the pits for a cheap stop time-wise under yellow and a set of fresh Pirelli rubber, which also gave the Spaniard 6-lap younger tires compared to the race-leading Red Bull. Sainz was absolutely primed and ready to get past Verstappen once the Safety Car withdrew at the end of Lap 54 and racing got back under way. As Verstappen restarted the proceedings coming out of the last chicane, turned close to the Wall of Champions and steamed down the start/finish straight, Sainz didn’t let Max gain an inch on him, sticking to the Red Bull like glue. But even with a full 15 laps remaining and Sainz hounding him the rest of the race, Verstappen had the pace and skill to hold off the hard charging Prancing Horse filling his mirrors. Such is the excellence of this year’s Red Bull and its championship leading number one driver that, despite the Ferrari having the advantage of DRS for so many laps, it was Verstappen who took the checkered flag and his first victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It was also Max’s impressive fifth win in the last six contests, which is some serious mo in his title hunt. For Sainz, it was a valiant effort in a season full of a lot of errors and he even set the race’s fastest lap while in pursuit. But he’ll have to be satisfied with another P2 and the elusive quest for his first-ever F1 win will have to wait until at least the next round at Silverstone in a fortnight.

For as bad as Mercedes looked all weekend long, the Silver Arrows had a remarkably good race. While they didn’t really have the pace to challenge the leading Red Bull and Ferrari on even terms, Lewis Hamilton finally got some breaks and drove a savvy and clean race to take the last step on the podium in P3. At a track where he has a record seven F1 victories, Hamilton was also clearly the better Merc for once this season, easily besting his ambitious young teammate, George Russell, who nonetheless scored a very satisfying P4. Mercedes are definitely improving after the troublesome and very bouncy rollout of their new W13 chassis and this was their second consecutive 3-4 finish, this time swapping the order from Azerbaijan a week ago with Hamilton happily on the podium. But compared to the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, team Mercedes know that they’ve still got a lot of work to ahead if they’ve got even the slimmest shot of getting back into title contention.

Sainz’s more heralded teammate Charles Leclerc did yeoman’s work to haul himself up from last place on the grid after upgrading his power unit and subsequently being assessed several penalties at once. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Vettel finishes first but is demoted to P2 by penalty, Hamilton elevated to the win in controversial Canadian GP; Leclerc P3 on disappointing day for Ferrari

It was all going to plan for Ferrari and their lead driver Sebastian Vettel during Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. Having pipped Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for pole in Saturday qualifying, Vettel showed that exquisite Ferrari performance was no fluke in race trim as the German 4-time World Champion got away to a fast start and led nearly every lap on the tight and dusty street/park Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on the Ille Notre Dame in Montreal. But after their first and only stop for fresh tires, Vettel on Lap 26 and Hamilton on Lap 29, the Englishman turned up his superlative Mercedes engine to “party mode” and slowly began to reel in the leading Prancing Horse. While Ferrari also gave their man maximum available power, by Lap 39 Hamilton was in DRS range of Vettel, filling his mirrors with the hard charging Silver Arrow. After nearly 10 laps of non-stop pursuit it was Vettel who finally blinked with disastrous consequences for his hopes of victory on the day. On Lap 48 Vettel lost control as he was entering the twisty Turn 4 complex and found himself sliding onto the grass behind the curbs. Hamilton was close and dove to the outside to make the pass but Vettel swerved back onto the track barely in control of his car and nearly forced Hamilton into the wall. That the cars didnt touch was testament to Vettel’s remarkable car control but nonetheless Hamilton’s progress was balked as he had to back out of the throttle and Vettel flew away from him down the circuit.

Mercedes immediately complained to the stewards, of course. And on Lap 57 one of the most consequential decisons of the season was made when the stewards judged that Vettel had rejoined the track in an unsafe manner and levied a 5-second time penalty against the German. Hamilton, despite having lost the best edge on his Hard tires after pushing so hard to try and overhaul Vettel and locking up several times at the hairpin, was nonetheless well within 3 seconds of the leader. That meant that so long as Hamilton could keep that gap he was the de facto leader of the race despite Vettel running firmly in front of him. Vettel was livid on the radio and Hamilton made sure to keep close to the Ferrari’s gearbox. And when the final lap of the 70-lap contest ended Vettel crossed the line first but had lost the race to Hamilton due to the stewards’ controversial penalty assessment. After the cars finished their cool down laps Vettel refused to move his car to the end of the pits into victory lane or to participate in the pit lane interviews. He only very reluctantly agreed to join the podium ceremony most likely under threat of further FIA penalties. But even as he made his way to the podium, Vettel switched the order of the placing signs down in the pits, moving the #2 over to Hamilton’s Merc and the #1 in front of the empty space where his Ferrari should have been.

Pics courtesy GrandPRix247.com and Formula1.com

While the decision was generally unpopular and cast a pall over a very tense and competitive affair, as well as Hamilton’s emotions after inheriting the victory, one can see the disputed action from both angles. Vettel did make a mistake on that momentous Lap 48 while being pushed hard and pressurized by Hamilton’s onslaught. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Vettel snatches pole from Hamilton as Ferrari come to play in Canada; Leclerc P3 while Bottas struggles in P6, Verstappen bounced in Q2

For the first time since Bahrain all the talk of Ferrari’s hypothetical straight line speed advantage over Mercedes finally materialized as Sebastian Vettel pipped Lewis Hamilton for pole at Circuit Gilles-Villenueve in Saturday qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Mercedes man had looked supreme throughout Q3 and it once again appeared that Hamilton would crush whatever fragile dreams of competitiveness Ferrari harbored by setting purple sector after purple sector. But Vettel and the fabled Sucderia had the last laugh today when the German four-time champion put in a blistering effort as the seconds ran down in Q3 to best Hamilton by two-tenths of a second. It was Vettel’s first pole since the German Grand Prix last year and a much needed boost for both the team and Vettel, who has looked less than fully confident at times this season. Obviously, Seb will also need to covert his pole into a victory on Sunday to jump start what is beginning to look like a hopeless campaign for Ferrari against the might of Mercedes. And look for Hamilton, who starts along side him in P2, to try every trick in his book to overhaul Vettel early and once again show that he and his Silver Arrow are an unstoppable force.

Vettel’s teammate Charles Leclerc qualified P3 and seemed to lose a little confidence as the day wore on. But it was nothing like the travails that afflicted Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate and nearest points rival. With Hamilton having won the last two contests on the trot after Bottas’ victory in Azerbaijan, the Finn is starting to look a little wobbly in the face of the Englishman’s  onslaught. Continue reading →