As Formula One arrives for its annual stop in Montreal, the teams and drivers face an interesting weekend with several wildcards in play.
Coming off a series of three races not dominated by Max Verstappen, the Canadian Grand Prix may serve to reaffirm his place at the front or confirm that the rest of the field continues to close the gap.
Although Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s dominance wanes on some circuits, betting against the three-time world champion bouncing back in the Canadian Grand Prix might not be the best wager. After an uncharacteristic off weekend in Monaco two weeks ago, a hungry Verstappen will arrive in Montreal looking to get things back on track.
After all, he insisted, the sixth-place finish in Monaco didn’t come as a massive shock.
“We know that some tracks just really don’t suit our car at the moment,” he said. “Some tracks that are still upcoming won’t really be that good for us, but then also some tracks will be better for us. I think the positive thing out of this weekend is that it really highlighted out weakness, and that’s what we have to work on.”
With its long straights, Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve helps the slippery Red Bull make the most of its aerodynamics, something that helped put Verstappen on the top step in the two Canadian Grands Prix races since the pandemic. Last year, he also recorded the largest gap between pole and second place on the grid in the history of the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve at 1.244 seconds.
His 2023 win in Canada also turned out to be a significant victory for Verstappen, as it tied him with Ayrton Senna for race wins at 41. This year, a 60th career win, after a couple of hiccups, will help the three-time champion flip back to regularly scheduled programming.
Complicating things will be the completely repaved surface on the 14-turn, 4.361-kilometre track that promises to offer up some puzzles for the drivers. Tire supplier Pirelli expects little change in the track’s low abrasiveness and reduced grip, but its engineers will be hard at work taking measurements to confirm these suspicions. Fans will also notice that organizers painted the kerbs in the Senna Corner yellow and green to honour the three-time world champion on the 30th anniversary of his death in 1994.
As the weekend approaches, the weather appears ready to throw a monkey wrench into the mix, with rain predicted to start Thursday and continue throughout the weekend. Race day could be wet, with a 50-50 chance of showers. With the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve’s ever-present walls and heavy braking zones, a wet race always brings excitement, along with some broken carbon fibre.
While hopeful that the past three outings signal a sea change in the pecking order, Verstappen’s rivals remain cautiously optimistic about their chances in Montreal and beyond.
“I think my common sense tells me that on normal tracks Red Bull should still be favourites,” said Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Jr.
“Domination, like we were seeing, hopefully not, but favourites, yes. And then it will be a very tight fight with both McLaren and us. I think we are all three at a very similar level. Our last reference of a normal track is Imola and Miami. And if I see those two tracks, we seem to be half a tenth behind McLaren and maybe a tenth or two behind Red Bull.”
Coming into Montreal on the strength of six Top-5 finishes, including a win in Miami and runner-ups in China and Imola, McLaren’s Lando Norris remained cautious about his chances of keeping things going.
“Our car has performed well at a few different types of circuits, but we know we might have our work cut out in Canada — our competitors are likely to be strong,” he said. “I’m excited to see what we can do this weekend.”
Canadian Lance Stroll will be looking for a good result in his home race after an inconsistent start to 2024, where he managed just three points finishes in the first eight Grands Prix. He arrives in Canada sitting 11th in points with 11, while his teammate, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, lies 9th with 33 points after six points finishes in the first eight starts of 2024.
Despite a 14th-place last time out in Monaco, Stroll did turn some heads with two overtakes in rapid succession after pitting for soft tires on Lap 49, due to a puncture. The Aston Martin whizzed past Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu in the tunnel before an outside-inside move on Williams’ Logan Sargeant at Turn 1.
On the other hand, teammate Alonso walked away from his 11th-place finish in Monaco feeling like the team’s performance seems to be going “back to the midfield instead of looking at the front runners.”
“But these things can change quickly,” he added quickly. “A good upgrade on the car and you can move five or six positions, so that is what we want to do on the next one and we work hard on that direction.”
