F1 Canada: 3 Big Things

The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix may go down as yet another Max Verstappen win but it was far less straightforward than many we’ve seen over the past few years.

As is often the case in Montreal, rain played a starring role and brought out some very intriguing strategy choices. Let’s dive in.

1. Ferrari Embarrasses Me

One race ago, fresh from the beautiful win for Charles Leclerc in Monaco, I wrote the following words:

“There's something happening at Ferrari and it's impossible to ignore. This is a team that looks revitalized and re-energized. The mistakes are minimal if they exist at all. The drivers are maximizing their points even if they get a hell of a get-out-of-jail-free card (looking at you, Carlos).”

I apologize for so cartoonishly jinxing this racing team - what a disaster. They qualified horribly. Leclerc had an engine issue. Then a tire call that didn’t work out. Then a retired car. Then Carlos Sainz spun, taking himself and Alex Albon out of the race. One step forward, a few hundred thousand dollars backward.

2. The George Russell Enigma

A narrative exists for George Russell, which is that he’s a bit too mistake-prone for this stage of his career. I understand it, as Canada and Singapore last year stick in mind. He may have cost himself a chance to race for the win a couple different times, though I doubt the pace to seriously challenge Verstappen in the closing stages was ever there.

That particular narrative doesn’t hold much water with me. He does a lot of great racing for every mistake he makes while consistently outqualifying and often outracing one of the best Formula 1 drivers to ever do it. When the heat turns up and he finds himself in a championship battle, we’ll see if he has the ability to iron out these issues.

3. McLaren Mega-Pace Disappears

There was a period in the race after Lando had taken the lead and before Logan Sargeant predictably brought out a safety car where he was easily hanging a second a lap on Verstappen and Russell behind. It was genuinely unbelievable pace.

By the end of the race, neither McLaren had much pace and Oscar Piastri had the worst of it, dropping behind Russell and then Lewis Hamilton in short order. At the time of writing this, I haven’t seen it being attributed to damage sustained in the squabble with Russell but I wouldn’t be surprised if some downforce came off the car as a result.

While the pace went away, McLaren as a team are making solid strategy calls and the drivers are helping ascend toward Ferrari in second in the World Constructors Championship (aided significantly by a disastrous weekend by the Horsies.)

We’ll be back racing in Spain after a week off and F1 Academy will be back on track as well.