Whilst battle lines were drawn in the paddock over possible fixes to the porpoising problems, and some wildlife fell victim to multimillion-dollar racing cars, a frantic Canadian Grand Prix occurred at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Returning from its Covid-enforced hiatus, Montreal played host to an entertaining weekend of action. The treacherous weather on Saturday, mixed in with some significant engine penalties, shuffled the pack. Whilst strategy played a key factor on Sunday as the race encountered a few interruptions.
Here are the stars and strugglers from round 9 of the 2022 season:
Top of the Class:
Zhou Guanyu – Qualifying: 10th | Race: 7th (promoted from 8th due to penalties)
A driver finishing 7th wouldn’t usually land them top of the list, but the Alfa Romeo driver had by far his best overall weekend, more impressively at a track he had never driven at until Friday Free Practice.
After a run of three mechanical DNFs in his previous four races, Zhou bounced back with a Q3 appearance in Saturday’s tricky conditions, once again outqualifying teammate Valtteri Bottas. On Sunday he recorded his best result by passing McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in the early stages and capitalised as the Haas’ capitulated.
The Rookie crossed the line P8 but was promoted after a penalty for Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, securing Zhou’s best finish to date. He may be disappointed to finish behind Bottas, largely due to being held up behind Lance Stroll for a large portion of the race, yet this does not take the shine away from a successful weekend for the Chinese driver.
Max Verstappen – Qualifying: 1st | Race: 1st
Just like Lewis Hamilton of recent seasons, Max winning races is normalised, yet this weekend was such a rounded performance from the reigning World Champion it definitely deserves more credit than he received.
Verstappen was nearly eight tenths faster than his nearest rival in qualifying, bossed the start and withheld late-race pressure from Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who was able to pit under a late Safety Car to have fresh medium tyres for the final 15 laps.
Red Bull’s race pace took a dip in Montreal, despite the track being largely flat, yet Max barely flinched with 15 laps of significant pressure from Sainz to take his fourth win in five races. Despite the Ferrari pace advantage it never really looked like Max was letting go of the lead.
Sainz made it far from a Sunday canter in Canada, but the result extended Verstappen’s lead at the top of the Championship to 46 points and the momentum is firmly with the Dutchman.
Lewis Hamilton – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 3rd
After bemoaning that his car in Free Practice was the “worst he’s ever driven here”, Mercedes clearly went back to the drawing board. Because the W14 looked like a completely different car on Sunday.
A season’s best qualifying was rewarded by quickly dispatching Alonso and sitting on one of the podium places pretty much the whole race. Lewis’ race pace was often close, if not matching, the Red Bulls and Ferrari’s which is a far cry from the car we saw in Baku.
Lewis may not have had the complete package to challenge after the late Safety Car, but he pulled clear of teammate Russell to lead home a 3-4 for the Silver Arrows. Which is surprisingly Lewis’ first podium since the season opener in Bahrain.
Reading comment sections under social media posts about Lewis can be a brain-numbing experience, but you can’t help but feel good to see him smiling again after a wretched start to 2022.
Honourable Mentions:
You’re lying if you didn’t get even slightly upset over Mick Schumacher retiring from a strong P7 in the race. We will never know what he could have done had the PU not gone pop on lap 20, but Mick certainly looked far more comfortable this weekend, and like Zhou, he looked greatly at ease at an unfamiliar track.
Wet conditions have not been Schumacher’s best friend in F1, but the German put his car P6 in his best ever qualifying and was doing well to hold back the Alfa Romeo of Zhou. That was, until he became the second member of the ‘Park a broken car at turn 10’ crew alongside Sergio Pérez. There will definitely be more opportunities down the line to score his first points, but he should take some confidence from his performance in Montreal.
The second honourable mention goes to Fernando Alonso (for Saturday at least). The Spaniard rolled back the years to put his car on the front row, much to the joy of the crowd and large aspects of the fanbase. It’s a shame he couldn’t convert that on Sunday, more on that later in this race report, but a first front row since the 2012 German Grand Prix is still an awesome achievement.
The struggle bus:
AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly – Qualifying: 16th (started 15th due to penalties) | Race: 13th
Yuki Tsunoda – Qualifying: DNQ (permitted to start 20th) | Race: DNF
After a particularly strong Baku, the tide appeared to be turning for the Faenza-squad, who have had their fair share of early-season issues with the new regulations. That hope was quickly dashed in Montreal, as the team had a forgettable time.
Another entry to horrific strategies of the weekends impacted Pierre Gasly, which wasn’t aided by his shock Q1-exit despite being P2 in FP3. The Frenchman never threatened the points and came home a lowly P13 after attempting two early pitstops.
Yuki’s weekend was doomed from the start. He took engine penalties that consigned him to the back of the grid, the Japanese driver then recovered to be running up in the fringes of the points before sliding into the wall at turn 2 on new tyres on lap 46.
Tsunoda retired from the race and caused the sister team a few headaches as this allowed the chasing pack to catch Max. Overall it was a return to Canada the team will quickly aim to forget.
Alpine’s strategists
God loves some triers, but all I’ve got to say is; what was the Alpine pit wall thinking on Sunday? Two glorious opportunities to pit Alonso under early VSCs were ignored and he was made to pit under green flag conditions in a vague attempt at a one-stop.
One has to question how a driver starting on the front row ends up behind his teammate, who started 7th, but that’s what happened for Alonso as he followed home Esteban Ocon. Just to make matters worse Fernando had to manage engine issues and was given a 5-second penalty for weaving, dropping him to P9 overall.
McLaren
Daniel Ricciardo – Qualifying: 9th | Race: 11th
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 14th | Race: 15th (despite a post-race time penalty)
A third double non-points score for the Woking team as a catalogue of issues plagued the team’s return to Canada. Daniel Ricciardo suffered a slow pitstop as the front left wouldn’t budge, losing over four seconds. He was then passed by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on fresh tyres after the Safety Car, meaning he slid out of the points.
Lando had a weekend to forget with a PU issues preventing him from running in Q2, horrific strategy, tyres not being ready for his second pit stop (in a double-stack following Ricciardo’s slow stop) and a pit-lane speeding penalty consigned Norris to his worst finish since the 2022 Bahrain GP.
Here’s hoping their luck changes at the team’s home race in Silverstone, because it has been a far from ideal season for McLaren. This despite them sitting P4 in the Constructors’ Championship.
Dishonourable mentions:
I suppose a solitary point is a respectable result for Aston Martin, considering their drivers started 16th & 17th respectively. Yet with Seb Vettel’s P3 in FP3 and Stroll’s strong record in the wet, that was a humbling Saturday afternoon for Team Silverstone.
Whilst Lance did finish 10th to maintain his perfect points-scoring record on home soil, I have to question Aston’s strategy for Vettel. Two early pitstops to attempt a final stint lasting 50 laps was even worse than Alpine’s, and that really says something considering how badly that strategy worked out for Alonso. I’m sure the team will be back to the drawing board ahead of their home race.
The paddock hops back across the Atlantic as the post-Canadian run unusually starts off at Silverstone this season. The British Grand Prix takes place on the weekend of 2nd/3rd July and kicks off a chain of 4 GPs in the month of July.
Lights out at 3 pm UK time on the Sunday, and there is a full support bill including W Series, Formula 3 and Formula 2. So motorsport fans in attendance and at home will be treated to a packed schedule of racing.
