The 2024 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix threw up an intriguing encounter under mixed conditions where three separate teams boasted a realistic chance to win.
But once again it was Max Verstappen and Red Bull who minimised the mistakes to emerge victorious as others slipped up around them, demonstrating that a competitive car is not the sole thing required to displace the reigning champions in 2024.
Red Bull arrived in Montreal in the unchartered territory of not being viewed as the overriding favourite to win an F1 race.
The previous round in Monaco had been a gruelling one for the team as its RB20 car struggled to absorb the bumps and kerbs which were essential to unlocking lap time.
Verstappen, who came home sixth in that race, was candid in his assessment that kerb-riding had been a long-standing weakness under the current ground effect regulations, which was being exposed now the pack was converging more on Red Bull.
With the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also placing a huge dependence on a car that is compliant enough to ride the kerbs, Red Bull admitted it was braced to endure damage limitation for the second consecutive round.
Instead, the onus turned to Ferrari, whose SF-24 charger had been the best in class in the Principality and was tipped to be the car to beat again due to the shared characteristics.
But while Monaco victor Charles Leclerc beamed at his scarlet red machine appearing competitive come rain or shine through the opening practice sessions, Ferrari was unable to live up to its pre-weekend billing and succumbed to a shock two-car Q2 exit.
Both drivers attributed their woes to a lack of grip, with Ferrari’s recurring struggle to generate tyre temperature in cooler conditions appearing to be an intrinsic flaw embedded in the SF-24’s car characteristics.
Ferrari’s strive to mitigate the damage come the race was undone on the second lap when Leclerc was instructed that he was losing up to five tenths each lap with an engine issue.
The technical gremlin would later worsen, costing him 80hp on the straights, and a complete reset in the pits did little to reverse his fortunes as a premature switch to slicks saw him end up a lap down before retiring.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz was on course to salvage minor points as he rediscovered speed on a drier track until he collected Alex Albon’s hapless Williams in a spin at Turn 6 to incur damage that resigned Ferrari to a first double retirement since June 2022.
Speaking in Monaco, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur commended the team’s opportunism compared to last season. However, those words fell on deaf ears at the weekend as the Maranello-based squad was at sixes and sevens across all departments.
But Vasseur has stressed the need to not “overreact” to the setback or to alter the specific working practices that have delivered the team two wins in nine races.
Nevertheless, the Canadian GP exposed some glaring limitations that will need to be overcome to see Ferrari transcend into a genuine threat to Red Bull’s pre-eminence.
While the SF-24 boasts Red Bull-contending pace at its peak, it also retains a narrower working window compared to its rivals’ cars.
However, Ferrari’s troubles didn’t relieve Red Bull from pressure as its absence was replaced with Mercedes rising to the fore.
The German marque lagged behind the leading trio in the opening eight rounds as it combated a correlation hitch with a revised car, which proved both inconsistent and unpredictable.
But Mercedes had been adamant in the weeks leading up to Canada that recent developments had delivered a breakthrough which was enabling it to make continuous inroads on the three teams that lay ahead.
McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella later agreed with that assessment, citing how there had been fleeting signs over recent races that Mercedes would be in the mix with a more benign and compliant baseline.
The introduction of a modified front wing design in Monaco seemed to provide that as Mercedes was not dogged with the same balance troubles that existed beforehand.
Mercedes had been hampered in earlier rounds whenever a circuit configuration demanded that a car had to be optimised to cope with alternate corner speed ranges. The German outfit would either dial out the chronic understeer at low speed and then be too unstable at high speed or vice versa.
But that was not prevalent in Canada as Mercedes hit the ground running once the rain subsided come the third and final practice session to front the timesheets.
George Russell would deliver on that potential to edge out Verstappen in a dead heat to take his second career pole position. The Briton controlled proceedings at the start, but an error cutting across the final chicane on Lap 22 when Norris passed him allowed Verstappen through, proving to be a decisive turning point in the race’s outcome.
When McLaren blundered Norris’ race Verstappen was in the position to benefit most rather than Russell, who had a wide moment at Turn 8 to give Norris second.
Russell would recompose to slice past Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and team-mate Lewis Hamilton on new Mediums at the end to earn Mercedes’ maiden podium this term. However, the ex-Williams racer rued wasting a chance to end Mercedes’ win drought.
Likewise, Hamilton cut a despondent figure as he labelled his showing one of his “worst drives” despite recovering three positions. The seven-time champion was on song in FP3, lapping over three-tenths faster than his rivals to the point that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described his speed as “galactical”.
That blistering pace would desert Hamilton when it counted most, though, as he wound up 0.280s down on Russell in Q3, enough to leave him as low as seventh position.
Hamilton has been dropping less than subtle indicators that something amiss has contributed to his one-lap struggles. However, he ended the previous campaign admitting that he needed to up his game having been out-qualified on a regular basis, ruling out absurd calls that his impending Mercedes exit has led to internal sabotage.
For all his ongoing dwindling low-fuel runs, Hamilton remains a formidable competitor in race conditions and had grounds to suspect that qualifying where the car belonged would’ve granted him the platform to win.
Hamilton’s woes were punished as Verstappen capitalised on his old adversary’s shortcomings to seize a front-row starting berth that had looked unattainable earlier on with a car not located in its optimal window.
Unlike Hamilton, Verstappen pieced it together when crunch time called and delivered when it mattered most at all times. There is no coincidence that when there are these chaotic races with rain involved, Verstappen tends to remain in contention.
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko claimed that the three-time champion would have triumphed driving either the Mercedes or McLaren and there are grounds to agree.
However, Norris is convinced that he did what he could to win with the McLaren car at his disposal – and he was also in a reasonable position to make that assertion.
McLaren appeared destined to usurp Verstappen once more when both drivers capitalised on Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin being a bottleneck to preserve their Intermediates during the nascent stages.
What had grown to be an eight-second deficit at one stage to the top two translated into a seven-second plus lead as Norris hunted down the leaders, scathed past Verstappen and Russell in successive laps and accelerated clear at a blinding rate.
However, Norris’ gap would be eradicated and overturned when Logan Sargeant’s stranded Williams at Turn 4 prompted a Safety Car that caught McLaren flat-footed.
Verstappen and those behind were called into the pits to switch Intermediates, but Norris circulated for an extra lap to undo his good work as he slipped back to third spot.
McLaren was unfortunate in some regards that Norris’ unmatchable pace had meant that he was on the back straight when the intervention was called, but those split-second decisions are where races can be won and lost when the margins are so tight.
The hallmark of a championship-winning team is when it makes decisions look obvious in hindsight, and McLaren is still adapting to the greater demands at the top.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner highlighted that the crossover to slicks provided McLaren with another chance, as McLaren opted to gamble on an overcut which delivered Norris the lead back until a wet pit exit saw Verstappen storm through.
Horner contended that Norris could have mitigated the temperature difference between the drivers’ slick enough to retain the lead at that moment had McLaren pitted as Verstappen was squirming around to generate grip on the Medium compound.
Although Norris was still gaining time on the cars behind right until the pit stop, Horner explained how McLaren should have had the foresight to realise that its driver would have to go through the same phase that his rivals had navigated tentatively two laps before.
Stella issued that McLaren is awaiting more updates to the MCL38 to be in a position to win races on merit and stressed that maintaining track position would not have guaranteed Norris the win due to the pace advantage Mercedes held in drier conditions.
However, that evades the point as last weekend wasn’t entirely about who had the quickest car. There was an open goal the Woking-based squad failed to capitalise on.
As Verstappen alluded to post-race, Red Bull is not in the “same flow” as last term. The Dutchman’s weekend was hindered when an electrical problem in FP2 forced him to revert to an older and used power unit in his pool.
Such minor blemishes show Red Bull is not the impenetrable force it once was last season. However, the squad is still a well-oiled machine and can depend on a driver to make the difference when not at its best.
Verstappen wasn’t immune to a mistake; he tripped across the grass at Turn 1 and that gifted Norris the chance to pass. But the Dutchman was there when necessary to ensure the action in the closing exchanges unfolded far enough behind his Red Bull.
Following heightened talk about a potential title race post-Monaco, Red Bull has delivered a resounding response with a win on a circuit that threatened to be a hurdle.
An ominous sign looms with Red Bull expected to be back on song once F1 touches down in Barcelona to begin a run of more conventional circuits on the calendar.
But even providing the other teams continue to catch up, more conviction will be needed on the pit wall and in the cockpit to topple the Red Bull and Verstappen combination.
