Sunday\u2019s race in Montreal feels to me as if it may be one of the defining moments of the season in a championship fight between the Mercedes, yet we were also in some ways robbed of it, concluding by an on-track incident or the race reaching its full distance. Kimi Antonelli took in what on the surface is a ten-second dominating victory but has the championship momentum decisively shifted.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, old rivalries renewed with a fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, and a \u2018hero or zero\u2019 call, which made McLaren look like \u201cidiots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Montreal has often been a flashpoint in the season, whether that be Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg, the collisions over the years, or last year between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. A decade on, Mercedes finds themselves in another inter-team fight for the championship.<\/p>\n
Russell, from the start of the weekend, was aware that he needed to start fighting back after his teammate won the three Grand Prix in a row. Going into this weekend, he appeared fired up and was needed after a difficult Miami. He had recovered from a poor start and regained the lead; to me, it seemed that he was fighting back and was able to win that race.<\/p>\n
Mercedes was aided in building an early advantage by McLaren’s frankly bizarre decision to start on inters on a dry track. But while I think in the big picture of the race, it made little difference, Russell has also been hindered by technical issues earlier in the season, which have hindered his race results. Deflated, he said after the race it feels like somebody doesn’t want me to fight or compete for this championship”.<\/p>\n
Russell’s references to luck refer to a series of situations where the dice have very much fallen in Antonelli’s favour. As we have said many times during this stop-start first three months of the season, that narrative going into the season \u2018Russell\u2019s championship too lose\u2019 has been upended by Antonelli.<\/p>\n
There were so many moments when commentating on that race, knowing the history of things which have happened in Montreal, waiting for the moment when it overboiled to a more serious collision. But the team know how to manage fights like this, and it feels knowing the history of teammate rivalries that a more serious incident is not an \u2018if but when\u2019 situation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a very interesting storyline we have developing, as in the sprint, as well, there was also nearly a collision. But the moment when it appeared to be going too far was when they touched at the final chicane, in the words of Toto Wolff, “It’s always easy at the end now to say, ‘well, that was great for the team and great for the sport, didn’t we all enjoy watching the battling?’ That is true to a degree, but there is another side which we need to look at, that it was close a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKimi tucking back in and locking the tyres could have ended up in a double DNF and not because of over-aggressive driving, simply by a mistake. The same through the last chicane with that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The teams\u2019 upgrades looked to have moved them back ahead to where they were before their rivals brought their upgrades, with a small but undeniable advantage, and although the top five were in the same order for both Sprint and main Grand Prix. Wolff suggested that, if there are future races without a pace advantage, it may also lead to the toning down of the duelling. My mind went back to this race in 2016, which was two races after the team had a double DNF in Barcelona caused by a collision between Hamilton-Rosberg and a following one in Austria.<\/p>\n
Antonelli’s fourth consecutive win and Russell’s misfortune mean 43 points split the Mercedes drivers after five rounds, going into next week’s Monaco Grand Prix. The Italian says he was determined to “keep raising the bar” as he looks to hold off challenges from Russell and the chasing pack. Antonelli said, “I’m not thinking about the championship. I think it’s still very, very early to talk about that. I’m just focusing on race by race.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind Russell\u2019s retirement, we had a renewed rivalry as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought it out for the final podium positions between them. Last weekend, to me, felt like the best weekend that Hamilton has had as a Ferrari driver. I think these regulations have suited him more as they are similar to those of 2009 and 2014 in terms of driving style.<\/p>\n
I think over the opening five rounds, after the difficulties in the last cycle that had him reach rock bottom last season, it should be no surprise that Hamilton\u2019s best whole weekend was. Hamilton outshone team-mate Charles Leclerc throughout the Sprint weekend in Montreal to claim his best result at Ferrari and just his second podium.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was aided by two virtual safety cars, which kept him within touching distance during the middle part of the race. The seven-time champion was back on Verstappen\u2019s tail, and they went into the last thirteen laps with the Ferrari less than a second adrift. I think the patience was key, and with six to go, he finally made it through, with a delicious move around the outside of the Red Bull into the first corner.<\/p>\n
Verstappen came back at the Ferrari, challenging him into the first corner a lap later and pressured him for the rest of the race, but Hamilton held on for his best result for Ferrari in a grand prix, and Verstappen took his first podium of the year in third.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThese guys [Ferrari] have welcomed me with open arms, and it’s been pretty tough over the past year and a bit, so to finally find our sweet spot and have a good weekend has really been an amazing feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton went into the weekend needing a big performance after two difficult events. However, unlike Russell, the seven-time world champion got the response he was looking for as he let his driving do the talking… There has been talk in the press about whether he should retire at the end\u00a0\u00a0 of the season if he can continue on this trajectory, and even, given Mercedes’ dominance, whether he can regularly match the top two. The years of experience played into the way they fought. They are not fighting as things stand for the championship.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of people that are trying to retire me and that’s not even on my thoughts. I’m already thinking of what will be next, planning for the next five years. But yeah, still plan to be here for some time.” It\u2019s understood not only does Hamilton have a Ferrari contract for 2027, but an option, should he wish, to remain at the team in 2028.<\/p>\n
Whichever answer Hamilton’s was aimed at, he wanted to make public that you won’t get rid of him easily. Contracts can be broken, though, and there are usually performance clauses for the team and driver, so, with his comments, there was extra attention on Hamilton now for the weekend, and he certainly thrived on it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Verstappen had a good weekend in the bigger picture of the issues he has had this season. I feel now the pressure is off in his fight with Hamilton; you are going to have hard racing. They were both on the limit but not over the limit, which I believe shows their experience, with eleven championships between them, as well as their bitterly fought and controversial 2021 title fight.<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri admitted the tyre call made the team look “like idiots”. The team were the only team in the top four to start on the inters, while it gave them a better getaway, they pitted both cars at the end of the first lap.<\/p>\n
From third, Norris actually took the lead from the two Mercedes but pitted at the end of the second lap as his intermediates began to overheat. Piastri said during the extra formation laps caused by Arvid Lindblad that McLaren had “made a mistake”, delaying the start around seen minutes later than scheduled.<\/p>\n
Piastri told Sky Sports, \u201cIt was raining and between the anthem and getting in the car, it was pretty wet on the ground. You could clearly tell where it was wet and dry. Getting to the grid on slicks was not easy, getting to full throttle was tough. Unfortunately for us, it stopped raining. If it rained a little bit more, we would have looked like heroes. It didn’t, so we looked like idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Stella thinks that had the rain had \u201clasted for a few more minutes, and the start had happened at the right time\u201d, the drivers on dry tyres would have struggled. I feel it was one of those decisions; if it was right, we would be praised as \u2018geniuses.\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to note that five other teams opted for intermediates, most crucially both McLarens, who were convinced that slick tyre runners would struggle and\/or crash. But they had the most to lose, maybe if the original start had gone ahead it might have paid off, but the extra formation laps.<\/p>\n
But it could also point to a bigger problem, as Norris explained, \u201cin the cold conditions we couldn’t get the fronts up to temperature, which made the car hard to handle, but even so I think we were on for decent points. There are still plenty of positives to take from the weekend. Our pace was strong, we fought the Mercedes, and the support from the fans was brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris conceded that his retirement from the Grand Prix put himself and the team \u201cout of our misery\u201d but vowed to take the positives following a challenging day for McLaren. I thought in commentary on the race, this was either a genius move or one which would backfire spectacularly.<\/p>\n
Explaining the starting tyre choice: \u201cIt was just, if the rain shifted one per cent more, I think [that] would\u2019ve suited me nicely. It didn\u2019t, and it went maybe one per cent the other way and it\u2019s tough to know these kind of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, it was not a bad decision for Lap One, like it worked out in a way, but at the same time\u2026 Well it was a wrong decision, so we have to accept that and learn what we can use with the information we had to make a better decision next time.\u201d Despite everything over the opening races, it could be an interesting fight as we return to Europe.<\/p>\n
Things went from bad to worse. Norris parked his broken car on the same Turn 10. It’s the eighth race in a decade, including two which were cancelled, where McLaren have not scored points and so definitely a bogey track for them. But they could have won that race if the battle between Antonelli and Russell had ended differently, and IF they had a more serious contact, that would have been a win for McLaren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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