Luke’s Weekend Review – Canadian GP 2024

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Canadian GP 2024: Verstappen Triumphs in Rain-Soaked Drama

Canada GP 2

Montreal has come and gone, and this race was quite full of action and drama as predicted due to the weather. The race was full of surprises from start to finish, it definitely kept me on my toes throughout the race and the battles were intense as well throughout the field.

The track was damp but there was no rain going down at the start of the race. At Sauber we see both drivers opt to start from the pitlane after they didn’t have the best qualifying, so they did some set up changes to get a better chance in the race.

All drivers on the grid opt to go for the inters to start the race apart from the Haas pair who went for the full wets on a massive gamble to try and get some good results in the Canadian GP. During the formation lap we start getting reports that a cell of rain is on the way which will last 10-15 minutes. FIA also confirm that we will be getting a standing start for the race and after the drivers go round the track for the formation lap, they all line up on the grid and at lights out we see George Russell manage to keep the lead into Turn 1 from Max Verstappen however Daniel Ricciardo had a poor start as he dropped to 7th place from 5th. As if this wasn’t bad enough for Ricciardo, he was investigated for a false start and later in the race got given a 5 second penalty.

The Haas pair, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg where the guys to watch as by Lap 3 we see the pair up in P4 and P8 from P14 and P18 respectively and at this point of the race it seems like they have played a blinder and they were managing to overtake most of the grid like it was nothing due to the additional grip they were getting by driving on the wet part of the track. This however didn’t last long as by Lap 8 we see Magnussen pit from P4 and then come back out in P14 on fresh inters. His teammate, Hulkenberg tries to hold off for a Safety Car, but this didn’t come and had to come into the pits on Lap 13 for fresh inters as well after Daniel Ricciardo was able to finally clear him after a few good laps as the inters were getting quicker than the wets.

At Ferrari it wasn’t the best start as on Lap 4 we hear a radio message to Charles Leclerc saying that the team can see something strange with the engine and that they are checking it, they didn’t seem to be too concerned by this as they asked him to keep pushing. This lasted a while as later in the race we hear Leclerc saying it is too hard to overtake and when he asked how much he is losing on the straights it got a bit heated between him and his engineer as his engineer didn’t answer him with how much he is losing, we hear Leclerc saying to actually give him a number when he is asking him and eventually he tells him he is losing half a second on the straights which is quite crucial for Leclerc.

On Lap 6 we have a heart stopping moment where we see Logan Sargeant in the wall at Turn 6, but luckily Sargeant gets going again as he only slightly hit his front wing and got no damage. On Lap 7 we see a small battle emerge between 2 veterans on the grid Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso who were battling for position as we see Alonso cut the final chicane as he couldn’t slow down in time and slowed down enough to not take an advantage and this put Hamilton in contention and I think Hamilton got a bit too eager a bit too quick as he goes side by side into Turn 1 with Alonso but wasn’t able to slow down in time and also cut the corner and rejoined the track ahead of Alonso. Hamilton immediately gives the place back to Alonso to avoid getting in trouble with the stewards.

Up in front, Russell was managing the race brilliantly as he was keeping Verstappen at bay, however on lap 11 it seems that Verstappen was picking up the pace and he started closing in on Russell, but on Lap 13 we hear a radio message to Russell saying that there is a rain shower coming in 20 mins and to try and take care of his  inters but Max was by Lap 14 right on his gearbox. This battle was allowing Lando Norris who was driving in 3rd close in on the pair as he had lost touch a bit from the front 2 runners. After a few laps behind Russell we see Verstappen run wide into Turn 1 & 2 which allowed Norris to close right up to Verstappen and put him under threat of an overtake.

Canadian GP 2024: Russell's Pole and Haas' Wet Tire Gamble Add Excitement to Rainy Race

On Lap 18 the track had a fairly dry line, and DRS was enabled which wasn’t good news for Verstappen as this meant that Norris can fully attack him with the help of DRS given that Norris was driving 6 tenths behind him. And after 3 laps of trying, Norris was able to overtake Verstappen into the last chicane as the McLaren was really fast in these drying conditions. Shortly after Norris was able to overtake Verstappen, he went one step further and overtook Russell for the lead on Lap 21 as we see Russell go straight over the chicane as he locked up a bit and this put him out of position and was easy pickings for Norris. Verstappen also took the opportunity and overtook Russell here as Russell was trying to gather himself up due to the lack of grip from cutting the chicane and lost 2 places in 1 corner.

Sargeant was able to get away with it on Lap 6 however he wasn’t so lucky on Lap 25 as we cut to a shot of him in the middle of the track this time at Turn 4 with some broken parts on the rear and this time, the young American driver was not able to get going again and had to retire the car. This incident brings out the Safety Car and most people take this opportunity to pit for a cheap stop and get some fresh inters on. Norris up front opted to stay out for 1 extra lap to see what everyone else was doing for strategy but this ended up costing him as he thought he had a big enough gap to pit a lap later but the Safety Car picked him up which slowed him down and Norris comes back out in 3rd place. Under the Safety Car we see Hamilton manage to take Alonso in the pits as Mercedes were able to service Hamilton quicker than Alonso.

Leclerc a lap before the Safety Car came in decided to pit once more for the Hard compounds as a gamble to get a good result but this wasn’t the only reason as the pitstop lasted 24 seconds as he was restarting some systems on the car to try and sort the engine issues. After he comes back out, Ferrari reports that the engine issue seems to be sorted but Leclerc had other issues now as he was on slicks with rain incoming.

At the restart we see Verstappen get a good launch and catches the pack napping a bit as he was able to get a gap on them and at Turn 1, he was still ahead. Unfortunately for Leclerc, the gamble on the hards wasn’t panning out as he was going off the track, but we also hear his engineer telling Leclerc that if he manages to keep it on track for 2 laps, the rain should stop, and the track will start drying out. DRS gets disabled on Lap 31 and Leclerc’s time wasn’t getting any quicker as by this point, he was 45 seconds behind the leader. On Lap 32 however, Leclerc had to call it quits and pitted again for the inters as the Hards weren’t good enough to keep it on track. As if this wasn’t bad enough for Leclerc, on Lap 37 he was lapped by the top 5 and then on Lap 43 Ferrari called him in to finally retire the car as the engine issues seemed to have resurfaced.

On Lap 31 we see probably the best overtake we have seen this season and it will be hard to see a better one as we see Alex Albon overtake 2 cars on the back straight into the last chicane as he squeezes past Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon through a tight gap, this takes Albon from 11th to 9th. On Lap 32 we see a very small incident between Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas as we see Sainz hit the back of Bottas car and losing a bit of his end plate on the front wing. On Lap 40 we see the return of DRS as the track, again was drying out and it wasn’t long before we see Pierre Gasly come in for some slick tyres and put the Hards on, he had a moment as he went out the pits but was able to stay out of any trouble and get going again.

Gasly going into the pits triggers a wave of drivers coming in for the slick tyres as we see Hamilton pit from 5th to go on Hards and come back out in 8th as Oscar Piastri pits a lap later and manages to stay ahead of Hamilton meaning the over cut was working still for now. On Lap 45 we see Verstappen and Russell pit as Norris opts to stay out for a few more laps. On Lap 48 we do see Norris pit and due to him staying out 3 laps longer he was able to get out from the pits just ahead of Verstappen but due to his tyres being cold he had a small moment and with Verstappen having warmer tyres he was able to get past him on Turn 2.

On Lap 49 we see Norris slip up into the hairpin and this allowed Russell to get DRS and overtook him into the chicane after the back straight. While at the front we hear Verstappen on Lap 50 saying that he is not too happy with his ride and that he can’t touch the kerbs it nearly throws him off. Russell on the other hand paid Norris a favour for the slipup Norris had on Lap 49 as on Lap 51, Russell goes wide into Turns 8 & 9 and luckily kept it out of the wall but Norris made it past him but this time Russell had DRS again, but Norris managed to keep him behind him.

On Lap 53 we see some more drama as we cut to a shot with Sergio Perez in the wall at Turn 6 with his rear in the wall, Perez gets going again with a broken rear wing to limp back to the pits. This was all a plot from Red Bull to avoid getting a Safety Car with Verstappen in front. This was quite dangerous, and the stewards also thought the same as after the race Red Bull was fined €25K and Perez got a 3 place grid penalty for this in Barcelona. Unfortunately this was all in vain for Red Bull as a lap later we see Yellow Flags again and we see Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz sideways at Turn 6, Sainz managed to get going again however Albon was not so lucky as he had a rear puncture and rear damage. On the replay we see that Sainz lost his car and caught Albon’s car in his spin. Sainz despite getting going again only made it to the pits to retire which makes it a double DNF for both Ferrari and Williams.

Safety Car comes in on Lap 58 which gives us 12 racing laps, Max goes at the same spot and after 1 lap he is nearly 2 seconds ahead of Norris in 2nd. In 4th we see Russell and Oscar Piastri have a bit of a battle on Lap 64 and the pair touch as Russell attempts to overtake Piastri, however due to the collision Russell goes wide at the chicane and allowed his teammate Lewis Hamilton past him. Hamilton was able to get past Piastri on Lap 66 into the last chicane and Russell was then able to do the same one lap later. On Lap 69, we see Russell also able to get past Hamilton as Mercedes didn’t call any team orders other than a request to keep the racing clean. Hamilton however was going to have one last chance on the last lap to try and get his teammate back.

Max Verstappen was able to take the chequered flag after a tricky race for everyone followed by Lando Norris, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, and Esteban Ocon form the Top 10. Hamilton was not able to get his teammate back as he was on the Hards however he was able to get the fastest lap of the race on the last lap. Lando Norris seemed to be the fan favourite as he gets driver of the day.

Who do you think was the biggest winners and the biggest losers of the Canadian GP? We now head to a week break and then we go to Barcelona for the Spanish GP.

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