Luke’s Weekend Take – Canadian GP 2024

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Canadian GP 2024: Russell Secures Pole Amidst Weather Uncertainty

Canada 2024 1

It is Round 9 of the Formula 1 2024 season and we are back in Montreal for the Canadian GP which is a track known for the wall of champions, groundhogs sightings on track and a bit of rain.

We start in FP1 where we get information that the track has been fully resurfaced and there has been some upgrades to the kerbs and also runoffs as we see some chicanes implement some grass instead of tarmac leaving a concrete path with the scope of slowing drivers down if they cut the corners. Mercedes also confirm that Lewis Hamilton now has all the upgrades from the last time out in Monaco where George Russell had the new front wing. Hamilton also gets a new power unit on his car, and they also confirm that both cars, despite the upgrades are running the old spec front wing.

FP1 was just after some rain and the track was very wet and the session started in time but the pitlane remained closed for the drivers due to some standing water and the marshals were busy trying to dry the track enough for drivers to get on track. 10 minutes in the session we see the fans put the ponchos back on as it starts raining again and we also see the Safety Car and Medical Car go round the track to assess how wet it is. Jack Doohan was nominated to run in FP1 and this is not so well for him as there hasn’t been much running in this session but we might see some running for the last 35 mins as it was announced that it will open with 35 mins left in the session and we do hear some engines running and drivers getting ready.

Hamilton was the first one out as the lights went green on the pitlane as he goes out on some exploratory laps to see how driveable the track is and he came out straight onto the inters while Valtteri Bottas opted for the full wets but after 1 lap he told the team that he thinks they can do inters and this was the same throughout the field as anyone who was on the full wets was coming in to get the inters on. With 28 minutes left on the session we see a Red Flag come out as we see Zhou Guanyu pull over to the side of the track with a broken front suspension and after a replay we see Zhou lose his Sauber on Turn 5 as he reports that he lost the car due to aquaplaning and went straight into the wall breaking his suspension and getting a rear puncture. Red Flag was cleared fairly quick, and session restarted with 23 minutes left and drivers again got going again trying to understand a bit where the grip is on this newly resurfaced track.

With 10 minutes to go in the session we see all the drivers back in the pits and with nearly half the grid with no time on the board. Jack Doohan who was replacing Esteban Ocon for FP1 was the unluckiest as he did not manage to get a full lap as when he came out on track was when Zhou crashed, and the Red Flag came out and he did not come back out on track for the remainder of the session. With 5 minutes to go we see Charles Leclerc out on softs who was the first one out on the slick tyres, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris also come out on the soft tyres to see how the conditions are. Despite a few drivers losing control of their cars with no crashes luckily, we did see that the soft ended up being the quickest as Lando Norris gets the quickest time followed by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

In FP2 the session starts dry but with the risk of rain being 100% in FP2 the drivers will be very keen to get out there similar to what we seen in FP1 where we see the drivers make as much as they could to get as much data as they can. And just ahead of the drivers coming out we start seeing some rain drops but the drivers got the slicks on to start FP2. Sainz was out on mediums, and he immediately comes on the radio saying it’s too wet for the mediums while his teammate Leclerc waited a bit and came out on the inters. This however didn’t go as well for Leclerc as he was noted down by the stewards for tyre usage which was predicted to be that Leclerc went out on inters before the track was declared wet. This will be investigated after the session. Ferrari in the end got a €5000 fine for this.

After a few good laps on the slicks and seems like the grip was building, 15 minutes in we get reports of more rain and the track started to get tricky as at Turn 10 there were a few drivers going wide due to the rain, however this didn’t last too long as drivers stayed out and continued to improve their times as we see Leclerc was at the top of the leaderboard 25 mins in on mediums and at the same time we see Max Verstappen come into the pits and radios in his team to prepare the fans as he smells smoke and it seemed that there was some sort of issues with his Red Bull as he got out the car and actually jumped away from the car. Unfortunately this was the end of Verstappen’s session as the issue was not a minor issue and they couldn’t fix it during the session.

Ferrari seemed to be the talk of the radio chatter as a few drivers complained about both Ferrari drivers as they kept getting in the way of drivers when they were on fast laps. After about 10 mins of no running for anyone due to the rain intensifying, we do see some drivers come back out on the inters to get some more running on them. Small moment for Leclerc at Turn 10 as he lost it and did a bit of a doughnut to get his car facing the right way which was very well received by the fans on the grand stands. At the end of FP2 we see Fernando Alonso top the leaderboard followed by George Russell and Lance Stroll.

Canadian GP 2024: Russell's Pole Position Highlights a Weekend of Unpredictable Weather

Heading now into the Saturday sessions and we start in FP3 where it is the last chance for drivers to get to grips with the track and fine tune their setups ahead of qualifying later on the Saturday. FP3 was dry which was good news for everyone around as we might get an hour of proper running without any interruptions from the rain. Max Verstappen was first out on track after losing 35 minutes of running due to an ERS issue that the Red Bull team spent a long time at night to fix. Most drivers opt to go out on the medium tyres, and it wasn’t long before we see Max have a snap of oversteer on the last chicane as he was trying to make ground for lost time.

5 minutes into the session we see another Red Flag who was also caused by Guanyu once more as he gets his Sauber beached at Turn 1 as he goes into the corner too quick and hits the rear a bit. After another 5 mins of lost time, the car was cleared from the track and the lights went green once more. For the majority of the rest of the session it was normal running as there was some race simulations, qualifying runs and some long runs. With 11 minutes to go we see Alex Albon hit the wall of champions as he takes too much sausage kerb on the last chicane, and it threw him into the wall where we see his rear suspension being bent. Albon was able to get round the track slowly and back to the pits without causing any Red Flags but that was the end of the session for Albon.

Big moment between Logan Sargeant and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri as Sargeant was on a fast lap and as he is approaching the last chicane, he found the McLaren pulling into his way, Sargeant manages to avoid any collisions. Max Verstappen on his last flying lap had a moment as he hit the wall of champions as well with his rear wheel but no damage for the current world champion. At the end of the session we see Lewis Hamilton top the leaderboard followed by Max Verstappen and George Russell.

Onto qualifying now and it seems that qualifying seems to be dry, but it is very grey, and FIA informed us that there is 80% chance of rain. This will make it crucial for all drivers to set their laps at the right time. Straight away in Q1, Lando Norris gets a radio message saying that there were reports of light drops at Turn 8 & 9 but nothing of concern yet. Track seems to be improving with every lap as the times keep getting quicker and quicker, Lance Stroll had a moment as well on the wall of champions as he clips his wheels on the wall, he says that the car feels ok but asks team to advise on the state of the car. In Q1 we lose Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu. Very shocking for Perez, given that Max was quickest in Q1. Esteban Ocon, despite qualifying 17th will be starting the race in last place due to the 5 grid penalty he got in Monaco last time out for clashing with his teammate.

In Q2 we see the fans put on their ponchos again as it started raining around Turns 7 & 8 but there is blue skies over Turn 1 so this should be interesting for qualifying to see what happens. Reports are that this should last for 2-3 minutes. This didn’t seem to impact the drivers as they were still out on slicks and still improving on their times. With 7 minutes left in Q2 we get a weather report that rain should be coming in 9 minutes so we will get a dry Q2 but a potential wet one in Q3. Russell has a big moment in Turn 4 as he loses the rear for a bit but manages to catch it and keep going but that was a very close call and could have been a session ending one. In Q2 we lose Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly with a massive shock with both Ferrari out of Q2. Let’s hope they can make some ground up tomorrow.

Q3 is underway and drivers are out to get their banker laps down so if the rain does come, they could have some good laps behind them. After the 1st initial runs, we see George Russell with provisional pole followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in 3rd. Onto the final runs now and this is what it all comes down to for tomorrow’s race and so far, the rain has not interrupted which is very good for qualifying. Mercedes seem to be the team to beat this weekend in qualifying as their new front wing seems to be working very well. George Russell’s first run lap gets him pole as Max Verstappen was able to put in the same time as him on the last run but due to Russell setting the time first he gets pole. Top 10 for tomorrow will be George Russell, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll and  Alex Albon.

Who do you think will come out on top tomorrow? Will the race be a dry race, or will the predicted rain cause some drama and upsets? Keep an eye out tomorrow for the post-race article to get all the action.

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