Lando Norris denied win as George Russell can only turn Pole into Podium – Analysis of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.
By Joe Murphy
A pulsating race kicked off the summer season of Formula 1 as Max Verstappen prevailed to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings, although this far from the easy victories we are used to from the Dutchman.
Since the start of the new era, Verstappen has now won 50 races in only 75 Grand Prix and yesterday saw the 60th time he has stood on the top step. He edges ever so confidently towards Lewis Hamilton’s record total. But he had to do it the hard way.
George Russell maintained the lead in the early stages, holding off the aforementioned Verstappen on the intermediate tyres, albeit narrowly. There were several changes in the order behind him however, with most notably Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg gaining multiple places in the opening stint, with the former even reaching the heights of 4th with vastly superior amounts of confidence on the slower but more appropriate blue marked ‘Wet’ tyre.
However, although the rain did come in the first dozen laps, it didn’t last long, nor was it heavy. The crossover had come and the Haas masterstroke now became their downfall. Both were forced into the pits and fell down the order, eventually finishing 11th and 12th. This was less than a second off the points by the final lap. As the track dried, Lando Norris found pace. In fact, both McLaren’s looked seriously quick in that semi-dry phase. First of all, Lando got Verstappen for 2nd, before flying by Russell’s Mercedes to take the lead. He proceeded to open up a gap of over ten seconds. Verstappen did eventually get Russell soon after, too.
But then, chaos. A Safety Car thanks to Logan Sergeant (who else?) added to the drama and let drivers take a cheap pit stop. Lando Norris missed the pit entry due to bad timing of the Safety Car following yellow flags. Depite putting in purple sectors on his in lap, he came out fractionally behind Verstappen’s Red Bull. The roles had reversed from what we had seen in Miami a month prior.
The question remainined for the rest of the field whether Inter or Dry Tyres were the best policy, with the mechanically struggling Ferrari of last week’s winner; Charles Leclerc opting to take the gamble. This ultimately backfired on the man from Monaco who, after being lapped by the majority of the field, retired from the race.
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton finally bested Fernando Alonso during a good weekend for Aston Martin, who would go on to achieve a much needed double points finish for both the Spaniard and hometown Canadian; Lance Stroll. Hamilton himself then had his eyes firmly on those ahead of him for the closing stint.
Laps went by before Alex Albon crashed into Carlos Sainz at no fault of either driver, bringing out another Safety Car in the drying conditions. This, before Sergio Perez also caused carnage, damaging his car in a bash against the wall which capped a pretty disastrous race that not only saw him retire prematurely, but also incur a 5-place Grid Penalty for the next outing in Spain. A terrible weekend after getting the public backing from Red Bull a few days prior in the form of a new contract.
As the Grand Prix entered its final stages, Verstappen held the chasing pack with one arm. A mistake from George Russell sent him back to below his teammate as he gave Lewis Hamilton a provisional podium, before taking it back with a lap remaining on the quicker medium tyre. Hamilton had been strategically forced to opt for the Hard Compound instead. Important to note that Russell made several errors in the duration of this event.
Lando held on for second, as he moves up the standings. He felt that his team cost him the potential win, but sometimes in F1, this is just how it goes. George Russell also sounded disappointed after the race. Hopes had been for a first Mercedes win of the season, but third and fourth is the best they could do in what Lewis Hamilton described as one of his ‘worst ever races’. A strong result though as Mercedes challenged at the front of the grid again for the first time in what seems like forever. Meanwhile, Piastri brought home more points for McLaren in 5th, to close the gap in the Constructor’s standings.
Alpine scored some points and Sauber looked nowhere near it. There was also points for Daniel Ricciardo, who had endured former World Champions of the sport questioning his abilities. To prove the doubters wrong, he claimed more precious points for Team RB, with Yuki Tsunoda making one costly mistake to fall out of the top 10 and deny a double points finish for the sister Red Bull team.
Double DNFs for Ferrari and Williams but a good weekend for Verstappen who will go into Spanish race in a fortnight, on the back of an impressive victory.
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