Analysis of the Canadian Grand Prix, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit
GEORGE Russell hasn’t been short of creating iconic visual memories in his F1 career to date and the sight of him hurling his headrest out of the car in Canada will surely be added to that list.
We had just witnessed an intense 30 lap battle between the two Silver Arrows with Russell and Antonelli swapping for the lead more times than you could count, with intense wheel to wheel action throughout.
Suddenly, however, Russell’s car stopped by the side of the track with a suspected engine failure and his weekend was over, clearing the path for Antonelli to take his fourth win in a row.
Russell struggled to hide his frustration and his headrest took the brunt of his anger. He felt it was his race to win and was a chance to narrow the gap in the Drivers’ Championship.
However, this latest piece of misfortune for the Brit has put the young Italian 43 points ahead of his title rivals, cementing his place as an early championship favourite.
Prior to this incident, Russell had enjoyed a fruitful weekend, demonstrating not only that Mercedes still held a performance advantage over the rest of the field, but also his appetite to challenge his younger teammate.
He had qualified on pole for the sprint race and converted that into a race win and also qualified on pole for the main Sunday race.
Antonelli was never too far away, however, qualifying alongside him for both races.
The battle between the two Mercedes was undoubtedly a treat for the fans throughout the weekend and credit should go to the team for allowing their drivers to battle it out.
The drivers themselves appeared to be enjoying it too with Russell saying he “hadn’t seen a battle like this in years” with Antonelli similarly describing it “as a really fun battle”. But in the heat of the scrap, there is always the danger of going too far.
After all, there are team considerations, sponsors and investors to think about and a coming together would not have gone down well with the powers that be.
Toto Wolf seemed reasonably relaxed about his driver tussles, although lap 24 of the main race did cause some alarm when Antonelli locked up alongside Russell and they almost collided.
That prompted a warning for both drivers from their race engineers that any further untidy racing and they would start to intervene with team orders.
Whilst Russell’s engine failure put a stop to the Mercedes battle, given the talent of both drivers and the superior performance of each car, fans can expect much more of this as the season progresses.
For now, both drivers are enjoying it and team management are comfortable that the battle is within a reasonable window of risk.
Whether that will change any time soon, time will tell, but for fans it’s providing a real treat.
Elsewhere, McLaren had looked to be the main challenger over the weekend.
Norris and Piastri had taken the second row in qualifying for both races and in the sprint race Norris had managed to split the two Mercedes cars to finish second.
When it came to the main race on Sunday, both sides of the McLaren garage opted to start on intermediate tyres. There was drizzle in the air, track temperature was low and the pre-race exploratory laps showed conditions to be slippery.
McLaren had clearly expected conditions to worsen, but were in the minority in their tyre choice. Whilst the extra grip did mean that Norris got off to a lightning start and led the race going into the first corner, it swiftly became clear that the conditions were better suited to dry tyres.
Both drivers then had to pit almost immediately for the change to the better performing tyre, putting them significantly out of place and hampering the planned strategy.
Troubles were compounded later on as Norris had a gearbox failure on lap 39 putting an end to his race, whilst Piastri had a collision with Albon resulting in a ten second penalty for the Australian putting an end to his chances of a podium.
There was an interesting battle for the ages for the remaining podium spots, with Hamilton and Verstappen – two of the most successful drivers of all time – fighting it out in a highly entertaining duel with positions swapped throughout the race.
The decisive move came with six laps to go as Hamilton’s patience paid off and he held off the Dutch challenge to finish second, his best result as a Ferrari driver.
Leclerc in the other Ferrari finished fourth, with Hadjar in the other Red Bull fifth.
Alpine continued their strong progress with Colapinto sixth and Gasly eighth, with Lawson in the Racing Bull sandwiching the two. Sainz in the Williams and Bearman in the Haas completed the top ten.
As is often the case, Canada produced a compelling race weekend with the weather adding to the challenge for drivers.
The Mercedes battle at the front will rumble on whilst the chasing pack continue to narrow the gap to the front, offering fans much to look forward to for the upcoming European section of the calendar. Teams have a week off to prepare for the challenge of Monaco, which is set for 5 June.
* Laurence Jones is senior manager, Marketing and Communications, Bahrain International Circuit
l.jones@bic.com.bh
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