Formula 1: Verstappen dominates in Montreal and reaches Senna with 41 victories

Unresolved crises: Perez

Mid-June was a weekend where crises are confirmed, starting with Perez who continues his negative phase. He cannot be defined as missing but he drives in a decidedly inferior way compared to the polish required of a top driver who at the beginning of the season had declared his intention to fight for the title. Above all, it cannot be forgotten, considering that he drives the car twice world champion in a row, as well as apparently ‘almost unbeatable’ in this first third of the 2023 vintage. And it doesn’t matter that he set the fastest lap at the last minute. . Sixth place is certainly not what one would expect from someone like him, 51 seconds behind the similar car. It’s true that he had started far behind, but he struggled so much to get back on top that Alonso, for a good part of the race, seemed mathematically able to put his nose in front of him in the world ranking of drivers; which, most likely, could happen anyway in the next few weeks.

Ferrari in slight growth, but is still behind

The conditions for a good weekend were partly there. In the race, then, Ferrari made one stop less and seemed to be able to manage the tires better. However, finishing fourth and fifth shows that the riders and the pit wall are still in trouble. To begin with, the identical race tactics for both cars will undoubtedly be an aspect to examine as well as a detail that will lend itself to criticism: when there is so little to lose, perhaps more could have been risked. After the excellent times, Sainz third in P2 and Leclerc second in P3, many have hoped for a return to the podium. But there was no shortage of disappointments for other Italian motorized vehicles as well. It must be said that Hulkemberg, with the Haas, had set nothing less than the second fastest time in qualifying. But due to excessive speed under a red flag, he was relegated to fifth on the grid. Unfortunately for him, the race pace wasn’t there, like for his mate, and both finished without points.

Stroll’s ‘joke’, who dreamed of a comeback on his home circuit

There is no doubt that Lance Stroll has been driving a car that can compete with the best since the beginning of the year: Alonso is third in the world championship, an ever shorter distance from Perez, and in the first eight races he has already hit six podiums. For the Asturian it is the best start to the season in 10 years because, after fighting for the title in 2013, he has never scored more than 81 points (both in 2021 and 2022), while in 2023 before this race he he had already pocketed 99.

The twenty-four year old from Montreal therefore arrives at the Canadian Grand Prix with a very competitive car and he himself admits to the local press that “certainly this year there are more opportunities than in other years”. And if in the four Canadian GPs disputed so far Stroll’s best result is ninth place (2017, 2019), even this year he still hasn’t managed to do better. Considering the fact that he is in eighth place in the drivers’ world standings, the highest position in his career, as little consolation, yesterday he started from sixteenth after a thirteenth time trial (with three places of relegation for having hindered Gasly in Q1). But in the end, hanging out over the tenth throughout the race, he sadly manages to grab the ‘usual’ ninth. After seven years in Formula 1, with the car that he has, he is undoubtedly still far behind the expectations of the team and family.

A mediocre weekend since Friday

The first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix had already started on the wrong foot before being interrupted due to problems with local security cameras at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The FIA ​​had to give in to the fact that the circuit’s local safety cameras were not synchronized correctly and the session could not resume until the problem was resolved for safety reasons. Incidentally, the session had already been delayed once, when Alpine driver Pierre Gasly’s driveshaft jammed necessitated the red flag.