Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix 2022 – My Take

Although the final classification illustrates a close and exciting race, thanks to a 16 laps sprint race generated by the Safety Car after Tsunoda crashed into the barriers out of the pit lane, we’ve unfortunately seen a repeat of the last races, exacerbated by the fact that Leclerc and Perez, two of the main contenders, were starting from the last row and out of the race after 9 laps respectively.

Verstappen is in a state of grace and even with Sainz constantly behind him, he never appeared to be in a real struggle, especially since his Red-Bull has a massive straight line speed advantage, as discussed in many previous races.
With Ferrari having also reliability issues and with only Leclerc being able to win wheel-to-wheel fight against the Dutch, as Sainz again proved is just one step below them, I can’t see the output of the next races (in normal conditions), as most of circuits will be similar to Baku and Montreal, to be much different from the last ones.

It was interesting to see how different the mid-table battle was, only seven days after the last GP, as Alfa, McLaren, Alpine, Aston Martin, Haas and Alpha Tauri are so close that the smallest issue and change in the situation, like higher temperatures, longer straights, different tyres compounds, completely shakes up the order.
Again solid races from Ocon and Bottas, but we’re starting already to see long DRS trains as in the past, even with these new cars, as I’ve never seen Formula One being so close one behind the other in Montreal.

Thanks to the increased aerodynamic grip, I can see that set-ups are always more aggressive, with thin rear wings, making it more difficult to have the final winning spurt on the straights as engines reach their limits too early, before the two cars are side-to-side.

Finally, let’s talk about another Mercedes miraculous (sarcasm alert) recovery.
After media push in Baku, with team radio and interviews, amplified by the British journalists, the FIA allowed the use of a second floor stay on Thursday, which surprisingly only Mercedes was able to deploy already the following day, with Toto having the audacity to say it was developed overnight, while flying from Baku to Montreal.
The result is that Hamilton back pain suddenly vanished, Wolf wasn’t constantly complaining about drivers health and safety, even if the W13 was clearly still bouncing, and the gap reduced from the one minute of Baku, to the few seconds in Canada; and that is awaiting possible further rules changes in the next weeks.
 
Let’s hope that the FIA intervention is kept to the minimum and that we’ll talk less about what Team principals say, good for Netflix series, and more about on-track action.

See you soon after Silverstone!