FORMULA 1
By Vlad Roman,
General Manager, Smart Games
Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve built on the artificial island of Notre Dame, created in 1967 for the World Exhibition, hosted the tenth stage of this year’s championship. The circuit was originally named Île Notre-Dame, but after the death of the late Canadian driver in the 1982 Zolder qualifiers, it took his name as a tribute.
The first race took place here in 1978 and was won by the same Gilles Villeneuve to the delight of the spectators and of course the Ferrari team he was driving for.
Today the circuit has changed a bit, it has 14 turns, two DRS zones, two straight lines on which the speed of over 315 km/h can be reached and two tight hairpins arranged at opposite ends of the circuit. It is a difficult and very technical circuit on the walls of which many champions have left their mark.
The first practice session was canceled due to camera problems, in FP2 the Mercedes drivers had the best times, and in the last practice session Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin put their main drivers in the top 3 positions.
In qualifying the rain messed up the games of Leclerc and Perez who missed Q3, but Max managed to secure pole for the second time at the circuit in Montreal. The Hulk finished second but following the penalty he had to give up his place on the grid to Alonso, Hamilton and Russell.
As expected Verstappen won by a margin, albeit only 9.5 seconds ahead of Alonso who after a nice battle for 2nd place with Hamilton managed to overtake and keep the Brit on his back until the end the race.
Red Bull are celebrating their 100th Canadian GP win in 2023, achieving a feat that only four other teams have achieved so far.
This time Ferrari had a perfect strategy, they didn’t pit on the safety car, they had a good pace and the only pit stop was the optimal option for them to place both drivers in 4th and 5th places, which which was the second best result this year.
After the end of the Canadian grand prix, we see a Red Bull consolidating its leading position with a score almost double that of the next ranked, an Aston Martin blowing in the back of the Mercedes in 2nd place and Ferrari finishing the platoon of the top teams. Among the drivers, only Verstappen, Perez, Alonso and Hamilton have more than 100 points, and the battle for 2nd and 3rd places is likely to be between the bottom three, because Max is unstoppable.
Until the next race in Austria we wait two weeks when all the teams start working on single-seaters, most of the improved ones will be seen at Spielberg, Silverstone and Budapest.
The second sprint stage takes place on the Red Bull Ring circuit, so Friday was practice and qualifying for the Sunday race, Saturday the sprint-shootout and the sprint race, and Sunday the actual race.
In the only practice session Max was fastest, followed by the Ferrari drivers and Hamilton, qualifying took place under the threat of rain that did not arrive, but in its absence all drivers faced the new overtaking regulations. Ferrari looked good in qualifying, finishing 2nd and 3rd, followed by Lando Norris in 4th and Hamilton in 5th… 1st place is of course reserved for Max!
The second day in sprint qualifying, on a partially wet track after the morning rain, the tire rule was waived so the drivers had the freedom to choose which tires they took out on the track. After a flurry of canceled times due to frequent circuit limit overshoots, the starting order for the sprint race was also set, with Red Bull on the front row, McLaren and Haas on the second row, followed by Ferrari and Aston Martin. It was a total failure for Mercedes, Russel took 15th position on the grid and Hamilton 18th. At the sprint start Checo flexed his muscles at Max, overtook him at the limit of the accident, but at turn 3 Max braked late and regained the leading position which he did not relinquish until the end, the podium was completed by Perez and Sainz. Leclerc disappointed again, after the sprint he declared “I wasn’t good at all. That’s how it’s been in the last three races. Whenever I ride slicks in semi-dry conditions like this, I just get nowhere! ”
Sunday’s race was run in dry conditions and was dominated by penalties, with nearly half the field receiving penalties for track boundary violations. Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to receive a 5-second penalty, and two laps later Yuki Tsunoda was also penalized, followed by Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly, and by the end Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant were also penalized and Yuki Tsunoda again.
Max Verstappen’s victory was never really in danger in the Austrian Formula 1 race. The Red Bull Racing driver managed to defend his lead at the start and restart. Moreover, unlike the rest of the platoon, his team decided to stay on the track during the neutralization of the VSC. However, he switched on the penultimate lap to collect the point for fastest circuit lap in the race.
Charles Leclerc also had a trouble-free race and, unlike his team-mate, did not trip over the limits of the track, which is why he finished safely in second position. Sergio Perez drove from 15th on the grid to third and, after a long duel with Carlos Sainz, secured his position on the podium with ten laps to go.
Max Verstappen extended his World Championship lead over Sergio Perez to 81 points, who in turn extended his lead over Fernando Alonso to 19 points. Charles Leclerc has made the biggest jump in the Drivers’ Championship and is now 6th with 72 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull Racing now has 377 points ahead of Mercedes AMG F1 (178) and Aston Martin Racing (172). Scuderia Ferrari got 14 points closer to Aston Martin (158).
