Canadian Grand Prix Report

`I know that it's been a while since the Canadian Grand Prix, and we are fast approaching Austria this week, but at some point we are going to have to talk about the McLaren drama that ensued in Montreal nearly two weeks ago; and that point is right now. Before we get there however, let's do our usual and go through qualifying first.

It's been a bit of a trend over the last few years that Mercedes arrive in Canada with a car that looks very competitive. Not to say they haven't been competitive this year so far, but they've really been duking it out with the Ferraris more so than the McLarens and Max at the top. But free practice showed that perhaps the Brackley team might be starting to turn their performance around after a woeful start to these regulations back in 2022.

Once again, Pirelli brought the super soft C6 tyre with them, which is something I am rather enjoying at the moment. A soft tyre that is almost useless in the race but is useful for qualifying is exactly what the fans want to see, but it might be better if these tyres were only available to the drivers during qualifying and a soft, but not quite that soft tyre, could be used in the race. Baby steps... baby steps. Advantage in Q1 went to Verstappen early on, who was confident in the pace of his Red Bull and stayed in the pits longer than the others. His confidence was premature as he was displaced by Fernando Alonso before the red flag was thrown. Alex Albon suffered another disappointing start to his weekend as his engine cover flew off down the back straight. This naturally led to everyone trying to get out in the final five minutes of qualifying with Bortoleto, Sainz, Stroll, Lawson, and Gasly being eliminated in the first stage.

Mediums were on the menu for Q2, with Verstappen taking to the track first. The McLarens, who had opted for soft tyres, could only manage second and third behind him. Russell later went out on the mediums and set the pace before becoming the subject of a complaint from Yuki Tsunoda, with traffic playing its part once again. As the chequered flag fell, it was Yuki Tsunoda, Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Bearman, and Ocon who found themselves going no further. Impressive from Colapinto there, one of his better qualifying days since his return to the sport.

As the fast laps started, Norris made a mistake at the final corner and had his lap time deleted, with advantage going to title rivals Verstappen and Piastri. Russell only made it to provisional third on his first run, while Antonelli secured fourth place. Ferrari's pace vanished with Leclerc only managing sixth behind Norris, and Hamilton in eighth. As the final runs came in, Leclerc made a mistake, Piastri took provisional pole, Verstappen displaced him, and Russell went even quicker, putting over one-tenth between himself and the reigning champion, a relatively huge gap in this day and age. So it was Russell, Verstappen, Piastri in the top three, followed by Antonelli, Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, Leclerc, Hadjar, and Albon who somehow made it all the way to Q3 despite his earlier engine cover troubles.

George Russell fends of Max Verstappen to take Mercedes' first victory of the 2025 season after a dramatic ending between the two McLaren drivers. The race unfolded into a strategy-race as some opted for a two-stop while others tried to nurse for a one-stop strategy. But, like most of the top drivers, Russell and Verstappen opted for a two-stopper. The Mercedes man got a good launch and managed to build a solid gap to the reigning champion ahead of the fast-starting Kimi Antonelli, who had jumped Piastri off the line.

Further down the grid, Norris had made up some places from a poor qualifying and was beginning to home in on the top four, while Antonelli was chasing down Verstappen before his pitstop. Norris was on the alternative strategy, starting on the hard tyres to maybe benefit from some mid-race drama, which meant he lead the way while the others stopped. This gave a tortoise-hare kind of vibe to the race, as Norris was being caught by the chasing pack. After the Brit's pitstop to the mediums it was Russell ahead of Verstappen, Antonelli, Piastri, and Norris who had managed to leap both Ferraris in the pitstop phase.

Verstappen always seemed to be the first of the frontrunners to blink, the usual bullet-proof tyre-degradation of the Red Bull being a thing of the past. Mercedes covered this off with Russell, who was also avoiding some traffic, and left Antonelli out a bit longer. Norris was the last of the top five to make his pitstop, fitting the mediums and going after the top four ahead in the final stages of the race, assisted by a fierce battle between Antonelli and Piastri ahead.

As Verstappen started to close in on Russell, Piastri dropped back a little from Antonelli and Norris began to close in, it was all building to one hell of an ending. It culminated in Norris taking a rather desperate lunge down at the hairpin, running in deep and allowing Piastri to perform a nice switchback on his teammate. Norris chased him all the way down to the final chicane, where Piastri went defensive and lost a bit of time, giving Norris another run down to turn 1. That was, until, it all went to pot for the Brit, who misjudged a gap on the inside of Piastri and ran out of space, running into the back of his teammate and into the wall at the start/finish line.

The incident brought out a late safety car, under which the race finished. Norris took blame at the time, apologizing to the team for the incident. Russell lead Verstappen across the line, ahead of Antonelli who becomes the third youngest podium sitter in Formula 1 behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll. Piastri followed them in fourth ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton, with Alonso and Hulkenberg behind them in seventh and eighth. Ocon and Sainz managed to save a poor qualifying with a handful of points for their teams.

Piastri holds on to his lead with 198 points ahead of Norris with 176. Verstappen has reduced the gap in third with 155, followed by Russell with 136 and Leclerc with 104. In the constructors' McLaren maintain their position at the top with 374 points ahead of Mercedes who move into second place with 199. Ferrari are in third with 183, ahead of Red Bull with 162. A reasonable season so far for Williams sees them in fifth with 55 points, clear of the rest of the field for now.