Race Week in Canada
2024 FORMULA 1 AWS GRAND PRIX DU CANADA
It's race week in Canada.
F1 stops at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada.
Canadian GP History: Notre Dame Island, a man-made island in the St. Lawrence River, was initially created for the 1967 "67 Expo" World's Fair. After the fair, the Olympic Basin, a vast rectangular basin created for the rowing and canoeing events at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, city officials transformed the island's roads into a race track. The Grand Prix held its first race there in 1978. Gilles Villeneuve won his first race in a Ferrari at this track, later named after him. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has hosted Indycar, NASCAR, and WSC.
About the Track: The current circuit is a fourteen-corner, 4.361km (2.71 miles) circuit with a Grand Prix of 70 Laps. The hairpin at Turn 10 is a hotspot for overtaking and drama, and it’s infamous final corner, “Wall of Champions,” has ended many races for some of the most well-known names in F1.
Weekend Highlights:
The Constructors Championship is tightening up. Ferrari is closing a 24-point gap to the first-place Red Bull team in the constructors points. With Sergio Perez missing Q2 and Max struggling with the car, starting and finishing the race in sixth place, Ferrari consistently takes large chunks of points. The European stretch of the season will play out huge constructor points. How will this battle look going into summer break?
Can McLaren beat Ferrari? Just as Ferrari is in Pursuit of Red Bull, McLaren is in pursuit of Ferrari. McLaren has been extremely consistent this season, but can Ferrari keep up with this pace? Both Ferrari drivers have won, and Charles has not finished less than fourth in the season. With a margin of 68 points going into Canada, McLaren needs a strong weekend to battle for those coveted constructors’ points.
Alpine internal struggles. Coming off Ocon’s tenth-place point finish in Miami, Alpine answered again at Monaco with a Gasly tenth-place point finish. But this didn't happen without a hefty dose of drama as the teammates collided on the opening lap in Monaco. The collision ended Ocon's day and nearly derailed Gasly's day. What started a very promising weekend was that both Alpines advanced to Q2 and Ocon advanced to Q3. What had potential for a double points finish quickly ended as Ocon's car caught air after touching tires with teammate Gasly on the opening lap. Quite a bit of discussion has been buzzing around the Alpine team on whether or not a stricter punishment would happen to Ocon.
It's a weekend to forget for Haas. Monaco was not the best showing for a surging Haas team. The team was disqualified from qualifying after a double Q2 advancement for Nico and Kevin due to DRS wing specs regulations. Both drivers started from the pit lane, and quickly, both cars' races ended extraordinarily. Both cars were entangled in a significant crash from a collision between Kevin and Sergio Perez, which collected Nico as a bystander. This ended the day for Haas within the first mile of the Grand Prix.
Can Mercedes reach a podium? Yet to break the top 5, Mercedes showed slight improvements during the qualifying session at Monaco; George Russell led Q1 time sheets but was only able to secure fifth on the grid, followed by Lewis in the seventh position. They would finish the race in these positions as well. Is Mercedes only a mid-top ten-pack team this season, or can they have some break-out races and fight for podiums?
Williams takes a step forward. With a fresh set of upgrades for the Monaco Grand Prix, Alex Albon capitalized on a much faster car, reaching Q3 for the first time this season and delivering a ninth-place two-point finish during the grand prix.
VCARB keeps moving. Yuki Tsunoda is having a fantastic season so far. He is fresh off another eighth-place four-point finish at Monaco, bringing his season tally to 19 points.
What team is in the hot seat the most? Williams breaks its point draught; Sauber is still pointless.
