Canadian Grand Prix 2022

Qualifying

It was a very wet day in Montreal which saw both AlphaTauris as well as both Aston Martins, and Latifi knocked out in Q1, as well as Vettel complaining on team radio about sliding in the tricky conditions.

Q2 saw more drama as Albon crashed into the wall after locking up the car, he managed to reverse out leaving his engine on and continued the session, unfortunately for the Williams driver he was unable to make it through to Q3. Perez also went into the wall, crashing into the Techpro barrier which caused an end to his session, as well as a red flag and led to some amusing photos of him walking back to the pits through the greenery around the track. Norris also had problems with his car, never setting a competitive time and was out of qualifying alongside Leclerc who did not run in Q2 due to a grid place penalty putting him at the back anyway, and Bottas.

It was a 2nd Q3 appearance for Schumacher, and one that worked out well for Haas as a team with him qualifying P6 and Magnussen P5. Mercedes had a great start to Q3, both cars putting in good times, they just weren’t able to match the Ferraris or Red Bulls. With a few minutes to go they made a gamble putting Russell on slick tyres, it did not pay off as the track was simply not dry enough and he ended up P8. Verstappen took his first pole in Canada, Alonso took P2 after an incredible final lap and Sainz P3.

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Race Day

Lights out and away Verstappen went, he made a great start and comfortably remained in the lead of the race. Within a few corners both Ocon and Russell had overtaken Schumacher. In lap 7 Sainz managed to pass Alonso to claim P2. Further down the grid Magnussen was shown a black and orange flag and forced to pit to change his damaged front wing.

Perez encountered engine failure in lap 9 and retired causing a yellow flag and safety car, leading some teams to take an early pit stop including Verstappen, Vettel and Hamilton.

Hamilton had some entertaining fights with Ocon and later his teammate Alonso throughout the race.

There was another yellow flag in Lap 20 as much to most fans’ disappointment Schumacher had to retire due to issues with the car and again missing out on his first F1 points. Leclerc was showing why he is still in this championship battle having started P17 by lap 42 he had put himself in P6 and was losing pace stuck behind Ocon. Ferrari decided to pit him which put him out in P12 in the middle of the battle for 9th and 10th.

Lap 44 saw max pit again and come out behind Hamilton, stirring memories of their vicious battle last year. Those didn’t remain for long as Hamilton chose not to fight him in the straight and Verstappen started hunting down Sainz.

Lap 49 saw another safety car as Tsunoda was the 3rd driver to retire from the race after going into the wall coming out of the pits on cold tyres. Sainz used the yellow flag to pit, meaning he came out just behind of Verstappen, so they were close for the restart.

Final few laps saw some great racing between Verstappen and Sainz, with Sainz putting in fastest laps just unable to make it past the Red Bull as he still hunts that first win in F1. Verstappen took home his 1st win in Canada as Hamilton made up the podium with teammate Russell, Mr Consistency, in 4th and Leclerc finishing off the top 5, having started at the back of the grid.