Analysis: Things we learned from the Canadian Grand Prix

Last weekend saw teams and drivers head to North America for the Canadian Grand Prix, Round 8 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship. F1Technical's Balázs Szabó picks out the key takeaways from the Montreal race.

New records – Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing continue to achieve eye-catching records in every round this year. The Dutchman took a controlled victory at last Sunday’s 52nd Canadian Grand Prix to secure his 41st F1 victory which saw him equal three-time world champion Ayrton Senna’s total of wins. The two-time world champion last retired from a race at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix which means that he recorded his 27th consecutive race finish yesterday.

It was also the 100th Grand Prix victory for Red Bull Racing which put the Milton Keynes-based outfit in a group of the most decorated F1 teams. Ferrari have the most wins with a total of 242 victories, followed by McLaren (183), Mercedes (125) and Williams (114).

Dominance – Red Bull’s season could have hardly been any better this year. The Milton Keynes-based outfit has won eight of eight races with Verstappen taking six victories and his team mate Sergio Perez recording two triumphs. The Anglo-Austrian team has secured the pole position in seven of eight qualifying sessions with Charles Leclerc being the only driver to beat the Red Bull duo in the all-important Saturday session.

Great run – Fernando Alonso finds himself on an eye-catching run of success this year. The Spaniard made a shock move last year from Alpine to Aston Martin which retrospectively looks to be a brilliant decision as the two-time champion has finished on the podium in six of the eight races so far this season, recording four third-place and two second-place finishes.

Alonso only failed to finish in the top three in Azerbaijan and in his home race in Spain. This year has already established itself as a turning point in Alonso’s career after the Spaniard has endured a very difficult period in F1 between 2014 and 2022 as he only recorded a total of three podium finishes.over the course of seven F1 seasons.

Hard-fought results – Williams driver Alex Albon and Alfa Romeo racer Valtteri Bottas left Montreal with encouraging results. The Thai-British driver took 7th courtesy of an ambitious strategy, recording his best result since the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix when he ended up third with Red Bull. Albon has only scored once this season prior to Montreal with the two point-scoring results lifting him up to 12th in the Drivers’ Championship.

Interestingly, Bottas has had a similar season to Albon with the Finnish driver having finished in the point-scoring position twice. He recorded a 8th place in Bahrain and a 10th position in Canada with his total of 5 points earing him a current 15th place in the standings.

Late push lap – Although Sergio Perez massively struggled for pace and therefore underperformed in Montreal, he set the fastest lap of the 52nd Canadian Grand Prix. However, that was aided by the circumstances as the Mexican dropped back behind the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, but had a margin of over 25 seconds ahead of Albon which enabled him to pit for new soft tyres on the penultimate lap.

His late push saw the Mexican record a 1m14.481s and secure the fastest race for the second time this season following the Australian Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing have secured the fastest lap in five of eight races so far with Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton and Alfa Romeo racer Zhou Guanyu having also set the quickest lap with all three drivers having achieved this feat once apiece.

Slower than usual – Interestingly, most of the teams could not achieve their pit stop performance that they have displayed so far in 2023. Red Bull had a brilliant tyre swap when servicing Sergio Perez’s car (2.23s) while the second fastest tyre change was also performed by the reigning world champion team.

Despite completing the second fastest overall pit stop in 2023 earlier this year, Ferrari needed 2.7s and 2.8s to service Carlos Sainz’s and Charles Leclerc’s car on Sunday.

Still no points – AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries and Williams racer Logan Sargeant are still yet to score points in their debut season. The Dutchman finished down in P18 after a weird incident with Kevin Magnussen that saw both of them dive into the run-off area at Turn 3 and reverse back on to the track.

The American driver retired from the race early on due to technical issues with his on-track stoppage triggering a virtual safety car period.

Constructors – Red Bull have further strengthened their lead in the Constructors’ Championship, enjoying now a margin of 144 points ahead of second-placed Mercedes. Aston Martin follows in P3 a further 13 points back with Ferrari finding themselves in fourth place with 122 points. For the Scuderia, it was the second most successful race in terms of championship points following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where they scored a P3 and P4.

The other three teams to score points in Montreal were Alpine, Alfa Romeo and Williams with all three outfits scoring with one of their cars. Following the successful Montreal race for Williams, AlphaTauri find themselves in the last position in the standings, having only scored two points thanks to two P10 finishes of Yuki Tsunoda while their main rival Williams have already seven points in their bag.

Deleted - Track limits have caused a stir in recent years, although the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a track where they are relatively easy to monitor. During the 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix, a total of nine laps were deleted with Turns 9 and 13 having proved as the most critical points of the track in this regard. The McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri exceeded the limits once and twice respectively while Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries and Zhou Guanyu all went over the track limits ince apiece.

Unsportsmanlike – Despite finishing in the points, Lando Norris did not score any points after receiving a penalty for "unsportsmanlike" conduct.

The McLaren driver was hit with a five-second time penalty in Sunday by the FIA stewards after they deemed the Briton to have backed up behind team mate Oscar Piastri under the Safety Car to avoid double-stacking in the pits.

No penalty – Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris were under investigation for an alleged unsafe release at their first pit stop. However, the stewards reviewed external and in-car video evidences and came to the conlusion that there was no risk of collision. The two drivers hence escaped any sanctions over the matter.

Too late – Elsewhere, unusual penalties were handed out. The Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have both been reprimanded by the FIA after turning up late for the drivers’ parade at the Canadian GP on Sunday.

The FIA stewards noted: “The reason for the lateness was the team’s media and other commercial commitments that the driver had to satisfy before turning up for the parade,” the stewards wrote in their verdict for each driver.

“We considered that this was not a valid reason for the lateness. A driver turning up late for such events can have undesirable resultant consequences for the event and should be avoided at all times. In the circumstances, we decided to impose a Reprimand (non-driving) on the driver.”

Tyre strategies – Two-stop strategies were the most common choice at the Canadian Grand Prix, but there were some effective one-stoppers too. In fact, only Alex Albon completed the race distance with a stop. The Anglo-Thai driver racked up 59 laps on the white-banded C3 compound following his opening stint on the mediums.

Sergio Perez was also on a one-stop strategy, but he came in for a quick tyre swap on the penultimate lap to be able to set the fastest race lap on the 70th lap of the Montreal race. Mercedes driver George Russell also opted for a one-stop strategy following his early pit stop that was triggered by his own mistake on Lap 12. However, the one-time F1 race winner retired on Lap 53 due to brake-related issues.

On the mediums, it was Charles Leclerc to complete the longest stint with 39 laps, but the fastest lap on the yellow-walled tyres came from Lewis Hamilton, who recorded a 1m15.396s. Just as last year, the soft tyre was not a preferred race tyre with only Pierre Gasly and Perez using the red-sided tyres. The Frenchman completed notched up 10 laps on the C5 during his initial stint while the Mexican used this compound only for two laps with the aim of setting the fastest race lap.