After a much needed break for the grid, Formula 1 is back this week with the Canadian Grand Prix.
And there is much to discuss.
From a few fascinating battles that are formed during the rankings, to a driver who is about to suspend, and another who is forced to miss his home race due to an injury, there are no shortage of story lines.
Let’s dive into the most important points for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Check in on the F1 title races
With the newest Triple header in the rearview mirror, it is time to check in on both title races.
The Spanish Grand Prix offered the newest turn to a fascinating F1 drivers championship fight. Lando Norris’ victory in the Monaco Grand Prix pulled him in just three points from teammate Oscar Piastri On top of the rankingsBut the command performance of Piastri in Barcelona pushed that gorge back to ten points, while he finished in front of Norris when McLaren locked the front row.
Perhaps more intriguing is what happened behind them. While the schedule arrived in Barcelona Max Verstappen was just outside the pace, only 25 points behind Piastri and 23 points behind Norris. But as we will discuss in an instant, Verstappen’s tenth place in Barcelona-in combination with the one-two version of the McLaren duo-Hem dropped further from the front. While the grid is going to Montreal Verstappen, 39 points are behind Norris and 49 points behind Piastri.
And only with George Russell 26 points behind VerstappenThe gap also closes behind him.
As for the Constructors’ Championship RaceMcLaren remains the class of the field, because it has 362 points in the season based on woking, which means they have 197 points from the team in second place.
That team?
Ferrari.
After all the consternation in recent weeks about the Scuderia a third place from Charles Leclerc and a sixth place from Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari pushed to P2, six points free from Mercedes and 22 points free from Red Bull.
There is still a long way to go until trophies are distributed, but the fighting at the front is indeed fascinating.
Where to Lance Stroll?
In the hours prior to the Spanish Grand Prix, the word that Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll broke from the race, which would mention pain in his hands and wrist. Stroll underwent an operation prior to the Bahrain Grand Prix from 2023 after a bicycle accident during the training for the season, and made a stunning return to the schedule for the first race of the season, where he finished sixth.
However, his status for this week, his home race, is questioning.
Mike Krack, the most important trackside officer of the team, indicated that “Plan A” is that Stroll is in the AMR25 this week. But Krack admitted that a lot hangs in the air before the teams go to Montreal.
“At the moment it is really difficult to tell you how things are going and what will happen in the coming days, but we will discover it,” Krack told the official F1 website.
And if Stroll cannot race this weekend, there are further complications. Reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne are stand -Bby, but both are planned to ride in the 24 hours of Le Mans, who are contrary to the Canadian Grand Prix. Jak Crawford, who drives in F2 and is part of the Aston Martin development program, is currently missing the required points on his FIA Super License.
“It’s pretty simple, the ‘Plan A’ is to have Lance in the car – that is the ‘Plan A’, and that is what we are working on,” said Krack. “If the ‘Plan A’ does not work, we must draw ‘Plan B’.
“It is clear that we have always known that Le Mans would happen, so we also had plans that if we need a driver who does Le Mans, we will bring him, but at the moment this is not the only question,” Krack added.
“We wait what to bring the following days, and then we make a decision.”
Max Verstappen about an unexpected holiday
The newest Triple header from F1 ended with a penalty, causing the defensive driver’s champion to be the abyss of a fine of one racing fine.
The incident of Max Verstappen with George Russell In the final phase of the Spanish Grand Prix, not only resulted in a ten-second penalty of the racestwart for the Red Bull driver (who dropped him to P10) but a three-point sentence on his Fia Super License. That increased the current fine from Verstappen to 11 points, making it one point shy for a suspension of one race.
Complicating items is the fact that the following points that expire on Verstappen’s Super License, the two that he received for an incident with Lando Norris during last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, will not expire until the end of the month.
This means that Verstappen will have to navigate both the Canadian Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix later this month without incident this week.
All eyes on the second chair of Red Bull … again
Verstappen who is in the abyss of a suspension with one race is not the only big storyline at Red Bull.
It’s time to talk about the second chair … again.
Yuki Tsunoda, tapped by the team as a replacement for Liam Lawson after just two races this year, has not yielded the kind of results that Red Bull hopes in their second chair. Tsunoda has only received seven points Since his promotion to the Senior Team, a mark that drivers such as Alexander Albon, Carlos Sainz Jr., Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon and yes, Isack Hadjar, has outdated him about that piece.
Now there are rumbling That Hadjar could be the next driver who deserves a promotion for Red Bull. “There is one driver who racing racing thinks that a very similar style has a very similar style like Max Verstappen. I don’t think he is still ready for it. But is Isaac Hadjar the answer to their problems?” sought -after Sky Sports F1S David croft in recent days.
“If Hadjar is closest to Max Verstappen, then he has the easier task to adapt to that car, which is more designed and developed to Max’s taste.
“Red Bull says because Sergio Perez was a bit reluctant to come forward last year to give feedback, so that’s why the feedback was all that of Max. That’s why the car went a kind of maximum direction.”
The question of the second chair at Red Bull has lingered since Daniel Ricciardo left the team after the 2018 season, and now even Verstappen wonders why this remains a problem for the team.
“Yuki is not a pancake. This [with the 2nd Red Bull driver] Has been going on for a long time, “said Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix.
“Maybe that’s a sign. From what? That you can decide yourself.”
Then there are rumors That the team is looking for approval for 17-year-old Arvid Lindblad to receive a FIA Super License. Lindblad, which is third in the F2 Drivers’ Championship Standings And comes from a victory in the F2 position race at the Spanish Grand Prix, is considered one of the smartest young talents of the sport. But because he still needs to be 18, he would need approval from the FIA to drive in F1.
He turns 18 in August.
Could this be a backstop, should Verstappen receive a fine as described above? Consideration for another step in the middle season?
Or just more food for people like me?
Has the Front-Wing Saga been arranged?
Entering the Spanish Grand Prix, front wings were the conversation of the paddock.
With the administrative body of the sport that sets stricter tests on the front wings, to reduce the “flexi-wing” Saga that dominated the conversation in recent months, there was unbridled speculation that the new requirements would shake the pecking order, and perhaps bring McLaren down a bit.
The corresponding Lockout in the first row of Piaastri and Norris ended that speculation, at least for the time being.
Is the “flexi -wing” saga really over, or is Montreal a surprise?
Has a new competition been created in midfield fight?
Williams expected a difficult week in Barcelona, and those premonitions had turned out to be correct because the team went through their first scoreless racing week since the Bahrain Grand Prix. Yet they are comfortable in fifth place in the constructors’ Championship Race with 54 points, 26 points free from Visa Cash App Racing Bulls. Haas is seventh in the table with 26 points, only two behind the Vcarb count.
But has a new competition arose in Barcelona?
The stunning fifth place of Nico Hülkenberg in the Spanish Grand Prix, which included a raid by Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate round, delivered ten massive points for Sauber and pushed them to eighth in the rankings. Despite entering the Spanish Grand Prix that is tenth in the Constructors’ Championship, that result brought their seasonal stable to 16, giving them tied with Aston Martin, but Sauber the tiebreak edge.
Can Sauber keep that momentum in Montreal?
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