In Pictures: Canada 2024
Canada never disappoints. Action-packed race in Montreal.
Formula 1 returned to North America after two European rounds in Imola and Monaco. The Canadian Grand Prix therefore meant another change of continent.
THE TRACK
The 4.361 kilometre track is named in honour of Gilles Villeneuve. It is a semi-permanent circuit built on the manmade island of Notre-Dame, originally created for Expo ’67 and features six lefthand corners and eight to the right and it has one of the lowest average speeds of the season. Stability under braking and traction coming out of the chicanes and the slowest corners, which include the hairpin leading onto a very long straight, are the keys to being competitive, as is a car that can change direction quickly. Unlike the previous stop on the calendar in Monaco, overtaking is possible here, especially at the end of the straight leading to the final chicane, the exit to which features the “Wall of Champions,” thus named after three world champions, Damon Hill, Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve, all ended their races there in 1999, crashing into the wall on the outside of the turn.
The Canadian Grand Prix first appeared on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar in 1967 and three circuits have hosted it. Apart from the current venue, the race was held at Mosport in Ontario eight times and twice at Mont-Tremblant, also in Quebec, just under 150 kilometres to the north of Montreal. There have been 52 editions and the most successful drivers are Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, who have both won it seven times and they also share the pole award with six apiece. McLaren rules the roost among the Constructors’ with 13 wins and 11 poles, while Ferrari has the most (37) podium finishes.
FRIDAY
The track was very wet at the start of the first session, causing the pit lane light to remain red for the first 21 minutes. Once it turned green, nine drivers ventured out on Extreme Wet tires, though none completed a timed lap. A switch to Intermediates saw some drivers run on the green-banded tires. However, it wasn’t until the end of the session, following a five-minute stoppage to remove Guanyu Zhou’s Sauber, which had crashed into the barriers, that slicks became viable. All drivers then ran on the C5, the softest compound available in Montreal.
At the start of the second session (FP2), the track was considered dry, despite heavy rain falling in the hour leading up to it and a few drops still falling. All the drivers made the most of the conditions to get some mileage, with most of them—16 out of 20—opting for the Soft tires. The exceptions were the Ferrari and McLaren drivers, who focused on running the Medium tires. Later, another shower temporarily halted the action on track. Towards the end of the session, all the drivers, except for Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who was stuck in the garage with a technical problem, went back out on Intermediate tires, even though the track was drying in various places.
The changing weather conditions at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal hindered track action, producing more questions than answers in the build-up to the 53rd Canadian Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) set the quickest overall time in FP2 with a lap of 1:15.810, while Lando Norris (McLaren) was fastest in the first session with a time of 1:24.435.
SATURDAY
The third free practice session was notably busy, as it marked the first instance this weekend where the track remained dry for the entire 60 minutes. This dry spell allowed teams and drivers to partially compensate for the time lost during the previous day's wet conditions. As the session progressed, track conditions improved steadily and times dropped rapidly, coming to within less than a second of the predicted pole position time based on pre-event simulations (1:11.7). Most of the session's work was conducted using the two softest tire compounds. Teams completed several long runs with heavy fuel loads on the Medium compound, while prioritizing the Soft compound for performance laps.
Qualifying got underway on a dry track and even though there were a few drops of rain in the second part, it was not enough to require the use of wet weather tires. The threat of a downpour weakened the closer the rain got to the circuit and so it didn’t cause any problems during the session. The uncertainty over what the weather had in store meant that the teams and drivers tried to make the most of every segment of the session, doing longer runs than they would in normal conditions.
In the end, it was George Russell who secured pole position. The Mercedes driver set the fastest overall time with his Q2 lap of 1:11.742. However, in the Q3 session, which determines the top ten grid positions, both Russell and Max Verstappen recorded identical times of 1:12.000. Russell claimed the number one grid slot by being the first to set this time. This was Russell’s second career pole position, with his first being at the Hungaroring in 2022. Interestingly, last year in Hungary, it was also a Mercedes on pole, but that time it was Lewis Hamilton who received the Pirelli miniature tire award. Today marks the Anglo-German team's 138th pole position overall and their sixth at Montreal.
Less than 0.3 seconds separated the top seven qualifiers, just 0.02 seconds separated the top three, and an identical time was recorded for the top two. This was only the second time in Formula 1 history that the top two qualifiers had the same time. The first instance was in 1997 at the European Grand Prix, where Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen all set the same pole position time of 1:21.072.
SUNDAY
The race got underway on a wet track. Eighteen drivers opted to start on Intermediates, while the Haas pair chose extreme wets. Magnussen and Hulkenberg provided a spectacle in the early stages, as the blue-banded Pirelli Cinturato Full Wet tires offered excellent grip. This allowed both drivers to charge up the order, with Magnussen even reaching fourth place by lap 3, despite starting 14th. However, the track dried quickly, forcing the American team’s drivers to be the first to pit for Intermediates, as their lap times had significantly slowed.
Then, in the second part of the race, the green-banded Pirelli Cinturato Intermediate became the tire of choice as conditions alternated between rain and sunshine. The track dried, especially on the racing line, before getting wet again following another shower. The majority of drivers took advantage of the first Safety Car period, forty minutes into the race, to switch to a second set of Intermediates. Meanwhile, a trio consisting of Ocon, Tsunoda, and Bottas gambled on their tires lasting long enough to extend their stint until the track was suitable for slicks. Sauber’s Finn, Bottas, went to lap 42, while Alpine’s Frenchman, Ocon, and Racing Bulls’ Japanese driver, Tsunoda, waited two more laps. These three were the only drivers to complete the seventy-lap race with just one pit stop.
Once the checkered flag was shown, it was Max Verstappen who crossed the finish line first at the Canadian Grand Prix, and it was one of the Red Bull driver’s best victories ever, coming at the end of a race that had three different leaders – George Russell, Lando Norris, and Max, of course – from three different teams: Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull. At some point in the race, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) were also in the hunt, not just for a podium finish, but for the win itself, although they went on to finish fifth and fourth, respectively.
This was Max’s 60th Formula 1 win, his third in a row in Montreal, and the sixth of the season. It was Red Bull’s 119th win, the fifth at this Grand Prix.
Excerpts of this article provided by Pirelli S.p.A.