2023 Canadian Grand Prix Weekend Recap

June 19, 2023

The Canadian Grand Prix weekend gave us everything we wanted and more. With a rainy weekend and some upgrades being tested, we had some chaos and a number of shocking results. Here is your 2023 Canadian Grand Prix weekend recap:

Free-Practice: June 17-18, 2023

All three practice sessions were filled with drama from Red Flags and weather changes. Just five minutes into FP1, the session was Red Flagged when Pierre Gasly stopped on track because he couldn’t switch gears. It was during this Red Flag that a CCTV issue was found and the session was suspended for safety concerns. CCTV is what the stewards use to monitor the track and ensure safety, so its failure made conditions too dangerous for the session to resume. Since FP1 was only five minutes long, FP2 was extended by thirty. This made for a ninety minute session with two more Red Flags. First Nico Hulkenberg suffered engine failure and stopped on the side of the track, and then Esteban Ocon stopped due to suspected loss of water pressure. As if Friday wasn’t enough madness for one weekend, Saturday brought heavy rain and one more Red Flag when Carlos Sainz spun into the barriers at Turn 1, inflicting heavy damage on the front and rear of his car.

The damage done to the front of Sainz's car in his FP3 crash

Qualifying: June 18, 2023

Q1:

• All drivers started on intermediates because, following a wet FP3, Qualifying had a drenched track with persisting wet and windy conditions.

• The session was Red Flagged almost right away when Zhou Guanyu lost power and parked on the side of the track. Fortunately, he was able to get his car going again and drove back to the pits.

• As the Red Flag ended, another rain storm was approaching the track and drivers wanted to set their fastest times before the rain fell again.

• Eliminated: Tsunoda (P16), Gasly (P17), De Vries (P18), Sargeant (P19), Zhou (P20)

• Pierre Gasly lost time on his final flying lap when Sainz impeded him. The stewards noted the incident to be investigated after the session.

• Zhou made an impressive recovery after his initial loss of power but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for him to make it past Q3

Q2:

• Most drivers opted to stay on intermediate tires, but as a dry racing line emerged, Alex Albon and Lando Norris opted to start on softs. With his 1m 18.725s lap, Albon ended up setting the fastest time of Qualifying. 

• Eliminated: Leclerc (P11), Perez (P12), Stroll (P13), Magnussen (P14), Bottas (P15)

• At the beginning of the session, Leclerc asked for softs but the team told him to stay out on inters. By the time he pitted for softs, the rain had fallen and he wasn’t able to set a fast enough time to make it past Q2.

• This is the third consecutive race where Perez hasn’t made it to Q3. I don’t know what kind of slump he is in right now, but he needs to get out of it if he wants to stay at Red Bull.

Q3:

• Oscar Piastri slid into the wall at Turn 7 and brought out a Red Flag. Although there was plenty of time remaining after the Red Flag, the rain had gotten so bad that driver’s couldn’t improve their times and the top ten stayed the same.

• Verstappen took Pole again with a shocking P2 for Hulkenberg and Alonso in P3. Hulk’s Haas really seemed to come alive in wet conditions. 

• Lewis Hamilton and George Russell made it a great day for Mercedes as they qualified P4 and P5, respectively.

Race: June 19, 2023

The rain of the past two days had disappeared and Sunday was left with clear, blue skies. However, it definitely didn’t feel like blue skies for everyone. Race control had handed a three-place grid penalty to Hulkenberg for failing to slow under a Red Flag, relegating him to P5 after he qualified on the front row. Sainz (P8→P11), Stroll (P13→P16), and Tsunoda (P6→P19) were also unhappy with their three-place penalties for impeding opponents during Q1 and Q2. 

The starting grid after penalties

Verstappen and Hamilton had great starts as the Dutchman maintained his lead and the Brit overtook Alonso for P2. Meanwhile, Sainz and Perez both fought for P11 and forced Kevin Magnussen wide. 

On Lap 7, Logan Sargeant became the first retirement of the race when the team told him to stop the car because of an oil leak. A Virtual Safety Car was brought out for the marshalls to clear the track. 

George Russell then crashed into the wall at the exit of Turn 9 and brought out a Safety Car. The Brit was able to limp back to the pits and have his car repaired to come out in P19. During the Safety Car, everyone except for the two Ferraris, Perez, Magnussen, and Bottas pitted. Hulkenberg, Stroll, Gasly, and De Vries lost out as they had all stopped just before the Safety Car. 

The race resumed on Lap 17 and Alonso took P2 from Hamilton at the final chicane of the track. A few laps later, Lando Norris was given a 5 second time penalty for unsportsmanlike behavior, referring to when he drove “unnecessarily slowly” under the Safety Car to buy time for a McLaren double stack. So although Norris finished the race in P9, he was dropped to P13 after the penalty was applied and McLaren couldn’t score any points.

Lap 36 saw De Vries and KMag clash and drive into the runoff area. Both cars were ok and they got back on track as backmarkers. This allowed George Russell through from P19 and gave him the push he needed to start an incredible recovery drive to P8. Unfortunately, Russell’s race came to an end on Lap 55 when he was forced to pit and retire his car due to brake concerns.

Perez finally pitted on Lap 38 and Sainz and Leclerc followed in the next few laps. It looks like Ferrari finally had a good strategy because they managed to stay ahead of Perez and finish in P4 and P5 with one stop.

A few laps later, Hamilton pitted for a second time to go from Hards to Mediums, and Alonso and Vestappen responded with stops of their own. Verstappen ultimately won the 70 lap race to bring home Red Bull’s 100th Grand Prix win and legendary engineer Adrian Newey’s 200th career race win. Alonso and Hamilton came home in P2 and P3 to complete an iconic podium that had 11 World Championship titles total.

The 2023 Canadian GP Podium

Even more impressive than Red Bull’s 100 wins was Alex Albon driving his upgraded Williams to P7 on a one-stop strategy. This man really is the tire whisperer. He led a massive DRS train for a majority of the race, without having any DRS himself, and still managed to maintain tire life and defend the likes of Esteban Ocon and George Russell. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, Alex Albon is a phenomenal driver. 

After the series of boring, stalemate-like, races we have been getting, the chaos of the Canadian Grand Prix was welcomed with open ams. We got the drama of rain, crashes, and some amazing overtakes. I am glad to have seen that Williams’ upgrades are a success, and I am beyond proud of Ferrari for making the right strategy calls. Hopefully the rest of the season can have races like this.

I will be back in two weeks for the Austrian Grand Prix!

- Divya

Where I got these

from:

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/practice-1.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp2-to-be-extended-by-30-minutes-as-fp1-brought-to-a-halt-over-cctv-issue-at.4lov4jGdro97RMJq2rcJh5.html

• https://racer.com/2023/06/16/first-canadian-gp-practice-canceled-due-to-cctv-failure/

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/practice-2.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp2-hamilton-leads-mercedes-1-2-during-disrupted-second-canadian-gp-practice.2TEIJE3w9CRR4wdMq1JJ8Z.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1212/canada/practice-3.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp3-verstappen-leads-leclerc-as-sainz-crashes-out-in-wet-final-practice.5fXp9BAH1SwV0dTKS3bMbc.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-charges-to-pole-for-canadian-gp-as-hulkenberg-grabs-surprise-p2.snbFfMsKnoRZy2J7Rjxjr.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-wins-canadian-gp-to-claim-red-bulls-100th-victory-and-equal.7A6g45iAe5jqGGUc5k153Y.html 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX_GUhWiBHk 

• https://www.williamsf1.com/posts/3f277129-e85a-442a-b3f2-ee2f417becd4/report-2023-canadian-grand-prix 

Pictures:

• https://cdn-8.motorsport.com/images/amp/0k7Rj3A0/s1000/charles-leclerc-ferrari-sf-23-.jpg 

• https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AA1cGpuz.img?w=534&h=280&m=6 

• https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy7jBqvaUAAiJhk?format=jpg&name=small 

• https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy3gZVPakAAfwtm?format=jpg&name=small

• https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy2sbq-XoAIy_mW?format=jpg&name=small 

• https://i.cbc.ca/1.6880876.1687132153!/fileImage/httpImage/1499539379.jpg