Six races after the start of the Formula 1 World Championship and we are still waiting for a team other than Mercedes to be able to climb to the highest place on the podium. Now how GP of Canada At the door, expectations are the same as those that have been established since the beginning of the season: is this where someone beats Mercedes?
After failing to reach the one-two in Monaco for the first time this season, with Vettel managing to butt his Ferrari between the two “silver arrows” (behind Hamilton) Mercedes seems to have adopted a more calculating speech.
Proof of this are statements by Totto Wolf who stated that on the Canadian circuit Ferrari has an advantage due to higher straight-line speed, something that Valteri Bottas also confirmed, despite the fact that the German team's single-seaters have received new power units (something which was already planned).
For now, at a time when the first training sessions have already taken place, the “apprehension” of Mercedes seems more bluff than anything else. After all, the two Mercedes had the best times, with Leclerc's Ferrari (which wants to forget about an accidental Monaco GP) having to “content” with the third best time.
FP1 CLASSIFICATION: @MercedesAMGF1 comfortably ahead, but it’s early days… #CanadianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/xxtPb5jOUw
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 7, 2019
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
Located in Montreal, the circuit where the Canadian GP is held owes its name to the late Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve, and this year marks the 40th time that the Canadian GP is held on this circuit (out of a total of 50 editions of the Canadian proof).Subscribe to our newsletter
Extending over 4,361 km, the Canadian circuit is known for mixing elements of an urban circuit with those of a fixed circuit and its layout (with 13 curves) leads teams to favor straight-line speed to the detriment of cornering speed.
A reminder of how things stood after Monaco, before we headed to Montreal ? ? #CanadianGP weekend gets under way in just a few hours ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/dpc2Mmi5rO
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 7, 2019
As for the most successful drivers at the Canadian GP, Schumacher leads with seven wins, and if Hamilton wins this weekend he will equal the German. The most successful team in the Canadian Grand Prix is McLaren with a total of 13 wins, followed by Ferrari with 12.
Canada is a pretty cool setting for your first ever F1 win
For these six drivers, their maiden F1 wins were Canadian wins ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/aUgMXZGZjY
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 7, 2019
What to expect?
From the outset, the Canadian GP looks “designed” to be a fight between Mercedes and Ferrari with Red Bull watching (from some distance). However, if the results of the first free practice session are confirmed, the truth is that we may be about to witness another race dominated by Mercedes.
In the rest of the pack, Haas can take advantage of the fact that it uses a Ferrari engine to try to “shine” in Canada. McLaren will try to remain the best out of the “big three” with Racing Point trying to take advantage of the Mercedes engine to get closer to the British team.
As for Renault, alarms continue to ring and the results are yet to appear, and the French team even has a driver who knows what it's like to win in Montreal (Daniel Ricciardo, who won his first victory there in 2014). Toro Rosso, Alfa Romeo and Williams are expected to fight each other to get away from the last two places.
The Canadian GP is scheduled to start at 19:05 (mainland Portugal time) on Sunday, and qualifying is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, at 18:40 (mainland Portugal time).