Canadian GP Offers More Than Just Lewis Hamilton's Win and Mercedes' Dominance
MONTREAL — Lewis Hamilton's victory for Mercedes at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday was not the most thrilling race the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve has ever produced, but they can't all be classics, can they?
Last year's certainly was, with Daniel Ricciardo taking his first career win with a brilliant late-race pass on the ailing Mercedes of Hamilton's team-mate, Nico Rosberg (Hamilton having already retired). This year, Ricciardo's Red Bull was lapped by both Mercs on the same lap midway through the race.
But despite the ongoing dominance of the Silver Arrows providing a predictable finish, there was still plenty to like about the weekend spent on the banks of the St. Lawrence River (and an island in the middle of it).
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Anyone who says Formula One is waning in popularity has not been to Montreal for the grand prix. The crowds this weekend were large and engaged, with fans cheering not only for their favourite team or driver, but applauding quality racing whenever they saw it.
Yet Montreal is a hockey city. The Canadiens dominate the sporting landscape here the way Sepp Blatter dominated international football until, well, you know...
Hockey is one of the least cosmopolitan of the world's major sports. For one thing, you need ice to play it, which rules out a good percentage of the global population. Partly because of that restriction, the sport has been dominated for the last century or so at the international level by a few countries—specifically (surprise!) the frigid wastelands of Russia and Canada.
For one week each year, though, Montreal steps out onto the global stage and goes all-in for F1.
The circuit's proximity to the city—just a few minutes on the subway and a short (or long, depending on where you're sitting) walk—makes it ideal from an accommodation standpoint, as well as for those who want to carry on the party after they leave the track for the day.
No endless commutes or middle-of-nowhere bed-and-breakfasts for the hordes descending on Montreal!
Held in June since 1982 (the first four races in the city were held in the autumn—a decision clearly made by someone who had never been to Montreal in October), the grand prix marks the beginning of summer in the city, and the population comes alive to celebrate. Roads are closed throughout downtown, drawing tens of thousands to massive street parties.
The circuit is fantastic, too—one that puts drivers on the edge. It has the high speeds of Spa or Austria, but run-off areas like Monaco (that is to say: almost none).
"It's a thrill for us when the walls are close," Nico Hulkenberg said on Saturday. "It's harder to get to the limit because you know if you overdo it, it could be very painful and very costly."
The Montreal paddock is also intimate. Everyone is on top of each other all the time—a jumble of drivers and mechanics, celebrities and businessmen, team officials and journalists.
The open space between the back of the team garages and the front of their hospitality areas is 10 paces wide, about the width of a two-car driveway, in the places where there aren't shipping crates or stacks of tyres. In that space, there are TV crews conducting interviews, mechanics scrubbing wheels and people standing around seeing and being seen.
Collisions are a constant hazard—here perhaps more so than on the race track. Former driver and current Sky Sports pundit Johnny Herbert nearly played the Romain Grosjean to my Max Verstappen on Sunday morning when he stepped in front of me while I was walking and looking back over my shoulder. As with the Grosjean-Verstappen crash in Monaco, everyone walked away unharmed.
The teams' hospitality areas are equally tiny, so the drivers have nowhere to hide.
First, they park their road cars in what passes for a parking lot on the Ile Notre-Dame (it is actually a long, steep embankment tilting precariously toward the Olympic rowing basin). Then, hemmed in by the water, they are all funnelled over a narrow bridge before they enter the paddock. If you have ever looked at an online photo gallery from the Canadian Grand Prix, you have seen shots of the drivers arriving here.
On Sunday, you can stand at that back end of the paddock and watch them as they enter. Like thoroughbred horses in a post parade, perhaps you can gain some insight into their pre-race dispositions.
Here is Jenson Button, starting the race from the very back and therefore with nothing to lose, walking slowly, arm-in-arm with his wife and looking relaxed, at peace. And why not? He won this race in 2011 after falling to the back of the field.
Next comes Felipe Massa, also lower on the grid than he should be, but looking fired up in anticipation. He gives an enthusiastic high-five to a Ferrari mechanic as they pass each other, an old friend from his eight seasons with the Scuderia.
Daniel Ricciardo looks the same as always—a big smile plastered on his face, despite the knowledge that the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve's long straights do not suit his underpowered car.
Although the purpose of the post parade is to show off the horses, the drivers are more like the jockeys: unsure how their mounts will perform (especially if they are driving a McLaren), but trying to coax the best out of them.
On Sunday, as he did in qualifying on Saturday, Hamilton got the best performance out his machine. Rosberg kept up, but he never got close enough to attempt a pass.
After the race, in explaining why Rosberg could not mount an effective challenge, Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said, "Nico's brakes were in danger after the first third of the race. Very, very high temperatures and a very clear message that we passed on to look after those brakes."
Despite that issue, and Hamilton's need to conserve fuel, both Silver Arrows steamed away from their trailing rivals.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen qualified third and, with the team bringing an upgraded engine to Canada, there was hope he could challenge the Mercs. For a while, he stayed close, but a spin at the hairpin following his first pit stop extinguished that hope.
His team-mate, Sebastian Vettel, started from the other end of the grid after a problem with his engine during qualifying (unrelated to the upgrade, he told a group of journalists later) allowed him just one flying lap.
It was not enough and, as the German began his cool-down lap, a red-clad fan in the first row of the grandstand at the Virage Senna stood with arms outstretched, palms up, staring at Vettel and shouted an obscenity.
By the end of the race, Raikkonen was fourth, behind his countryman Valtteri Bottas. Vettel finished fifth, just four seconds behind his team-mate.
Vettel, Raikkonen and team principal Maurizio Arrivabene all said after the race that the engine upgrade delivered everything they expected in terms of performance. The one thing they did not get was a great result—Montreal was the first time this season a Ferrari driver failed to finish on the podium.
In the Ferrari hospitality unit after the race, Raikkonen sat sombrely (or maybe happily or excitedly—it is nearly impossible to read his face) on a table while technical director James Allison spoke to him quietly. Arrivabene stopped and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, then clasped his driver's hand before leaving.
Ferrari may have replaced Red Bull as Mercedes' closest challenger, but the challenge is not close enough. Hamilton is now 43 points ahead of Vettel in the drivers' standings, and Mercedes leads Ferrari by 105 in the constructors'.
Arrivabene was asked whether the team considered telling Raikkonen to let Vettel through to help the German's faint title hopes; Arrivabene paused briefly, surprised by the question, and said, "No, we never had that discussion."
It was only a difference of two points in Montreal, but it may be a conversation the team has to have in the near future if they want to keep at least one driver peripherally in the championship hunt.
For now, though, it remains a two-horse race—and they are both coloured silver.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand.
Follow me on Twitter for updates when I publish new articles and for other (mostly) F1-related news and banter:
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
