A return to form for Formula 1 in Montreal
Apart from a fairytale home win for Charles Leclerc, the Monaco Grand Prix a fortnight ago had little to offer in terms of a spectacle, with hardly any overtaking and the top ten on the grid taking the chequered flag in exactly the same order. It was enough for the naysayers to bemoan the state of Formula 1, even if Ferrari's win seemed to raise hopes that the Verstappen-Red Bull runaway train was finally running out of steam, having been the dominant force since the summer of 2022.
And yet, two weeks later, it's a completely different story, as the 53rd Canadian Grand Prix will long be remembered as one of the most exciting races in recent years, its outcome undecided until the final few laps, with plenty of overtaking moves, some of them outstanding, such as Alex Albon passing two cars at once, or the rather special move George Russell pulled on team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Off track, the battle between the brains on the pit wall was just as intense, as strategists decided what tyres to fit when, finding the right moment for the pit stops, with an instinctive ability to make the most of any opportunity, all factors that go to make Formula 1 the amazing sport it is, at both an individual and team level.
In ten years' time, anyone scrolling through a digital record of the 2024 season – will there be any hard copy publications a decade from now? – will see Max Verstappen's name at the top of the results sheet for this race and maybe assume it was yet another easy win for Red Bull's Dutch driver. But they'd be wrong, because this race was different and not just because, at still not quite 27 years of age, Verstappen secured his 60th win at the highest level of motor racing. This time in Montreal, the driver really made the difference as never before. As we had already seen in Monaco, Red Bull was by no means the dominant force at a technical level, with McLaren and Mercedes proving to have the edge, but in the end, it was the three-time world champion who, yet again, was first past the flag.
There was no hesitation from the Dutchman, he kept a cool head at key moments, such as when he found himself running side by side with Lando Norris who was exiting the pit lane on cold tyres. But the masterstroke came at the second restart, a discipline at which he has always demonstrated complete mastery. He did a brilliant job of warming the tyres efficiently, while coming up to the final chicane before the start-finish line with all the stealth of a leopard hunting its prey, crouching in the savannah, waiting for the right moment to pounce. He immediately pulled out a small but vital gap on lap 59, dropping Norris by almost two seconds, thus putting himself out of DRS range. From then on, he pulled away, leaving his rivals in his wake to trip over one another as they scrapped amongst themselves. If in this instance, the prey was the race win, this one must have tasted particularly sweet.
