The winner of the Formula 1 race in Canada is once again Max Verstappen, but Lewis Hamilton is on the podium with him. The Mercedes driver feels "reborn". The feelings of Mick Schumacher, who again does not reach the finish line - and this time is completely innocent, are completely different.
Nine races, seven finishes, six victories - Verstappen continues to make the most of his opportunities in the hunt for his second world title. In Canada he took pole and drove to victory. It wasn't that easy, but with the experience of 150 Grand Prix at the age of just 24, the Red Bull driver now combines talent, speed, routine and coolness. They weren't the fastest in the race. "But we still won, that's also a quality."
The late safety car completely melted his comfortable lead, instead of an easy win he had to battle for around 15 laps against Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, who was less than a second down and therefore the DRS advantage. Nothing burned anymore. world champion.
A week ago, the 37-year-old tormented himself with back pain from his Mercedes, now he felt "like a new person". Lewis Hamilton suddenly spoke about his Mercedes again with almost childlike enthusiasm. The hopping wasn't as bad as it was in Baku a week ago and the Silver Arrow was fast, especially with Hamilton at the wheel.
15 years ago he had achieved the first of his now unbelievable 103 victories in Montréal. Third place now felt similar for the 37-year-old. Hamilton, who has his home race at Silverstone in two weeks, stressed that Red Bull and Ferrari are a little too fast for Mercedes at the moment. "But we're getting closer." The World Championships may be over, but you still want to win at least one race here and there.
Mick Schumacher must be fed up with life in the subjunctive. A lot would have been possible at the Canadian Grand Prix, probably his first world championship points - and thus peace in the discussion about his future and an end to counting the races with zero numbers. But this time his Haas let him down. After the two serious accidents and a lot of criticism he showed strength in qualifying and also in the race, before he was stopped by the weakening car.
But the 23-year-old can at least feel like a small winner after this weekend: he drove flawlessly, his sixth place in qualifying was a career best and made everyone sit up and take notice. And in the race he couldn't help his engine failure.
Good in practice, bad in qualifying, then bad luck in the race with the timing of the virtual safety car phases: Sebastian Vettel's weekend was quite used in terms of sport, the gentle upward trend of the last two Grand Prix has stopped again for the time being. Only twelfth place, he struggled with that: "We would have needed a completely different race. The two virtual safety cars broke our necks, and then it was over." What sometimes seemed promising in Canada ended in another disappointment for the 34-year-old
And things also went moderately: Vettel, who not only considers himself a racing driver, but also uses his range for socio-political purposes, received harsh criticism for his high-profile protest against tar sand mining in the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta's energy minister accused the ex-world champion of hypocrisy, especially since he not only works in Formula 1, but his salary is also financed at least in part by an oil giant from Saudi Arabia. On Sunday in the race, Vettel refrained from wearing a racing helmet with a protest message. There had previously been a meeting with his Aston Martin team on the cause.
The Monegasque was quite "frustrated". Fifth place from 19th on the grid was more than okay, considering the entire race it was practically the maximum damage limitation for the Ferrari driver. But of course: Leclerc lost a lot of ground to Verstappen in the sixth race in a row, he is already 49 points behind the Dutchman in the World Cup.
At least Leclerc can travel relatively unencumbered to the next race in England after two engine failures in Barcelona and Baku and being moved back to the end of the grid due to an engine change. It can only get better. "49 points, that's just two wins," Leclerc joked sarcastically on Sunday.
