It would be hard for you to find someone in the Formula 1 paddock who was not thrilled to return to Canada and the epic Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal after two years without the race on the calendar. So how did the riders do in the two inaugural training sessions over the weekend? Here are five things we learned from Friday’s race …
1. Red Bull maintains the lead in a tense encounter
Max Verstappen did not have the best time on Friday this year, but apart from some cutting problems, when the battery runs out at the end of the straights, this was a very impressive day for the reigning world champion.
He was the fastest of them all in FP2 and seemed to have a lot more in the tank. When we analyzed the numbers, there was nothing to choose between Red Bull and Ferrari in the classification adjustment, which in itself is an improvement.
FP2: Verstappen beat Leclerc by 0.081s to sweep Friday’s training sessions in Montreal
As for the pace of the race, they had a 0.12 second advantage over the red cars, their advantage, as they have done in recent races, reached the straights thanks to their straight-line speed advantage.
It was not so easy for Sergio Pérez, the Mexican on his back after having a problem with the configuration in his low consumption, and this means that he will chase the performance as the weekend progresses. But according to Verstappen, Red Bull are the ones to beat this weekend.
READ MORE: Pérez admits that he is “on his back foot” in Montreal after finishing FP2 in 11th place, as Verstappen leads the two sessions on Friday.
2. Ferrari is struggling, but Leclerc is facing an uphill battle
Carlos Sainz believes that Ferrari is playing catch-up with Max Verstappen after training on Friday and, although he believes that they are missing both in one lap and in the pace of the race, he believes that the progress he tends to make is ‘team from Friday to Saturday should take them to battle. for the first positions.
They maintain the lead in slow and medium laps (there aren’t any fast ones here), but they lose about a couple of tenths of a second on the straight ahead of their championship rivals.
But regardless of what they manage to achieve overnight, Leclerc has a long afternoon ahead of him on Sunday after his team changed the control electronics, resulting in a 10-place penalty on the grid. Any change in engine components this weekend will mean it will start even further back.
This is a track where advances have been possible in the past, and while he admitted that advances were “a little harder than I expected today,” he believes the pace is there to fight where they should be. be in hierarchical order.
READ MORE: “It was the best decision to make,” says Leclerc, while Ferrari confirms the penalty of the Montreal grid for the Monegasque
3. Mercedes in a world of pain
Mercedes tried some modifications during training on Friday to try to get the W13 in a better place, but like in Monaco and Baku, the trip continues to haunt the car in both low and high speed laps.
Lewis Hamilton said the day was a “disaster” and it looks like the car is “getting worse”. His teammate George Russell had a better time and believes he and Hamilton will be able to find a “happy medium” overnight after going in completely different directions with the setup.
Their qualifying pace looks better than Baku, but they are still three-quarters of a second behind the pace, and slower than Alpine and McLaren. The pace of the race is better, as they are fourth overall, but there is still half a second to go ahead of the leaders of the championship, Red Bull.
This could be another difficult weekend for Mercedes, but they have shown in recent races that, although they do not have the pace to compete for the final prize, they can save a good number of points.
READ MORE: “It was a disaster”: Hamilton says Mercedes W13 “getting worse” after experimental Friday in Montreal
4. Alpine is still in exciting shape on Friday
Alpine has been used to offering good performances on Friday, but they have struggled to bring it on the weekend. It’s unclear whether or not that will change this weekend, but data on both fuel economy and racing is more promising than usual.
Fernando Alonso was the third fastest in FP1 and the fifth fastest in FP2, the fast Spanish from the first run, getting a basic setup, was happy with the early gates and then showed a very steady pace in the hardest compounds when they evaluated the car. high fuel.
They are third in the classification sims, 0.66 seconds behind the pace and closer in terms of the fit of the race, reversing the trend of recent times, at 0.42 seconds slower, one tenth faster than Mercedes. The best of the rest should be the minimum goal if it is based on a very good working day in Montreal.
HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action of the second training session in Montreal, while Verstappen leads the Ferraris
5. McLaren in the mix for more points
Daniel Ricciardo was the happiest of the two McLaren drivers on Friday, and this year we haven’t been able to say it often. The Australian who brought Baku’s momentum to Canada was able to comfortably match his teammate Lando Norris, who wasted a lot of time on the track in FP1.
He was able to get in quickly and created a rhythm during the day. Norris recovered in the afternoon, and they both seemed reasonable at a one-turn pace, the orange cars quartered in hierarchical order.
“There’s more in the bag”: Ricciardo feels positive after a “solid” Friday in Canada
There’s a little more work to be done in long runs, Norris said he feels back in this area as he didn’t run as much as he wanted with a high fuel. But McLaren is still fifth in the long-term pecking order, a tenth more than third-placed Alpine, on a track where it is possible to move forward.
With the rain about to fall during qualifying tomorrow and the warmer conditions expected to return on Sunday, there is certainly still a lot to play for.
WATCH: Travel on board with Max Verstappen as he sets the fastest lap on Friday in Montreal