2023 Canadian GP: Post Race Analysis

The traditional tracks always seem to be that little bit more exciting. Even though this race didn't have a lot of passing, which is shocking, there was always that risk of a mistake which can be very costly. That kept some interest.

Red Bull say the track didn't suit their car that well, but Max was still able to dominate with another grand slam. It appeared that he would push for 1 or 2 laps to get out of DRS range, and then was conserving the car after that. Perez on the other hand was a disappointment. With that car and it's incredible straight line speed should have been able to progress up much much easier. He made very few passes on track even. The car had the pace to beat the Ferrari's, but apparently not in the hands of Perez.

Aston Martin brought an enormous upgrade to Canada and it appears to have worked to some degree. Didn't get to show the pace off in quali, so hopefully there are some chances for poles this season. Theoretically AMR hasn't even found the sweet spot in the setup with the new package given how little dry running they did in Canada. Alonso killed it again. Doubt he had a shot at Max, but the fact he was anxious to try is still great to see. Stroll another flop but he did squeak his way into the points.

Mercedes look good with their upgraded car. Their race pace has always been strong, but they are podium contenders each race now. Curious how the car will be around circuits like Silverstone. Hamilton had a great start, which is a quality of the Mercedes that isn't talked about enough. Russell continues to lose ground to Hamilton with a self induced error. Hopefully he can get his form back and continue to make this teammate battle exciting.

Ferrari finally got a strategy right, despite most thinking it was a bad one. At the time of staying out during the SC, it didn't make sense to how Ferrari was going to make it work. Especially with their history of eating tires. Yet they managed to get the Medium tires to last and ran their race perfectly to the best result we could hope for. P4 Charles, P5 Carlos.

Williams brought a big upgrade, but only for Albon. The right decision as he made the most of it and then some. Very doubtful the car is good enough for regular P7 finishes, but the Canada track suits the Williams and they did a great job to get excellent points. Logan naturally struggled with the old spec car, but didn't get much of a chance to change that with an early retirement.

Alpine looked okay. The speed differential between the 5th and 8th placed cars, Alpine are managing to put some space in the WCC. Ocon could only be graded as okay, as he definitely had a faster car that Albon, just couldn't even make an attempt at a pass. Gasly likely would have been in the points if it wasn't for his quali misfortune.

Alfa Romeo scoring points with a very good drive from Bottas. He needs it with the struggles he has had so far. Zhou didn't look so good in comparison to Bottas this weekend.

McLaren appear to have thrown a good race down the toilet. Good qualifying result with both cars in the top 10. Pace didn't look too bad from drivers in the race. But as the laps counted down, they made some mistakes, and just ended up moving backwards. Lando the fastest driver definitely appears to have deliberately slowed the pack under the SC which deserved the penalty. It was super cringe to hear Ted Kravitz cry like a British fan boy. Even his own peers didn't support him.

AlphaTauri are in such bad shape. Doesn't help their driver line up is awful. Yuki has improved but he is still a long way off of being a top tier driver. The fact that De Vries is so much worse suggests his job in F1 has to be at risk.

Haas couldn't have had it much worse. P2 in quali, only to get penalized and dropped to P5. It was a fall off a cliff from the first lap. That car simply does not have any race pace. Fascinating since it has a Ferrari engine and a Ferrari design and we know Ferrari struggle the same way.

Driver of the Day: Alex Albon. Upgraded, but still a crap car and held on to P7 while under pressure the entire race. Great job.

 

I hope Vegas turns out to be a winner just for the amount of people that will go in significant debt just to attend that race lol.

 

Probably because they look to be the 4th best team which means 7th and 8th should be their best result (6th and 7th when factoring in the Stroll variable). And it's a lot better than being in the hunt for a win and watching the team or drivers finding a way to throw it away over and over again.

 

Damn

 

Perez being a street circuit king is one of the biggest myths in current F1. I did the research and like you said, he was just a beneficiary of other's misfortune. But the media pushed that narrative, probably to try and get people to actually think someone can challenge Verstappen. Plus he is an extremely popular driver, so gotta give hope to the Perez fan base.