A drive so impressive, he passed the chequered flag twice. This was a sublime, flawless performance from Sebastian Vettel, a lights-to-flag domination that even an early flag mix-up could not spoil. An impressive getaway set the tone after his fine qualifying, and he then used all his experience and nous to navigate the Safety Car restart. Once that had been dealt with, there only ever looked like being one winner in Canada. More importantly, he now holds a world championship lead and suddenly looks like the driver in form. We have quite the title fight on our hands, folks…
Rating out of ten: 10
Still no wins for Valtteri Bottas in 2018 but four second-place finishes in seven races underline his consistency and dependability – qualities which now look likely to earn Valtteri at least a one-year contract extension with Mercedes. Advised to “get his elbows out” more often by the Sky F1 pundits pre-race, Bottas did exactly that on the first lap to hold off Max Verstappen. Just a shame about the mistake late on when he ran wide at the first corner lapping a backmarker Renault, although Vettel had it all under control up front in any case.
Rating out of ten: 9
That’s more like it, Max Verstappen. After butting heads with the media on Thursday, the youngster was as outstanding in Montreal as he had been careless in Monaco, delivering his joint-best result of the season but very much his best all-round performance. On Sky F1, Nico Rosberg suggested that Verstappen has a Hamilton-like tendency to excel when he’s “angry”; Max denied as much afterwards but it certainly felt as though he was making his response to the critics – and with his eloquent talking on the track, he did so in the best possible way.
Rating out of ten: 9
Even when not quite at his best, Daniel Ricciardo still ended the Montreal week in credit, delivering a strong race-day performance – and a super in-lap to get the jump on Lewis Hamilton – to land fourth place. As he said afterwards, “I don’t think I could have done much more. I know it’s fourth but I’m actually happy.” Anything else? “Last thing, it’s my mum’s birthday, so happy birthday mum.” Just don’t talk about the fastest lap award…
Rating out of ten: 7.5
He came into the weekend as the Montreal master, but Lewis Hamilton simply never got going here. The wrong setup in qualifying followed by an engine problem in the race may have accounted for part of that – and Hamilton was grateful for simply finishing the grand prix at all – but this was supposed to be his track, and his time to open up a lengthy lead over Vettel. Instead, he goes into a triple header with an unexpected points deficit, and suddenly doesn’t look at ease.
Rating out of ten: 6
Three tenths of a second behind in qualifying, almost 30 seconds behind in the race. These are uncomfortable numbers for Kimi Raikkonen who, after a strong start to the season, is now really being shown up by Vettel. The championship leader has beaten Raikkonen in the last six qualifying sessions. The Finn paid dearly for his Saturday mistake in the race – he could not quite get close enough to Hamilton for fifth – and, after so many years at the top, is it starting to look like the beginning of the end for F1’s Iceman?
Rating out of ten: 5
‘Mr Consistent’ Nico Hulkenberg has pretty much spent the entirety of 2018 in seventh place and Montreal barely deviated from established practice – seventh in qualifying, Nico was still in seventh when both chequered flag fell. Bit of a difficult one, isn’t it, to explain why Nico is so rarely talked about as a candidate for a top seat?
Rating out of ten: 9
Eighth place may look like a good return for Carlos Sainz, especially after making contact with Sergio Perez, but that does not take his team-mate’s performances into his account. While Hulkenberg continues to extract the maximum out of the Renault, Sainz is consistently a tenth slower in qualifying, and a tenth slower in the race. He is surely still a contender for a possible seat at Red Bull next year, but this loan is not quite going to plan for him at the moment.
Rating out of ten: 7
He’s been under the radar slightly this season and doesn’t have the points some of his drives have deserved but Esteban Ocon is enjoying a really quite impressive run of form. He now leads Perez 5-2 in qualifying and, though he will be disappointed not to have got past a Renault or two, he couldn’t have done too much more in the race. Mercedes say they will look internally first should they have a 2019 seat available, and Ocon is doing his chances no harm.
Rating out of ten: 8
Is Charles Leclerc the in-form driver on the grid? Quite possibly. The F1 rookie endured a shaky start to the season but his last four grands prix have been quite exceptional. Making it into Q2 in Montreal and out-qualifying both McLarens, Leclerc backed that up with a consistent and experienced drive on Sunday – holding off a quicker Toro Rosso to take a point. Ferrari will be quite rightly impressed by their protege.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
The big mover in the race, Pierre Gasly was happy with a “really good” Sunday after such a disappointing, reliability-hampered Saturday. The big positive for Gasly and Toro Rosso is that the new Honda engine update looks promising, with the Frenchman able to pass multiple cars on the long straight. He was not able to catch Leclerc in the end, but his stock will not slide with this performance.
Rating out of ten: 7
While Romain Grosjean didn’t finish with any points, he extracted just about all he could from a fading Haas package after starting at the back. Grosjean went longer than anyone with his first stint on ultrasofts, a full 48 laps, but just couldn’t make up for his power unit issue in qualifying. He believes he would have made Q3 without that engine failure, and his pace in the race suggests strong points were certainly possible.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
A disappointing weekend for Kevin Magnussen. While he was looking forward to picking his strategy from 11th on the grid, a poor first lap saw any advantage he may have had evaporate. Finishing behind his team-mate will sting, too. How Haas and Magnussen must be ruing those lost points earlier this season.
Rating out of ten: 6
An afternoon to forget for Sergio Perez. The Mexican was very briefly ninth after passing Sainz following the post-Safety Car restart, but then slipped all the way down the field after the coming together. The collision was certainly unfortunate, but Perez’s call for a black flag was misguided – and he should perhaps focus more of his attention on getting the better of his Force India team-mate. From seven F1 2018 qualifying sessions, Perez now trails Ocon 5-2.
Rating out of ten: 6
He started the season well, but Marcus Ericsson is really starting to get left behind by Sauber team-mate Leclerc. That’s five qualifying ‘defeats’ in a row for the Swede, who then couldn’t make much progress in the race.
Rating out of ten: 5.5
A sloppy weekend on a whole for Stoffel Vandoorne, and any hopes he may have had for a strong race were ended after being forced into an early pit-stop due to a puncture from the first-lap debris. He may insist that he is closer to Alonso than the numbers suggest, but a 7-0 qualifying deficit doesn’t lie and he must surely improve significantly to assure McLaren that he is their star of the future.
Rating out of ten: 5
It’s difficult to be too critical of Sergey Sirotkin – a young Russian in his first F1 season and equipped with the slowest car on the grid. That lack of pace was evident again in Montreal as, though he gained some positions at the start, he was soon a sitting duck for the drivers behind him and finished at the back of the field. Williams simply must improve.
Rating out of ten: 6
Did not finish…
Not the way Fernando Alonso would have wanted to celebrate his 300th F1 GP. McLaren were desperately under-par here, and though Alonso enjoyed a “fun” start to the race, sitting just outside the points at one stage, he was forced to retire after feeling a loss of power due to a broken charge air cooler pipe on Lap 41.
“It’s sad, frustrating and I’m disappointed with this result,” said a despondent Spaniard.
Next up, Le Mans.
Rating out of ten: 6
1:58 Watch the first lap action of the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix.
After a week of speculation about his F1 future, an early crash was the last thing Brendon Hartley needed. Yes, he was pushed into the wall by Lance Stroll – but it was a still risky move around the outside of Turn Five with both cars struggling for grip. The end result was shattering for both his Toro Rosso car and his hopes for a strong performance to silence the doubters.
Rating out of ten: 6
A year ago Lance Stroll was celebrating his first points in Formula 1 in front of his home fans, but at this Canadian GP, Stroll’s race was over before it got started after the collision with Hartley. Still, at least he halted his qualifying loss streak to Williams team-mate Sirotkin.
Rating out of ten: 6
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