By Carlo Platella
It’s on stage in Canada the first wet race of the year, a condition in which Verstappen has always shown supreme sensitivity. Yet, the world champion’s victory is not at all a given, as he sweated it out both on the track and in the pits before getting the better of the excellent McLaren and Mercedes. However, Ferrari, the great expectation of the day before, collapsed, paying for the preparation errors and the persistent limitations of the SF-24.
Damn Red Bull
At the end of a heated and unpredictable race the only competitive Red Bull wins, the one driven by Max Verstappen, without however showing a superior pace to McLaren and Mercedes. In this sense, Montreal confirms for the third time what has already been seen between Miami and Imola, i.e a still competitive Red Bull and that with Verstappen he manages to find that extra spark for victory, but certainly not more dominant. The world champion himself reiterated it in post-race interviews: “We weren’t the fastest car.”
The Dutchman put the victory in the safe by extending his lead in the final ten laps after the Safety Car, in which the RB20 reaffirmed its incisiveness in the early stages after a restart or a tire change. That of Canada it’s a heavy win for Red Bull, as it arrives on one of the most difficult tracks for the car from Milton Keynes, still having difficulty on curbs and bumps. Something that became evident in the different trajectories appreciated in the direct duel with Lando Norris and reiterated via radio by Verstappen himself: “The height management is terrible, the suspension seems blocked”. The good news for the world champions is that the next tracks on the calendar will be less severe on this front, with the prospect of being able to extend further in the championship.
McLaren finds confirmations, Mercedes seeks them
Bittersweet second place for Lando Norris. The Briton regrets a victory that was lost in the pits during the tire change phase, but with the awareness of being able to count on an increasingly convincing McLaren, which also appeared competitive in the hands of Oscar Piastri. The feedback is even more important if we consider the characteristics of the Canadian track, dominated by straights and medium-slow corners, all areas of difficulty at the beginning of the season, but which the Miami updates have managed to cure.
The novelty of the Montreal race is above all the leading role played by Mercedes, who with George Russell collected a pole position and a podium, also expressing a pace in line with the best. The hope is that the Canadian trip marks a new beginning for the Silver Arrows, whose competitiveness, however, will have to be confirmed in Spain and even more so in Austria. In fact, the Montreal track, with its curves similar to each other, facilitates the search for balance at the various speeds, a major worry for Mercedes at the beginning of the year. However, there remains optimism that the updates are widening the operating window of the W15, which in Canada was equally competitive on the flying lap, in the race, in the wet and in the dry.
Ferrari stops
The race of the two Reds was simply unjudgeable, with Leclerc slowed down by an electronic problem in the engine controls and Sainz by an apparent damage to the floor. For Ferrari the luck in the misfortune is that the double zero accrues in a weekend in which the SF-24 doesn’t seem to perform anyway. Canada was a track which, with its high curbs and uneven asphalt, should have rewarded Maranello’s suspension mechanics, but whose slow corners they also emphasized other limitations. Added to this are the problems of using the tires on Saturdays, also linked to the low ambient temperatures. The setback in the standings weighs heavily on Maranello, but Canada’s debacle could become an opportunity to expose the package’s weak points.
Looking at the future
By a curious coincidence, the first wet race of the year takes place on the same weekend in which the FIA presents the draft regulations for 2026. Seeing the cars lined up unable to overtake each other without the DRS, which as always is deactivated as a precaution in the rain, pushes to appreciate more the new “override” mode for the power unit, which will facilitate overtaking through a temporary increase in power for the attacker. However, in the same context we ask ourselves what will happen when the 2026 cars have to open both wings on all the straights to save on consumption, given that the race direction is currently already forced to deactivate the DRS, a much less powerful tool than future active aerodynamics. Perplexities remain, outlining numerous questions still waiting to be answered.
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