by VALERIO BARRETTA
F1 Canada, the report cards of those promoted
1. Max Verstappen. The bell rings and the teacher returns to class. After the Monte-Carlo revelry on the one hand and the funeral at Red Bull on the other, Schumaxer turns 60 in style, flying without a spaceship but with its own means. He misses half a corner in 70 laps on eggshells, otherwise he gets everything right and takes back what the Safety Car took away from him in Miami, then stunning Norris after the second Safety Car with that guard’s gap that immediately takes away the DRS from him. Ah, taking away the farce of Spa 2021, Verstappen has seven victories in 18 wet GPs: in percentage, he even surpassed Schumacher. Only Senna remains in front, again in percentage terms, who ran 18 but won ten. He will be at the table with the greats, and perhaps he already is.
2. McLaren. After the MV20, here is the other car that goes strong in any condition. What beautiful growth, what beautiful work by Andrea Stella and Zak Brown. And what beautiful pilots. The last step is missing too many times, because it’s true that winning helps you win. Even yesterday, in the first Safety Car, Norris pulled straight when he had time to stop. These are decisions that must be made in five seconds, but they are also the ones that separate the winners from the others.
3. Alex Albon. One step away from points with Williams for two Sundays in a row, a feat that compared to Davide Nicola’s salvation is a dive in a boat. Still in Q3, still fighting in the tenth place area, double cinematic overtaking on Ricciardo and Ocon. Too much grace Saint Albonius, and the gods punish him by putting a rotating Sainz in his way, which he could have as a companion in 2025. It would be a great pairing, but it would still overshadow a guy whose only fault was taking on Verstappen too early.
F1 Canada, the report cards of those who failed
3. Logan Sargeant. Speaking of Williams. In the homeland of the brave Latifi it was fate that his heir would remember his deeds by going to the wall everywhere except the Wall of Champions, because after all the boy is humble. As long as he is in the race, everyone can hope for a Safety Car. Let’s enjoy him for these last few months because I think we’re running out of time.
2. Sergio Perez. Do you remember that nice Sargeant pilot? Well, in qualifying he is losing 0-31 from Albon, stuff compared to which Marvis Frazier came out with his head held high against Mike Tyson. I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but Perez finished behind Sargeant seven times on Saturday, and is also rewarded with renewal. For goodness’ sake, utmost respect for Checo, who has found the Eldorado and can put it on the wall with impunity. If Red Bull is happy, keeping a driver who disappears four months a year, everyone is happy.
1. Ferrari. Perez would be a 1 on his report card, due to the disaster in qualifying and the race. But Perez is Perez, those were the expectations. Ferrari manages to do worse, precisely because it started with higher expectations. Expectations created not by the press, as we read around, unless we believe that Vasseur has defined the values of the three top teams “extremely close together” under threat from an USSI commando. Ferrari went to Montreal to win, and it was normal for this to be the case after the Monte-Carlo weekend. Instead, she fell into the worst disgrace of the Vasseur management. Of course, bad weekends happen and will happen to everyone, the important thing is to understand the reasons: but do they know them? Vasseur and Leclerc spoke of reliability, Sainz at pace. Vasseur said that Sainz had bottom damage, the Spaniard didn’t even mention it. Something is not clear, or it is clear but there is much left unsaid: it is not credible to blame only reliability, because this weekend Ferrari did not run in any conditions and on any day, on a track which was also suited to the characteristics of the SF-24, while (again on paper) it had to disadvantage the Red Bull with its curbs. And it didn’t go in any department: if you add drivers (Sainz), communication (Leclerc’s nervousness) and strategy, with a desperate choice of hard tires that could have brought dividends only when the track dried for the first time, it didn’t work out. no one is saved. Montmeló is an opportunity for redemption, but we return to tracks where the aerodynamic Red Bull should once again make its voice heard. The real opportunity has just passed.
#report #cards #Canada #podium
