F1, GP Montreal: the report cards of the best
1. Alex Albon. On the day Verstappen takes an important step towards the Mount Rushmore of Formula 1, one of his past victims takes another revenge. Alex Albon almost lost his career trying to reach Dominus. He didn’t succeed, but none of those who had the misfortune to find Max in the team did. A year of detox and it shines again. Sure, the showcase is what it is, but Albon is proving he deserves another chance: not in Red Bull – otherwise he’ll end up in the meat grinder once again – but everything is fine in a mid-range team.
2. Nico Hulkenberg. Oh yes, this GP is dedicated to the working class going to heaven. Second place on the grid “in the field”: an exploit? Yes, but up to a point: in the middle of this year’s qualifying, Hülkenberg went into Q3. And he leads Haas, in a year in which theoretically eight seats are booked by the top. All while Magnussen (one who has always had a heavy foot on a flying lap) struggles often and willingly. Then, in the race, he was destroyed by a Safety Car that came out a few minutes after his stop, but this didn’t cancel qualifying as number 1.
3. Ferrari, the best. For this time I would like to grant the same team a place in both the best and the worst. As in all transition periods, there is something to save and something to improve: the pace, for example, was excellent. Of course, the deterioration in Montreal is not high, but it shouldn’t have been in Monte-Carlo either, yet even there the SF-23 collapsed vertically. Something Ferrari could have really found: I’m not saying it, but Leclerc. Could it be the Fata Morgana effect caused by the first heat? Not so much Spielberg as Silverstone will be the litmus test of the updates brought to Spain. Second point in favor: the strategy. Oh, little to say: they thought it right. And just as I’ve been hyper-critical in the past, this time we get the applause. Even I turned up my nose when they gave up the free pit stop, but in doing so they got rid of all the slow cars on the DRS train. Of course, then everything starts with a fast car, with a constant pace, which can extend a stint and play with strategy. And yesterday’s car was all of this. We agree that they shouldn’t rejoice over a fourth and fifth place, but starting tenth and 11th in this Formula 1 you only win if your name is Max Verstappen and you drive a Red Bull.
F1, GP Montreal: the report cards of the worst
3. Ferrari, the worst. We come to the sore points. Ups and downs, even within the same weekend. Indeed, within 24 hours. If the readiness seen on Sunday had also been seen on Saturday, we’d be talking about a podium-worthy Ferrari, like in Baku, and instead everything goes wrong in qualifying. Now I don’t feel like saying who was wrong between Leclerc and the low wall, also because it seems to me that the case could be configured as a concurrence of guilt. However, I stress that, however you think, there is a bigger problem and it is called trust: either Leclerc is wrong, and then the team is right to continue on its own, or he’s right, and then he would be the one to lose further faith in the team. So you work badly and above all there is no future in the relationship. In addition, the outbursts all take place in the light of the sun, in front of millions of viewers. And I come to another aspect, the communication. To be totally changed both externally (ferrari’s bad feelings come out on their own, all live, you don’t even have to go looking for them) and internally: out of six penalties for impeding imposed throughout the year, Ferrari took two. No one has done “better”. Is it possible that Red Bull and Mercedes never get caught unprepared? More: it is not only the “what” that is communicated, but also the how. It is said that Leclerc must be more incisive in the radio teams and that if he wants the slicks he must impose himself, go to the pits, and maybe even mount them himself. But will everyone have a right to his character? Charles has the of him, he must not become like anyone else. And even if he did, it wouldn’t be believable. It’s the team that needs to know how to communicate with Charles.
2. A great Fi(a)lini organization. Netflix’s Formula 1 that depopulated in North America stops because the cameras in Montreal are not working. A sport in constant search of paradoxes and parodies. Beautiful figure, I must say.
1. Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll. Speaking of good looks, here they are, all puffed up, the two real protagonists of the weekend. Here, come on Checo we must take into account the Albon-effect mentioned earlier: it seems that every pilot who stands alongside the Dominus becomes Taki Inoue, but that’s not really the case. Evidently Red Bull develops the car according to Max’s indications, which don’t always match the style of the second driver. Perez is a good driver, which now he doesn’t have the car in hand and risks sinking above all on a mental level. And if you’re young like Albon maybe you’ll recover, if instead you’re Bottas 2.0 you’ve simply finished your career and can at best wait for the crumbs to fall off the table. Stroll: he turns in Q2, with Ocon he looks like grandfather Piero in the parking lot and gets impeded, he enters the points zone by a miracle only because he has Bottas ahead of him and a penalised. Worthy continuation of Monte-Carlo (the only one to make mistakes with intermediate tires) and Barcelona (humiliated by Alonso who promises not to pass him) and in general a 2023 as an infiltrator.
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