The Debrief: 2022 Canadian Grand Prix

21st June 2022 0 By Kamron Kent

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen extended his F1 championship lead after he kept Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz at bay in the Canadian Grand Prix.

A new technical directive spurred controversy as the sport arrived in Montreal, Canada. The FIA stepped in to help teams control porpoising after concerns were raised about the physical health of the drivers.

At 40 years of age, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso has still got it after he secured P2 on the grid, ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz allows yet another win to slip past his grasp as the Spaniard tried to snatch the lead away from Verstappen, after a late safety car.

Technical directive

After calls to the FIA, Formula 1’s governing body, to step in and help teams reduces porpoising as the drivers had become concerned with their physical health. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was a prime example in Baku, Azerbaijan as the seven-time world champion struggled to get out of his car after the race.

When the regulations were first introduced, and the first cars were built, porpoising – an aerodynamic phenomenon – wasn’t expected during the teams wind tunnel tests. When the teams went to Barcelona for the first pre-season test, the teams didn’t anticipate the new phenomenon by the ‘ground-effect’ cars. However, their attention quickly turned to figure out a solution.

As the teams are struggling to come to grips with porpoising, drivers have complained about the affect this has had on their body. Mercedes’ George Russell has even stated he has undergone new physical training to help support his back. While McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, in Baku, felt ‘rattled’ when he spoke to Sky Sports F1.

The plan from the FIA is to introduce a new metric which will limit how strong the ‘vertical oscillations’ can be. Anything over the limit and teams will have to rise the ride height of their affects cars.

However, as the directive was dropped on the teams so close to the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix, many team principles were not happy with the timing of the announcement. While some didn’t believe the decision, from the FIA, was the right call.

Fernando Alonso

Alpine may not be fighting for championships, at this current moment in time, but at 40 years of age, Fernando Alonso has still got what it takes to put his car on the front row.

The two-time world champion looked to be in good form as the sport arrived in Montreal as he finished as the third fastest man in Free Practice 1, and P5 in FP2. However, in wet conditions, in FP3, the Spaniard put his car at the top of the timing boards ahead with an incredible 1:33.836. This time was 0.7 seconds faster than the reigning world champions time (Verstappen), who is known to be fantastic in wet weather conditions.

This was soon evidenced by his qualifying performance as he was able to provide Alpine with their best grid position (P2) since they rebranded, in 2021. Alonso was undoubtedly in high spirits and threatened to attack Verstappen into turn one, and lead the race.

While Alonso’s chances of successfully fighting Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Verstappen were slim, the Spaniard could have easily of fought Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who was placed directly behind him in P4. However, Alpine’s strategy didn’t work out to plan, when he pitted on lap 28, and he ended up in the midfield battle.

Despite all this, Alonso has now set a new record regarding longevity in the sport. After 21 years, three months and 15 days, the two-time world champion is now the longest standing driver in F1. It was previously held by F1 legend Michael Schumacher who spent 21 years and three months in the sport.

Mercedes’ hit and miss

The all-domininant Mercedes F1 team has seen more ups and downs than the Portimao circuit in Portugal, this season. Literally and figuratively. In Monaco and Baku, Azerbaijan, the Silver Arrows had been in a spot of bother with how comfortable their cars ride is. The main issue came down to bouncing, or porpoising.

This may come down to the bumpy nature of the street circuits, which will see more usual traffic than F1 cars on a yearly basis.

Mercedes looked to be on the back foot once again, last weekend, as their seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton complained that his car was ‘undriveable.’ However, he still managed to qualify his car on the second row of the grid, in P4.

Although Hamilton deemed the car as undriveable in dry conditions, the multiple world champion still managed to stay in the fight for a podium position by the end of the race. But, this was likely down to Alonso’s strategy and mechanical problems which saw him fall out of the fight.

It seems Mercedes’ cars struggle more on street circuits than they do on the traditional tracks, if you consider their performances from Canada and Barcelona. Fortunately, for the Brackley-based team, the sport only has one more street circuit to attend: Singapore. With this logic in mind, could we see a more competitive Mercedes in Silverstone next week? Probably, but only for podiums.

Another win slips past Carlos Sainz

It is yet another second place finish for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. After the Scuderia put a new power unit into the back of Charles Leclerc, the Prancing Horse looked towards the Spaniard to deliver a great result. In his previous experiences, at the front of the pack, Sainz has always finished second best.

Sainz lined up directly behind Verstappen as the Ferrari driver had an okay qualifying session in the wet. Although Mattia Binotto would have likely expected him to beat the likes of Alonso who was in a slower car, but Sainz had been out qualified by his hero.

Despite this, he still managed to get past Alonso fairly quickly as he started the third lap behind Verstappen, who started to push out a gap between the two drivers. A late safety car, caused by Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, reeled Verstappen back into the clutches of the Scuderia.

With the Ferrari on fresher tyres, you would’ve expected the Scuderia to put up an good fight for the race lead. However, on the exit of the turn 10 hairpin, Verstappen always had better traction and never seemed to be in a place where he felt the lead was threatened.

Since 2020, Sainz has always seen himself finishing second best, his best race finish. In his F1 career, the Spaniard has secured second place five times, in places such as; Monza (2020), Monaco (2021 & 2022), Bahrain (2022) and – now – Canada (2022).

This begs the question: when will Sainz finally catch a break and secure his maiden win?

That’s it for the article: F1 Weekend Debrief: 2022 Canadian Grand Prix! What was your favourite moment from the race? Let us know in the comments!

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

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Kamron Kent

The Debrief: 2022 Canadian Grand Prix