The Canadian Grand Prix was slip sliding away as drivers measured their lives in micro seconds. PETER COSTER reports:
Dead-heat. No. But nearly. In a F1 season dominated by margins far less than the blink of an eye, the FIA chose not to tell us.
The margin between George Russell on pole in the Canadian Grand Prix and Max Verstappen, who won the race, was non-existent.
Both set fastest time of one minute and 12 seconds in qualifying, with Russell in the Mercedes taking the front spot because he recorded the time before Verstappen.
The Red Bull was relegated to second place on the front row, eight metres behind the Mercedes, which set its time earlier in qualifying.
The digital timer, set to three decimal places, or a thousandth of a second, could not split the two cars.
Not so said Sky F1 pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz long after the race ended as he pointed to a tent at the track where the FIA is able to define lap times to a ten thousandth of a second.
But three decimal places is what the rule book says, so who was really the pole sitter, Russell or Verstappen.
The first time a dead-heat, which was in effect a triple dead-heat, was recorded in the final race in the 1997 season in Jerez when identical times were recorded by Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Jaques Villeneuve and more of the volatile Villeneuve later.
Another triple dead heat, this time between actual horses, not horsepower was in the 1956 Hotham Handicap at Flemington when Fighting Force, Ark Royal and Pandie Sun Hit the line with nary a nostril in it.
The Canadian dead-heat on Sunday is significant not only because it is only the second time it has happened in Formula One history, but because it shows how digital technology has come to dominate F1.
The first seven cars in qualifying were separated by less than three tenths of a second, the first three by a mere two hundredths.
F1 has become a race of micro seconds between Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin fighting.
The margins are unimaginably tight, which means better to see for the millions who watch the world’s fastest sport.
In Canada, the Ferraris did not reach final qualifying and in the race, won by Verstappen, both cars failed to finish. Somedays even the best are humbled are reasons known and unknown and even known unknowns.
The second Red Bull failed to get out of qualy one, Sergio Perez having just signed a two-year extension with Red Bull.
Perez started 18th on the 20-car grid and failed to finish after losing the car and destroying the rear wing, all of which revived theories that some drivers lose their sense of urgency when they sign a new contract.
What does seem surprising is Red Bull having signed Perez when they didn’t have to, instead of biding their time until the end of the season as more drivers come onto the market.
Daniel Ricciardo was thought to be one such candidate, although his inconsistent results this season ruined his chances.
There is also no guarantee he will remain with Visa RB, the Red Bull junior team, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda has signed up for next year .
The Japanese driver has out qualified Ricciardo and finished ahead of him in the points in most races, although the Australian driver put in a stellar performance in Canada, where he finished fifth to Tsunoda’s 14th.
But back to the aforementioned Jacques Villeneuve, a former F1 world champion in 1997 and an Indianapolis 500 and Indycar series winner.
Villeneuve, launched a tirade against Ricciardo at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, named after his famous father.
The Australian driver, who won the first of his eight GP victories at the Canadian circuit 10 years ago to the day, was washed up, said Villeneuve.
“Why’s he still in F1? Why,” said Villeneuve. “We are hearing the same thing for the last four or five years. We have to make the car better for him. Poor him!”
Villeneuve was just starting to rev his engine.“Sorry, it’s been five years of that. No, you are in F1. Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton, who has won multiple championships. “You don’t make that effort for a driver that can’t cut it. If you can’t cut it, go home, there’s someone else to take your place.
“That’s how it’s always been in racing, it’s the pinnacle of the sport. There’s no reason to keep going and to make finding excuses.”
Ricciardo responded with expletives that often find their way on to team radio from frustrated drivers.
“I heard he’s been talking shit,” responded the Honey Badger whose crash helmet in Canada was adorned with a painted splash of just as sweet maple syrup.
“But he always does. I think he has hit his head a few too many times.
“I don’t know if he plays ice hockey or something. I won’t give him the time of day, all those people can suck it.”
The former Perth driver, who lives in Monaco, might have been referring to all those who have criticised him unfairly, in his estimation.
Yes, there has been a pile-on, with former world champion Alan Jones saying as much, but more diplomatically.
The “suck it” comment needs no clarification and was repeated by Gary Lyon on the broadcast of the Carlton versus Essendon AFL match when he heard of the F1 argy-bargy.
Still, everyone got the message and the Honey Badger now needs to back it up as the season heads towards the halfway point.
The Villeneuve spray has some merit, but even the gentlemanly Martin Brundle was moved to say what might be considered a payment for a successful motivational speech might be delivered by a fist rather than a handful of euros.
Back to the race on Sunday, which was more than interesting as drivers contended with the wet and the wild and all things in-between.
The drivers who best handled it were effectively represented by the finishing top five of Verstappen, Norris, Russell, Hamilton and Piastri. Ricciardo, who finished eighth, is a multiple GP winner, a colourful character around the paddock and a huge fan favourite, any way you er, suck it.
In Montreal, the weather was never one thing for very long, neither wet enough for rain tyres, not dry enough for slicks and neither one thing or another for intermediates.
Nor softs, mediums or hards. There were slides off the track, excursions onto the grass, drivers somehow staying alive while driving blind at more than 300kmh in a deluge.
As George Russell said after one sliding, startling moment on turn four that summed it up, “Holy, moly.”
The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on June 23.
Result of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix
09/09/2024
NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME/RETIRED |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 45:47.9 |
4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | +3.879s |
63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | +4.317s |
44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | +4.915s |
81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | +10.199s |
14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | +17.510s |
18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | +23.625s |
3 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB HONDA RBPT | +28.672s |
10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | +30.021s |
31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | +30.313s |
27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | +30.824s |
20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | +31.253s |
77 | Valtteri Bottas | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | +40.487s |
22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB HONDA RBPT | +52.694s |
24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK SAUBER FERRARI | +1 lap |
55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | DNF |
23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | DNF |
11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | DNF |
16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | DNF |
2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | DNF |
PETER COSTER is a former editor and foreign correspondent who has covered a range of international sports, including world championship fights and the Olympic Games.
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