Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Prediction: Canadian GP always brings excitement

This year, Max Verstappen is coming to Montreal in a not-so-great mood. Although he is still the leader in the championship, the weekend in Monaco did not bring him good results. He finished the last race in a frustrating sixth place after problems with the car's handling on the tight streets of Monte Carlo, so he will be eager for a good result in Canada and a return to victory lane. With the victory of Charles Leclerc and Ferrari in Monaco, the situation in the championship took on a somewhat more interesting look, so that according to the point standings, Red Bull's dominance does not seem as pronounced, as it looked in most of this season's races. Although he has seven out of eight possible pole positions and five out of eight possible victories this year, Verstappen has only a 31-point lead over Leclerc. The constructors' difference is smaller because Ferrari is 'only' minus 24.

Canadian Grand Prix

This Sunday has a real treat for us: the ninth race of the Formula 1 World Championship season, the 53rd Grand Prix of Canada in the history of Formula 1, of which the 38th will be held at the circuit in Montreal, named after the legendary Gilles Villeneuve. In the last ten years, the teams that dominated those seasons mostly won the Canadian Grand Prix. Thus, in 2013 and 2014, Red Bull celebrated in Montreal, Mercedes collected four Canadian victories from 2015 to 2019, and the 'Bulls' came to the fore again in the last two years. The exception in that story is Sebastian Vettel's victory with Ferrari in 2018. In 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic there weren’t F1 races in Canada. Of the active F1 drivers, the winning champagne in Montreal was drunk by Hamilton seven times, Verstappen twice, and Ricciardo and Alonso once each. Spaniard 18 years ago with Renault. The current world champion will be chasing his third consecutive victory in Canada this year, and last year he celebrated just ahead of Alonso in second and Hamilton in third place.

Russell: Hamilton’s data helped me a lot

In the qualifications, the younger of the two Britons in Mercedes was more successful. In the final round, Russell set a time of 1:12.0 and reached his first pole position of the season, and the second overall of his career. He awaited the best starting position since the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix. Interestingly, Russell and Verstappen had identical times in the thousandth, but the Mercedes driver finished his lap earlier and therefore the first starting position belonged to him. Norris and Piastri took the second starting row for McLaren ahead of Ricciardo in the RB who excelled at the circuit where he took his first Formula 1 victory in 2014. Alonso beat Hamilton to finish sixth for Aston Martin while Hamilton, despite a promising start to qualifications, finished 0.28s and six positions behind his teammate. Tsunoda was slower than Ricciardo for only the second time in nine qualifiers this season and will start from eighth position for RB ahead of Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Albon in the Williams. Ferrari drivers struggled with tire warm-up and car behavior all weekend, which resulted in only 11th and 12th places.

Expert Betting Tips

The Canadian Grand Prix will be a "gamble" as the changing weather conditions during the first and second practice sessions resulted in shortened opportunities for drivers to carry out their normal plans. With the weather forecast predicting more mixed conditions on Saturday and Sunday, in this race everything is possible. Third-placed team McLaren does not fully understand why the recent improvements have yielded more lap gains than what they had expected in their simulations, but they admit it is good news and a big opportunity to further develop the car during the season. McLaren continued this year where they left off last year and are a constant threat for podiums, and after the introduction of the first major package of improvements in Miami, they are constantly a threat in the fight for victories. They were solid all weekend in Canada, and I think that Oscar Piastri from the 4th starting position can finish on the podium in the end.

OUR PREDICTION: Oscar Piastri in the top 3