Team by team scorecard and analysis of the 2017 Canadian Grand Prix, in Montreal, by GP247 editor Paul Velasco (PV) and correspondent Ben Stevens (BS).
Listed in team championship order:
Mercedes
Hamilton’s sixth win in Canada, and third in a row in Montreal, was the 56th of his career. He started on pole, equalling the late Ayrton Senna’s tally of 65, led every lap and set the fastest lap making it his fourth career grand slam. The one-two was Mercedes’ first of the season and sent them ahead of Ferrari again. Hamilton is 12 points behind Vettel.
Lewis Hamilton 1st
PV: He had something extra in Canada and clearly revels at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. He was stellar in qualifying and simply powered off into the distance during the race. A dominant erformance.
Score: 10/10
BS: Dominated from start to finish, with pace to burn. His fastest lap over Vettel was as impressive as it gets.
Score: 10/10
Valtteri Bottas 2nd
PV: Out classed bu his teammate, Valterri seemed content ot play second fiddle. It was a lonely run to second place unchallenged, but at the same time had no answer to Lewis.
Score: 7/10
BS: Essentially in a race by himself. A bit disconcerting that he had 60 laps behind Hamilton and couldn’t make it more competitive, though.
Score: 6/10
Ferrari
Vettel started on the front row but finished off the podium for the first time this year. His car suffered a damaged front wing at the start when Verstappen sliced past, forcing an early stop. He then fought back through the field. Raikkonen had brake problems towards the end.
Sebastian Vettel 4th
PV: The start cost Ferrari and once again Seb had troubles when swamped by the pack. He has a tendency to come out second best when going wheel to wheel into the first few turns in a race. Nevertheless his charge through the field was clinical and brave.
Score: 8/10
BS: 9/10
Score: Did very well to recover after his first-lap incident with Max Verstappen. Obviously not where he’d want to be, but it’s results like these that make the difference in what will be a close championship battle.
Kimi Raikkonen 7th
PV: As mentioned the start was unkind to the Reds and Kimi lost far too many places in the first lap melee. Never showed he had the same firepower as his teammate on the day.
Score: 6/10
BS: Never a factor. Whatever pace he’s had recently on Friday and Saturday, it’s still missing come Sunday.
Score: 5/10
Red Bull
Ricciardo finished third for the third race in a row, and drank champagne from his shoe on the podium. Verstappen made a sensational start, scything from fifth to second into the first corner. His race was short-lived, however, with the Dutchman pulling over after 11 laps with a suspected energy store failure.
Daniel Ricciardo 3rd
PV: Daniel seemed a tad out of sorts until the race in Canada. Max had the better of him throughout the weekend, but again the big smiling Aussie stayed out of trouble did the job by staying out of trouble and doing what he had to do with what he had at his disposal.
Score: 8/10
BS: Gifted a podium after the early shenanigans, did well to keep Sergio Perez behind, but was never particularly stretched.
Score: 7/10
Max Verstappen DNF
PV: Blazing start in an all or nothing start. Was fortunate that fortune favoured his Turn 1 bravery. But an early shower denied us what might have been another of his alien drives. Complained a little too much afterwards.
Score: 8/10
BS: Rest of the race be damned, Verstappen deserves plaudits for his ten laps alone. His start was brilliant, and deserved a podium.
Score: 9/10
Force India
Ocon felt aggrieved that Perez did not respond to the team suggesting he should let the Frenchman through to try to get past Ricciardo when they were running fourth and fifth. Vettel then passed both of them.
Sergio Perez 5th
PV: what Sergio did was not cool!
Score: 6/10
BS: A hard performance to assess. Did well to get fifth, but should Perez have been able to pass Ricciardo? Instead he cost his team a potential podium, but didn’t seem particularly concerned.
Score: 7/10
Esteban Ocon 6th
PV: Denied a possible podium bu his own teammate was a cruel fate for the talented Frenchman who gets stronger and stronger with each race. He was clearly quicker than his teammate, but at the same time did not go all banzai amid the obvious frustration.
Score: 9/10
BS: Only went from ninth to sixth, but had the goods to go much higher until he was stymied by Sergio Perez. Starting to really come into his own as an F1 driver, and handled the disappointment of Sunday with tremendous maturity and class.
Score: 9/10
Toro Rosso
Sainz caused an opening lap crash with Massa, bringing out the safety car, and will carry a three-place grid penalty over to the next race in Azerbaijan. Kvyat stalled on the grid before the formation lap and then failed to go to the back before the start. The Russian was punished twice by stewards, a drive through first and then a 10 second stop/go penalty. A wheelnut problem at a pitstop then led to a delay and retirement.
Daniil Kvyat DNF
PV: With each race Daniil impresses me less and less. Far too inconsistent and volatile I am sure his days are numbered in F1…
Score: 4/10
BS: If we were rating tirades on team radio, he’d probably get a 9 – unfortunately we’re not, and his driving was nothing special.
Score: 5/10
Carlos Sainz DNF
PV: Malicious move on Grosjean went south for Carlos who blotted his copy book on the day. No question he is ahuge talent with a great future, but a suspect temperament increasingly exposing itself.
Score: 1/10
BS: An uncharacteristically shambolic performance from the young Spaniard – few penalties are as open-and-shut as the one he got on Sunday.
Score: 1/10
Williams
Massa crashed out in the Sainz collision. Stroll came to the rescue, scoring his first points in Formula One in his home race. He also entered the record books as the second-youngest driver of all time to score.
Lance Stroll 9th
PV: Finally young Lance showed a glimmer of hope with a solid, if not stellar, performance on home soil. Showed restraint and patience in the race resulting in his first points. Nothing to go nuts about but his confidence will have received a huge boost. Now to reduce the rather substantial lap time deficit to his aging teammate…
Score: 7/10
BS: Did well to keep his head while making his way through the field for his first points finish. Still, he was the only Mercedes-powered driver to be lapped, so he’s not out of the doldrums yet.
Score: 6/10
Felipe Massa DNF
PV: Extremely bad luck for Felipe in a race which he might have even been podium material….
Score: N/A
BS: A brief cameo before being punted off by Carlos Sainz means the Brazilian had no chance to make an impression.
Score: N/A
Renault
Still nothing for Palmer, who lost places at the start and was then caught behind Grosjean, in seven races. Hulkenberg was chasing down Raikkonen at the finish.
Nico Hulkenberg 8th
PV: Delivered another solid drive and was rewarded accordingly. Progress at Renault is evident only due to the efforts of The Hulk.
Score: 8/10
BS: His fourth points finish in five races, it’s only through Hulkenberg that Renault has even a remote chance at a top-five finish in the constructor’s standings.
Score: 8/10
Jolyon Palmer 11th
PV: The gulf between him and his teammate is huge. Right now he is doing nothing to justify his place on the grid with a works team and in Montreal it was no exception.
Score: 4/10
BS: If Hulkenberg has been a guiding presence at Renault, Palmer has been the complete opposite. Maybe one of these days he’ll perform even close to the level of his teammate.
Score: 4/10
Haas
Haas scored for the third race in a row. Grosjean pitted at the end of lap one for a new front wing. He did the remaining 69 laps on one set of supersoft tyres. Magnussen collected a five-second penalty for passing Vandoorne while the virtual safety car was deployed.
Romain Grosjean 10th
PV: Too hysterical in the cockpit, Romain needs to chill and lose the attitude. Moaning to his team all the time is winning him no freinds. When he gets on with the job at hand he can be impressive. A point in Canada redeems him.
Score: 7/10
BS: His third points finish on the trot, and yet the Frenchman seems completely miserable in the car. Maybe he just drives better when angry.
Score: 7/10
Kevin Magnussen 12th
PV: Anonymous sums up K-Mags weekend in Canada. I am starting to understand why McLaren and Renault did not fancy him.
Score: 3/10
BS: If you were hoping after his P10 in Monaco that Magnussen might start to turn things around, forget it. He was once again completely anonymous.
Score: 3/10
Sauber
Wehrlein started from the pit lane after a crash in qualifying while Ericsson did a one stop strategy. A dull afternoon for both.
Marcus Ericsson 13th
PV: For the journeyman it was an ok weekend, but nothing spectacular in an obviously inferior car.
Score: 6/10
BS: A quietly decent performance from the Swede, besting his much more vaunted teammate and the McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne.
Score: 7/10
Pascal Wehrlein 15th
PV: Was Pascal in Canada? Could have fooled me! To be outshone by Marcus will hardly look good on his CV.
Score: 3/10
BS: Add another to the “miss” column of Wehrlein’s 2017 campaign. Has the car hurt the driver? Or was he just too highly rated to begin with?
Score: 4/10
McLaren
Still no points for McLaren, despite Alonso being in 10th place until the penultimate lap when his car’s Honda engine expired.
Stoffel Vandoorne 14th
PV: Maybe this guy came into the sport at the wrong time, but the hype (in the aftermath of his stunning debut last year) is not being realised. Maybe Fernando has better bits bolted to his car? Whatever the case Stoffel is no match for his teammate.
Score: 5/10
BS: There’s no denying Fernando Alonso is a tough measuring stick, but Vandoorne can’t get anywhere near the same standard. Even more than his teammate, the Belgian just seems stuck in the mud.
Score: 4/10
Fernando Alonso DNF
PV: Fan or not of Fernando, what he is going through right now is utterly ridiculous. When most would have given up and walked away, the Spaniard gives it everything he has and more. It is criminal that Honda have not delivered and the sport’s massive talent, probably at his peak, is struggling. His glove throwing antics get my Driver of the Day accolade!
Score: 8/10
BS: Once again drove the McLaren’s socks off, only to see the Honda engine do what it does best and fail spectacularly. Indycar must be looking pretty good right now.
Score: 8/10