Canadian Grand Prix | Five Great Intrigues

Each Formula 1 season brings its share of twists and turns. If the fight between Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc is at the center of the discussions, other subplots deserve our attention. Here are five.

Katherine Harvey Pinard
The Press

Mercedes worries

The season is still young, but Mercedes is not on track to win a ninth consecutive constructors’ championship and Lewis Hamilton an eighth title.

After losing the Drivers’ Championship in a controversial final race in 2021, Hamilton said he would be a “more aggressive” driver this year. But the seven-time world champion is having his worst start to the season in the past decade. He managed only one podium – a little unexpected – at the first Grand Prix of the season, in Bahrain.

In the days leading up to the race, the Briton had openly admitted that the team was not “at the top”. Mercedes has had a lot of porpoising issues with its new car since the start of the season. Hamilton also pulled out of his seat with a back injury at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The other Silver Arrows driver, George Russell, has nevertheless passed Hamilton in seven of the eight races and holds a 37-point lead over him in the standings. The 24-year-old has been racing brilliantly, far beyond expectations, since the start of the season.

Mercedes are trailing Red Bull by 118 points and Ferrari by 38 points. The margin of error allowed will therefore be slim for the 14 races that remain to be contested in the season.

How far can Sergio Perez go?

Sergio Pérez is now in a top team with a car that allows him to fight – seriously – for a championship.

The Mexican finished second three times in the first six Grands Prix before triumphing in Monaco and then finishing second again in Azerbaijan. He had also extended his contract with Red Bull until 2024 a few days before his victory.

Red Bull, however, is not recognized as a team that treats its two drivers fairly. We need only think of what happened in Spain on May 22. Pérez was in the lead at 49^e lap when he was ordered to let Verstappen get ahead of him. “It’s not fair, but OK,” he hinted into the microphone before executing.

When Pérez emerged victorious in Monaco a week later, Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, published a long blog post MaxVerstappen.com, calling his son’s third-place finish “disappointing”. “The defending champion, Max, was not favored by the chosen strategy. It turned out completely to Checo’s advantage,” he openly lamented.

The British team therefore finds itself with two leading drivers. Will Pérez be able to maintain his momentum for a whole season? If so, how will Red Bull handle the situation?

Valtteri Bottas, the surprise of Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo can be proud to have replaced retired Kimi Räikkönen with Valtteri Bottas. After a season of 13 points and a 9^e place in the constructors’ ranking in 2021, the Swiss team has scored 41 points in 8 Grands Prix and occupies 6^e ranking rank.

After five years as Lewis Hamilton’s lieutenant at Mercedes, the 32-year-old is now his team’s general. He was convincing from the first race of the season with a 6^e square. In Emilia-Romagna he took the 5^e rank, just ahead of his former teammate.

We also guess that Bottas is supporting rookie Zhou Guanyu, who however has not yet been able to do better than a 10^e place in Bahrain.

It is therefore Bottas who have scored 40 of Alfa Romeo’s 41 points so far. Will he succeed in snatching a place on the podium by the end of the season?

Carlos Sainz son in search of constancy

Carlos Sainz junior is not the most consistent driver at the start of the season.

The Spaniard managed two podiums at the first two Grands Prix, then only finished one lap before retiring at the next two races. He then managed a third place in Miami and a second place in Monaco, before retiring at 9^e tour in Azerbaijan due to a hydraulic problem.

The driver admitted on several occasions that he had difficulty driving his new car. “You can see that I don’t drive naturally. The vehicle is a bit too sharp for my taste, but that’s the way it is,” he told F1 correspondent Lawrence Barretto.

Last year, Sainz fils finished the season in 5^e rank of drivers by placing themselves in the points 20 times out of 22 Grands Prix. With a Ferrari fast enough to win races this year, he will need to find some consistency sooner rather than later.

Kevin Magnussen to the rescue of Haas?

Haas had a dismal 2021 season, finishing last overall.

Before the start of the 2022 season, the team showed the door to its Russian driver Nikita Mazepin due to the invasion in Ukraine. His replacement: Kevin Magnussen, who had not been in Formula 1 for a year. Surprise, the Dane revives the team on his own.

The ever-aggressive 29-year-old picked up fifth in Bahrain, then two ninths in Saudi Arabia and Emilia-Romagna. The 15 points of his team belong to him. But he has retired in three of the last four races.

It remains that the driver is in good shape. “I feel different than when I first came to Formula 1. I’m much more relaxed about everything,” he said recently in an interview with The Race.

Haas’ situation demonstrates, to a degree, that the Formula 1 hierarchy can be scalable, especially as new regulations force teams to make adjustments to their cars as the season progresses. .