So who will be the “best of the rest” teams in Formula 1 this season? This is the million dollar question everyone is asking.
And this is legitimate, at the dawn of the Canadian Grand Prix, since Red Bull and its star driver, Max Verstappen, are already the favorites to win everything in 2023. The Dutch driver already has five victories in seven races this season, and has a cushion of 53 points ahead of his closest rival, his teammate at Red Bull Sergio Perez.
Behind, however, the fight promises to be fierce.
Mercedes, after a rather modest start to the season, shook everyone up a bit by winning second and third places in the Spanish Grand Prix on June 4. It was the first time that Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had climbed onto the podium at the same time this season.
“Our hard work finally paid off,” Hamilton said after the Catalan race. It’s great, and all the credit goes to the tireless work of the employees at the factory, to those who never stopped believing in it. I hope everyone takes pride (in our results) at the factory.
“The next few races will be crucial for us, to determine if we can keep the pace and close the gap behind Red Bull,” added the seven-time world champion, who is fourth in the drivers’ standings this season.
These results in Spain, a real breath of fresh air for the German team, allowed them to overtake the Aston Martin team in second place in the constructors’ championship. However, the team belonging to the group led by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll should not be counted as beaten.
Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has already let it be known that many improvements will be made to Aston Martin cars at the Canadian Grand Prix. Which could enhance the quality of the show behind Verstappen.
“In Canada, we will bring even more (innovations), and at Silverstone too… It will all depend on what the rival teams do,” said the 41-year-old Spaniard after finishing seventh on home soil. With these, in a normal qualifying session, we would have started alongside Hamilton and would have had a better chance (of recording good results).
“It’s just a race (in Spain, with the upgrades) – and in Canada we’re going to smash them,” he concluded, warningly.
Expectations will therefore be high for Aston Martin.
While Alonso is one of the biggest surprises so far this season in F1 – he sits third in the drivers’ championship after recording five podiums from seven races – his team-mate Lance Stroll is starting to feel the pressure in the shadow of the Spaniard.
The 24-year-old Quebecer is eighth in the driver standings, and he still hasn’t scored a podium so far this season. His best result is a fourth place at the Australian Grand Prix in April.
Moreover, Stroll is still hoping to secure a fourth career podium, having finished third three times since joining F1 in 2017. His last podium even dates back to the Sakhir Grand Prix on December 6, 2020.
The Mont-Tremblant driver, who possibly has the best car since the start of his career, may see light at the end of the tunnel, after finishing sixth, just ahead of his teammate, for the first time in the season, in Spain.
Stroll will have to repeat that kind of performance in future races, however, to silence his critics. And that starts at the Canadian Grand Prix, where he never did better than ninth place (in 2017 and 2019).
Ferrari shows cautious optimism
For its part, Ferrari is a spare wheel in this fight which is taking shape behind Red Bull.
‘La Scuderia’ is still stuck in fourth place in the constructors’ standings, having made improvements to its car that failed to translate into concrete results in Spain.
Carlos Sainz junior finished fifth – ahead of the Aston Martin cars, it should be noted – while Charles Leclerc was excluded from the points due to his 11th position.
A disappointed Sainz Jr., however, told the F1.com website last week that “the improvements may have been made to the car at the worst possible circuit”. A point of view shared by the new director of Ferrari, Frédéric Vasseur, while remaining cautious.
“We took a step forward in terms of potential,” he said. Our reference is Miami, and in qualifying mode our pace was identical to that of Carlos (Sainz Jr.) which allowed him to claim the front row, and we probably took a step forward, in race mode, compared to Aston (Martin).
“But it’s still not enough,” continued Vasseur. There is still quite a gap to fill in relation to the pace of Mercedes in qualifying. And that’s what we have to focus on, if we want to bounce back and get good results on Sunday, to score points. »
Ferrari will have to move quickly to find solutions, since it already shows a deficit of 52 points on Mercedes, and 34 on Aston Martin.