Many car racing fans will be hoping that it rains this weekend during the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. It will not be because of petty jealousy towards those who will be lucky enough to have a place around the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit on Notre-Dame Island, but because it would be a way of injecting an element of uncertainty in a competition whose outcome too often seems decided in advance.
With the exception perhaps of Max Verstappen supporters, F1 fans came away frustrated from last season, which the Dutchman outrageously dominated at the wheel of his Red Bull, with his 19 victories in 22 races, quickly removing all suspense and interest to his conquest of a third drivers’ championship title in a row.
We thought we were doomed to watch the same film again this year, with a new series of victories at the start of the season, until we saw the gap between the champion and his pursuers narrowing for a month. To the point where the friendly McLaren driver Lando Norris stole first place in Miami, and where the Red Bulls experienced a rare slump in the winding and bumpy streets of the extraordinary Monaco circuit, two weeks ago, finally allowing up to the little local guy, the Monegasque and Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, to triumph at home.
This was all it took to raise hopes of a decline in Red Bull’s dominance and an increasingly tight fight between McLaren, Ferrari and other Mercedes until December. .
“It doesn’t matter if one team dominates the competition for a while,” says Canadian Grand Prix promoter François Dumontier. “Formula 1 is also a technological development bench. It doesn’t matter, but the others have to catch up eventually. And in the meantime, we are more interested in the struggles taking place behind the driver who is in the lead. »
A very relative decline
The relative decline of the Red Bull team can be as much due to the catching up made by other teams as to the difficulties it has encountered in recent months, including off the track, explains Quebec racing driver Bertrand Godin. He is thinking in particular of the accusations – ultimately rejected following an internal investigation – of “inappropriate behavior” towards an employee against his boss, Christian Horner, and the announcement of the imminent departure of the genius idea behind the success of his cars and so many others before, Adrian Newey.
The Red Bull’s loss of hegemony, however, remains relative for the moment, continues the driver, columnist and presenter. “We design a car by making choices and compromises. The last few races took place on tracks that were less suited to Red Bull’s strengths, but they remain the ones that present the best balance for an entire season. »
The blue, yellow and red single-seaters are said to perform better when they can stay firmly stuck to the track, that is to say when the circuits are not too bumpy and do not require climbing the curbs. in the turns. The Notre-Dame Island runway belonged precisely to this category until it was recently completely resurfaced, in addition to being slightly lowered under the Concorde bridge, for safety reasons and to be better drained. . “We will continue to climb on the curbs, but the track should now be a pool table,” indicates François Dumontier.
Several experts said they expected the McLarens to do relatively well and that second place would go to Red Bull or Ferrari. François Dumontier’s heart leans towards the other McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, because a victory in Montreal would be his first in Formula 1, like six others before him since 1978, including Gilles Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo.
The outlook looks less good for local hero Lance Stroll. Unlike other top teams, his team, Aston Martin, tends to start the season strong, but have great difficulty improving the performance of its cars afterwards, he admitted on Thursday in press conference. “This has unfortunately been the trend for the last year. But there are still many races ahead of us. »
The usual routine
Red Bull’s domination of recent years is nothing extraordinary. It was preceded by an equally insolent domination of Mercedes and its star driver, Lewis Hamilton, or before them, Ferrari and Michael Schumacher.
This type of reign often begins after a significant change in the technical rules of the sport to which a team has managed to adapt particularly well, which gives it a technological lead that other teams then struggle to catch up with.
“We always pay a lot of attention to the drivers, but the cars count for just as much, if not more,” notes Bertrand Godin. “Motor racing is a team effort that relies heavily on the hundreds of engineers and other employees, on the pit line and in the factory, who develop the cars. »
A major change in the technical rules of Formula 1 must occur in 2026. Concerning both the engines, the dimensions and the aerodynamics of the cars, it will aim in particular to take a further step in the transition already underway towards engines hybrids and the use of green fuel, but also to improve the spectacle on the track, encourage overtaking and tighten the competition. “There are already teams who no longer work at all on their current cars and who concentrate entirely on those which will come in 2026,” says François Dumontier.
New details of these new regulations were also revealed on Thursday by the Formula 1 authorities. The news sparked an initial mixed reception from the drivers. On the one hand, we were delighted with the desire for continuous improvement that this demonstrates; on the other, we said we feared that we would once again find ourselves with a team that produced a car that was clearly better than the others that we would then take months, if not years, to try to catch up with.
“Every time we change the rules, we see a big gap appear. Especially when it concerns engines. We were just starting to catch up with the Red Bulls,” lamented Oscar Piastri.
“Of course the best would be to keep the rules as constant as possible,” added the other Red Bull driver, Mexican Sergio Pérez. “Otherwise, we have a year and a half left to take advantage of the existing rules and the increasingly tight competition. »
Whatever happens, we should be treated to a good show on the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit this weekend, says Bertrand Godin. “But we hope for rain. There’s nothing like rain to shake things up. »