Winners And Losers Of 2022 Formula One Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal’s return to the Formula One calendar certainly didn’t disappoint as wet weather qualifying mixed things up nicely. The Canadian Grand Prix had action up and down the field which included comeback drives as well as an intense fight for the win. What hasn’t changed is Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen coming out on top. Here are the winners and losers of the ninth round of the 2022 Formula One season.

Winners

Max Verstappen

With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc starting at the back of the grid, and teammate Sergio Perez suffering a technical retirement early on, it looked like another trouble free win for Max Verstappen. This time however, the Red Bull Racing driver did not have it easy, as the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz kept the Dutchman honest, and came quite close to attempting a pass in the closing laps. But the 2021 champion held off the Spaniard to take his sixth win of the season. Verstappen now leads Perez by 46 points in the driver standings.

Mercedes

With all the chaotic incidents in the race, Mercedes once again took full advantage with a third and fourth place finish. This time it was 7-time champion Lewis Hamilton who came out ahead of teammate George Russell. 

Alfa Romeo

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After a spate of tough results in the last two races, Montreal saw a much-needed turn of form for Alfa Romeo. Guanyu Zhou converted a fine top 10 starting position to finish a strong eighth, while teammate Valtteri Bottas recovered from 11th on the grid to finish in seventh position.

Ferrari 

It was a day of damage limitation for the folks at Maranello, but it was a much needed recovery after the disaster at Baku. Carlos Sainz crucially showed a good turn of pace, and was challenging Max Verstappen for his maiden F1 win, but he just about came up short and had to settle for second place. His teammate, Charles Leclerc who started 19th due to engine penalties, managed to recover to fifth position in the end, limiting the points loss to Verstappen in the driver standings. 

Losers

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez’ strong run of form unfortunately came to an end at the Canadian Grand Prix and it all started with a crash in qualifying. Starting 15th on the grid, the Red Bull Racing driver was making up positions early on, but his race only lasted 8 laps as a gearbox failure forced him out of the race. This leaves Perez 46 points adrift of teammate Max Verstappen in the driver standings. 

Aston Martin

After showing strong pace in practice, Aston Martin mysteriously lost all that in qualifying with both Sebatian Vettel and Lance Stroll starting 16th and 17th. While the pair did manage to gain ground in the race with Stroll finishing 10th and Vettel in 12th position, it was a decent points haul squandered.

Haas

Once again, Haas just cannot seem to convert strong qualifying positions into points finishes. The first domino fell when Kevin Magnussen suffered front wing damage on the opening lap which sealed his fate in the race. As for teammate Mick Schumacher, a technical gremlin forced him into retirement while running in eighth position.

Fernando Alonso

Arguably the hero of qualifying, Fernando Alonso started second in the race, and only lost a place to the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz early on. But Alpine not taking advantage of the various safety car incidents dropped Alonso to seventh and the Spaniard had to nurse an engine issue till the chequered flag. Rubbing salt into the wounds was a 5-second time penalty for illegal weaving, dropping Alonso to ninth in the end.

After a week’s break, Formula One will head to Silverstone for the 2022 British Grand Prix that is scheduled to run from July 01-03