It’s set to be one other essential and intriguing weekend on the Canadian Grand Prix because the F1 2025 world championship battle continues to sizzling up.
After a two-week break to reset and take inventory following an intense triple-header which led to controversy in Spain, the groups and drivers now head to North America for a standalone race at considered one of F1’s biggest venues – Montreal.
Will Max Verstappen be extra cautious?
Max Verstappen finds himself in very actual hazard of selecting up a race ban after his controversial late conflict with Mercedes’ George Russell in Barcelona.
In addition to a 10-second penalty which dropped him all the way down to tenth place after crossing the road, Verstappen additionally picked up three penalty factors on his superlicence.
That has taken the four-time world champion to 11 of a most 12 penalty factors for the interval protecting the final 12 months, which means the Crimson Bull driver will now stroll a race-ban tightrope.
Verstappen should navigate the following two races – Canada and Austria – with out selecting up any extra penalty factors to keep away from a dreaded suspension that will act as a hammer blow to the Dutchman’s title hopes.
Will this precarious place trigger Verstappen to alter how his strategy to racing his rivals? Will probably be fascinating to see how he responds, beginning when he addresses the media on Thursday.
Can Lewis Hamilton flip issues round?
Charles Leclerc outperformed Lewis Hamilton in Spain
Lewis Hamilton minimize a desperately downbeat determine after a massively disappointing Spanish Grand Prix, which he described as being his “worst race” in a Ferrari.
The seven-time world champion uncharacteristically lacked tempo within the race as he slipped from fourth to seventh on the street (which later grew to become P6 following Verstappen’s penalty).
Hamilton was ordered to make approach for his a lot quicker teammate Charles Leclerc and was even overtaken by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber following a late Security Automotive. Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur revealed Hamilton had suffered harm to his automobile however refused to elaborate additional.
Maybe Canada will come on the good time for Hamilton. In any case, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a cheerful searching floor for the 40-year-old Briton, who has racked up six pole positions and 7 victories on the historic venue the place Hamilton claimed his first pole place and win in simply his sixth grand prix.
Hamilton has seemed misplaced together with his Ferrari for a lot of the season, however will this be the weekend he lastly makes a breakthrough?
How match will Lance Stroll be?
On the time of writing, there was no additional replace on Lance Stroll’s situation and restoration since he was pressured to withdraw from the Spanish Grand Prix attributable to hand and wrist ache that could be a legacy of a biking accident he had two years in the past.
Particulars surrounding the precise nature of Stroll’s process – and subsequent restoration time – haven’t been specified, but it surely was led by famend MotoGP surgeon Dr Xavier Mir.
Mir and the identical workforce helped Stroll get well from two damaged wrists and a damaged toe inside a fortnight to participate within the 2023 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
All the things factors to Stroll being heading in the right direction to contest his house race in Canada this weekend, and Crash.web understands a closing choice is predicted to be communicated by Aston Martin this week.
Within the occasion Stroll was unable to compete, Aston Martin must name on considered one of their two reserve drivers – Felipe Drugovich or Stoffel Vandoorne.
Piastri vs Norris to warmth up?
Norris and Piastri are separated by 10 factors
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren 1-2 in Spain to make it 5 wins in 9 races and transfer him right into a 10-point lead over teammate Lando Norris within the championship.
With Verstappen’s pricey penalty leaving him 49 factors adrift of Piastri, coupled with McLaren’s present superiority, it’s wanting greater than ever like being an in-house battle for the world title.
To this point, Piastri and Norris have prevented main flashpoints, however McLaren know they should be delicate in how they handle the intra-team battle because the season develops and the championship battle hots up.
There was a minor incident in Barcelona when Norris gained by catching a “cheeky” tow from Piastri throughout qualifying to briefly maintain pole place, just for the Australian to grab it again.
Each Piastri and McLaren downplayed the second which workforce principal Andrea Stella described as being a “minor episode” between the pair.
Norris and Piastri have managed to maintain issues clear for now, however the longer they duel over the identical piece of tarmac, the possibility of potential fireworks will solely improve because the stakes are raised.
May Mercedes be again within the hunt?
Mercedes made a flying begin to 2025 with Russell claiming 4 podiums within the first six races, although the Silver Arrows haven’t returned to the podium since Miami.
It was a brutal triple header for Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli particularly, however there’s hope the workforce shall be extra aggressive in Canada.
Climate can all the time be a little bit of an unknown in Montreal at the moment of yr and cooler temperatures are anticipated throughout the weekend. These are the situations Mercedes’ W16 tends to love finest, so the German producer shall be seeking to capitalise.
Russell claimed pole place right here a yr in the past and went on to complete third within the race, giving cause to imagine that Mercedes might be on for a stronger weekend after a current efficiency hunch.
