The second-best race of the week

Clearly the gods of Formula 1 have access to my computer, because this column was supposed to be something quite different.

I had a clever idea and told my editor how I intended to deliver on it. See, I recently returned from watching the motorcycle racing on the Isle of Man, the best spectator sporting event I’ve attended. On the back of the Monaco GP (sponsored by the insomnia assistance industry), I anticipated writing a witty column about the Canadian GP along the following lines: I would tell the story of the Isle of Man 2024, with its 37-mile road course and the sense of utter bewilderment you feel as bikes wheelie past a school at 170 mph. I would fawn over the TT and tell F1 fans what they were missing. The last line of the column would be the only one with any F1 content. “And there was a Formula 1 race in Canada, which Max Verstappen won.”

Smugness comes before a fall, and I was smug. Formula 1 is the erratic child that has a habit of delivering the unexpected. The Montreal weather radar twitched all weekend, and what transpired was a race that reminds us why we love the sport. That column idea is on the spike—for now.

The Canadian GP’s qualifying was a blast. George Russell took pole, though Max recorded an identical time  and earned P2 only because he was second on the road. McLaren looked very strong with the second row covered, and Daniel Ricciardo’s war of words with an angry Jacques Villeneuve was rewarded with a sensational P5!

(Sidenote: I think we were all rather taken aback by Villeneuve saying he couldn’t understand how Ricciardo was still in F1. I certainly was. And then I thought about it for a bit, and I came to believe that JV is probably right about this one. I don’t really get the whole Ricciardo thing—like Gunther Steiner, he’s the unintended star of a Netflix show that charted his career’s nosedive with every new season. (Like presenting Top Gear, some of you may observe.) And yet, even after a season outside the sport and a lackluster return, Ricciardo’s made oodles of money while grinning his way around the paddock, seemingly loved by all—and on occasion, so he tells us, still hungry to win. If I was a team manager, I’d love to sink a few cold beers with Ricciardo. But he’s one of the last of the current grid I’d want to employ as a driver.)

The other runners and riders you will know. Ferrari didn’t make Q3; Albon did. He’s seriously good at the qualifying bit. And…