Formula 1 is pretty cool in 2017, isn’t it? The current trend of exciting F1 races continued, with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve retaining its reputation of producing great on-track action.
While it may well have been a Mercedes 1-2 finish for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, there was plenty going on throughout the 70-lap race and lots of memorable moments to reflect on.
So, with the dust settling on the Canadian GP result, let’s dive into the best, funniest and most exciting moments from round seven of the season.
The 2016 Canadian GP saw Sebastian Vettel put in a storming launch from the line to take the lead and while Max Verstappen didn’t quite take over the top spot this year, his run from fifth to second at the start was absolutely brilliant to watch.
It’s a track and first few corners that require aggression and Verstappen was the most aggressive of everyone, diving around the outside of Vettel and Valtteri Bottas into the first corner to take over second place.
#placesalonsowouldratherbe pic.twitter.com/mZKd1Yrp72
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) June 11, 2017
Heading into Turn 3 facing the wrong way wasn’t a great position for Carlos Sainz Jr to be in. A clash with Romain Grosjean on the run to the corner pitched him into a spin and he smashed into Felipe Massa’s Williams, who was innocently turning into the corner. Fernando Alonso just missed out on the mayhem…
On the restart, Kimi Raikkonen made things even more difficult by losing a place to Sergio Perez when he ran wide at the exit of Turn 7. He couldn’t have got much closer to the barrier… we imagine he wasn’t too bothered it though. Bwoah?
OK, so it’s not exactly the “best” moment but it was one of the most crucial. Running P2, Verstappen suddenly pulled off track on lap 11 with a battery issue. Clearly, he was gutted and it cost him a great result. It also produced a funny little moment when marshal kept tripping over when pushing his car back…
F1 races haven’t featured loads of overtakes so far this year, with these new and wider cars, but the Canadian GP included many more passes and close battles. It was great to see, especially in the midfield where there were battles all the way through the race.
Whenever the little radio icon shows up with Alonso’s name, you know it’s going to be good. When his engineer told him they were going for “plan A plus five”, he wasn’t having any of that, replying: “You’re not giving me useful information, I need the pace of Magnussen.” Classic Nando.
So, inevitably, it didn’t take long for Alonso to pick up another engine failure. He retired fairly late in the race while running 10th but instead of trooping back to the garage, he went up into the grandstand and saw the fans. Aw, how sweet. Angry Alonso had clearly left the building by that point.
The last laps included a brilliant battle for fourth place between the Force India and Ferrari cars, with Daniel Ricciardo a little way up the road. An error took Raikkonen out of contention, but Vettel fought both Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. It got VERY close at times, but they all emerged from the battle unscathed.
After his incredibly special, record-breaking qualifying performance, Hamilton backed that up with his sixth win in Montreal and third of the season. The title fight is well and truly on! Bottas was second, with Ricciardo completing the podium.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION
First @MercedesAMGF1 1-2 of 2017
RIC's third straight podium
And that's only half the story…#CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/vUUHxgUgRQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 11, 2017
YES. We’ve been waiting AGES for it to make a comeback by the ‘shoey’ returned in Canada, and a legendary actor even got involved in the kind-of-disgusting-but-absolutely-hilarious fun. Amazingly, Sir Patrick Stewart was doing the podium interviews and decided to drink from Ricciardo’s shoe as well. Amazing.
