It's RAWE CEEK once again -- what're we hoping to see from Sunday?
Will we see another ultra-consistent performance from Verstappen? Will Alonso finally get his 33rd? Will Lewis in the new Mercedes claim a victory, 16 years after his maiden win?
How will Ferrari bungle the strategy this weekend?
Maybe if they bring back the chrome and red 👀
But I do really want to see Piastri do well! He's got the pace to challenge Norris I think, but it just seems like it's not come together for him in a race, yet.
Verstappen seems damn near unstoppable at the moment. RB got a fantastic car and his raw skill is incredible. Would like to get some sort of an upset, though. Having the same guy win every time gets kind of boring. Felt the same with Hamilton a couple of years back :/
Totally agree. He's a total machine! We've definitely had some good scraps in the midfield, but honestly I feel like no midfield fight can really be as exciting as a fight for the win.
I'm thinking Leclerc goes third or fourth in the FP sessions, qualifies in third, comes in for hards at a good point in the race -- at which point Ferrari fit his car with three hard tires and an extreme wet, and he drops out of the points.
Sainz, on the other hand, gets into a shouting match with his engineer, and makes up his own strategy, finishing 6th.
Not necessarily guaranteed, but the officials have assured us fans that the wildfires will not have impact significant enough to endanger folks nor cancel the race outright as of this time.
Wind isn't blowing south at the moment. So the skies are pretty clear in Montreal. Even when New York was super yellow, Montreal was relatively fine as most of the smoke went around Montreal.
Plus the rain that we've been getting I'd helping out a lot.
I’m just hoping for a good midfield battle between AM, Ferrari and Mercedes, since I can’t really see anything except a Max win on Sunday. He is just on another level.
After Aston's bad weekend in Spain, I'm hoping they can bounce back with an Alonso podium. Mercedes's performance looked promising in Spain, I think it'll be a fight between Hamilton and Alonso for the final podium place behind Verstappen and Pérez.
I'm still not convinced mercedes is above Aston given how they performed well at Spain last year before dropping down again after. Did the upgrades work or does their car just suit that track still?
I need to see Aston Martin unveil the most illegal, protest-inducing, send-Newey-into-a-coma upgrades and for it to rain so my boy Lance can get that maiden win.
I have to say, I've really turned around on Stroll this year. Seeing him drive with mangled hands and wrists early on was pretty heartening, and seeing him improve has been neat - fingers crossed the green bull comes through for him 🤞
I'm just looking for excitement. It's very telling that the "Top 5 Battles of Canada" on the F1 YT channel includes three three-way battles, whereas the "Top 5 Battles of Spain" had a "battle" from qualifying.
I was so surprised by Merc's performance last GP! That being said, I'm not sure how much difference these new sidepods can really make given that the car as a whole isn't designed around them! Fingers crossed though - although it would be something special to see Alonso and Aston Martin beat them, honestly!
I can't see anything but a Verstappen win in normal circumstances, but it wouldn't be the first Candadian Grand Prix with some mixed conditions or an upset. It's one of my favourite GPs in the year, so I hope it's a good one.
What's the smoke like at the circuit at the moment? On a serious note, is there any likelihood of the weather affecting the racing? Would the aero be impacted by the particles in the air, or would the fires cause unpredictable winds and we'd end up with a repeat of Catalunya last year (I think?) where multiple drivers had issues with the crosswind at one particular corner?
My prediction is Ver Alo Ham podium. Something tells me Perez may end up getting in his own head this weekend and have mediocre qualifying and will have to work his way up the pack again.