Much has changed in Formula 1 since the series last visited Canada, which has not hosted the race for two years due to the pandemic. The battle for victory pitted Lewis Hamilton against Sebastian Vettel, who was still at Ferrari. Reigning world champion and world leader Max Verstappen has won only a fifth of the victories he has today. The race had a controversial ending, in one of the first times former race director Michal Masi was in the spotlight. But Brazil didn’t see the GP live on TV due to a friendly match with Seleção.
Vettel and Hamilton had a remarkable duel
The last GP of Canada was marked by a controversy between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, after the German was punished by adding 5s to his last time for the way he defended himself from the attack of the Mercedes driver in the last rounds. He led most of the race and crossed first, but didn’t take it due to the penalty. Annoyed, the German took the first place plaque that was in front of Hamilton’s car and put it in front of his Ferrari.
In the championship, Hamilton had a little slack in his head when he arrived in Canada in 2019: he was 17 points ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas after six races and 55 more than Sebastian Vettel. But the German was expected to react, as Ferrari had started the championship more competitively than in previous years. Over the course of the championship, however, Vettel was losing space at Ferrari to newcomer Charles Leclerc and ended up leaving the team at the end of 2020. Hamilton was the 2019 champion with an 87-point advantage over Bottas and Vettel didn’t would be only fifth. . .
F1 hasn’t had the same boom as it does in North America today
The Canadian GP has always had maximum or near maximum capacity, having for years been one of two races in the Americas (the other was the Brazilian GP). Then came Austin and Mexico City, but even so, the race in Montreal was filled with Canadians and Americans from the northeast. They were among the most committed fans in the entire league, fans of a sport that was struggling to become popular there. This year, the Canadian GP will have the Netflix effect for the first time, which has greatly increased American interest in F1. The effects are already clear even before the start of the weekend: those who left to seek accommodation at the last minute pay more than 15,000 reais for the GP.
Verstappen had 5 wins to his name
The Dutchman has already made his way to Formula 1 despite making his debut at the age of 17 with Toro Rosso. But with Red Bull still trailing Mercedes and Ferrari, in 2019 he still didn’t have much of a chance of winning. The last time the series was in Montreal, it was in its fifth season and had five wins. Three years later, he has just become the youngest driver to have 25 victories, the same number as Niki Lauda and Jim Clark, is world champion and current world leader.
Only six drivers remain in the same teams
Of the 20 drivers on the grid, just over a quarter are still with the same team after just three years. They are Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, Max Verstappen at Red Bull, Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, Lando Norris at McLaren, Lance Stroll (at Racing Point then and now Aston Martin, although the owner is the same) and Kevin Magnussen at Haas. The Dane even left the category and returned this year. Interestingly, Pierre Gasly was still Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, and Daniil Kvyat and Nico Hulkenberg were on the grid.
The broadcast was from Globo and the race was not broadcast live
As it kicked off in the afternoon, the Canadian GP was one of the events broadcast live only by SporTV during the final years of Globo’s contract with F1. In 2019, the broadcaster aired a friendly match between the Brazilian national football team against Honduras at race time. Globo’s proposal to broadcast only half of the races live from 2021 was one of the factors that prevented the renewal of the contract with F1, which began to be broadcast on TV Bandeirantes from last year.
In this year’s competition, BandSports presents the two free practice sessions this Friday, starting at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Brasília time. The race starts at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Band.
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