Martin Brundle reviews the Canadian GP weekend as Max Verstappen saw off all challengers in wet conditions to win, and has his say on Jacques Villeneuve’s criticism of Daniel Ricciardo, a disappointing weekend for Ferrari, and F1’s 2026 regulations
That was a wild Canadian Grand Prix, three different race leaders dodging pop-up showers and stormy rain, quickly followed by bright sunshine, whilst navigating their way between the walls and slippery track furniture, and cars pointing in the wrong direction from time to time.
The top seven on the grid were covered by just over quarter of a second, and six of those drivers felt they should have been on pole position, including Fernando Alonso in sixth and a confused Lewis Hamilton in seventh. All felt that an error-free lap would have done the job.
In the end, George Russell delivered a lap on used tyres which was fast enough, and early enough, to put him ahead of Max Verstappen on the front row with an identical time to three decimal places. It would be terribly F1 for us to move to four or even five decimal places forthwith.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri bossed the second row for McLaren, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in fifth who was happy with that fine effort and not claiming he should have done better.
For the record, as it’s become a hot topic due to myF1 colleague Jacques Villeneuve expressing his firm opinions, I have fundamental respect for all F1 drivers, not least for Daniel and Jacques, because I know how hard it is to drive such fearsome cars under that spotlight.
Daniel has won eight GPs including an outstanding Monaco victory, scored 32 podiums, and has regularly shown world-class talent. But those results were quite a while ago and I wish he’d not left Red Bull at the end of 2018. That was an emotional and flawed decision, he should have faced up to Max in the best car, then he’d have necessarily raised his game even further.
Ricciardo never seemed to be quite the same driver again. He clearly still does have speed and race craft, as we witnessed also in the Miami Sprint, but something in his psyche or approach is holding that back and it’s costing him opportunity and longevity.
