In Montreal Mercedes dominates (for now) in the middle, Hamilton was on the second row

Qualifying less obvious than expected If after free practice they had shown us the final qualifying ranking we wouldn’t have been particularly surprised. The front row is all Mercedes, McLaren is in second place ahead of Ferrari, with the Red Bulls behind the reds, who are all in pairs. However, Sprint’s qualification was less obvious than expected and, above all, it said many more things than expected. Mercedes dominates in the middle, Russell finds himself, Antonelli pays for a mistake The result in Formula 1 is certainly the only thing that matters, and the all-Mercedes front row wouldn’t leave much to say about the supremacy of the Brackley team. But it is impossible not to notice that, compared to the free practice session held previously, both Russell and Antonelli did not seem as fast compared to the competition, which, remember, was about 1 second away in free practice. In the first official session in Montreal the two silver arrows were less “arrows” than expected, as Toto Wolff himself confirmed to Sky’s microphones after the session and the impression is of a decidedly sub-optimal balance, which made the W17 more complex to tame for both Russell and Antonelli, especially in the first sector, with the corners with more travel at the start of the lap. Does Mercedes have more? However, this does not contradict what was seen in free practice and should also be seen as a wake-up call for the competition, which is still at least 3 tenths away, despite the less than optimal form of Wolff’s team, which was obviously able to count on the strength of its power unit in the second half of the lap. In the internal challenge this time it was Russell who got the better of Kimi Antonelli who made a couple of mistakes on his lap, especially one at turn 7-8, which relegated him 2 tenths behind the Englishman, a gap that Antonelli gradually closed up from then on but was unable to completely eliminate. The very young Italian appeared safer in braking and with generally higher corner speeds than Russell, but he was unable to materialize this advantage, also thanks to a truly superlative lap from the Briton, especially in the entire stretch from the approach to turns 8-9, up to the braking of the last chicane. In the last chicane, however, Antonelli comes out on top, confirming a trend already seen in free practice and confirmed for all qualifying. McLaren second force of compromise Behind the two Mercedes we find the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri. The data and images tell of a McLaren with an improved set-up compared to free practice, but also of a Norris who pays for his gap between a bad braking at the hairpin and a compromised delivery on the long home straight. Despite the updates, the single-seater of Stella’s team did not seem to have regained the connection with the Mercedes seen in Miami, especially in terms of aerodynamic load, but the possibility of exploiting the Mercedes engine especially in traction makes the Papaya single-seater at the moment the one that most easily manages to be second force on the track, although not a given due to Ferrari’s merits. The second row remains an excellent attack point, however, for Norris and Piastri, also considering the good starts seen so far. Ferrari: Lewis is unleashed but throws away the second row at the last Seeing the position obtained on the grid and the gap made up certainly makes it complicated to talk about a “good Ferrari”. The truth, however, is that Hamilton, following the new, especially mechanical, set-up that was decided on the SF26, appeared in very good shape, often capable of seriously worrying the Mercedes. If we take the ideal lap time of all the top 8, the one with the largest difference compared to the lap then achieved is Lewis Hamilton himself, who has an ideal time just a few thousandths from that of Antonelli. It is no coincidence that Wolff always spoke more about Hamilton as his main opponent who could also take away one of the front row seats from him. The data are eloquent, with the seven-time world champion who came to have a net 4 tenths of a lead over Russell at the entrance to turn 6, but who then began to progressively lose mainly due to a Power Unit that was not up to par, which went into recovery and suffered both in the stretch up to turns 8-9, and in the stretch up to the hairpin. As for Leclerc, the Monegasque confirmed that the car gives good sensations, but complained about some big problems with the brakes which they need to resolve urgently, hopefully already for Sprint itself, as the regulations obviously allow. The red car confirms itself as a good car aerodynamically, and a rediscovered Hamilton can only be good for the team, but, obviously, it will be necessary to evaluate it in the race, in addition to the fact that the comparison is with a Mercedes that has not shown 100% of its potential. First Sprint in Canada The race will be interesting, the first sprint on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit which generally offers a good show and plenty of overtaking opportunities. Mercedes obviously start as super favourites, but the fight behind them could be truly furious, between McLaren, Ferrari and Verstappen. We’ll see if the Sprint will confirm the sensations that emerged on the flying lap or if, as often happens in Montreal, the race will completely mix up the hierarchies.

Automobile Magazine – F1 English News , 2026-05-23 16:00:00