Three things we learned from the CanadianGP? AstonMartin and Mercedes close the gap meanwhile De Vries seat at risk!!!

​Well Canadian GrandPrix was a interesting affair all weekend actually, Qualifying was good, free practice was decent and the race was closer than usual compared to other grandprix we've seen this year. Overall this certainly will be one of the memorable races potentially of the 2023 season. But here are three takeaways

The gap to RedBull might be closing.

Look it’s one race I know and probably shouldn’t be getting my hopes up too soon and would advise also others from similar but in terms of the gap to the rest of the field RedBull didn’t enjoy this weekend as per usual a 20 second or 30 second advantage like we’ve seen before. Pure pace wise and it was a genuine race and challenge for RedBull. Both the AstonMartin and Mercedes of Alonso and Hamilton was there in the background for a large portion of the Grand Prix and is this a sign of the upgrades paying off for Mercedes and AstonMartin with the gap starting to shrink?

Well honestly yes, it certainly could be a very good indicator for us and a very good indicator that actually the field is starting to converge. Eventually with these regulations like any regulations the will always be a ceiling of what’s possible and I suspect RedBull will hit that first but of course in the meantime whilst they’ll enjoy at tracks maybe display of dominance but at others they’ll lose ground to the competitors as they approach that same ceiling. Now RedBull haven’t arguably been able to make the same number of jumps as what Aston Martin or Mercedes have done either and the two reasons behind that, firstly they get less wind-tunnel and CFD time naturally but also due to the cost cap breach of last season this maybe a hindrance for them when it comes to upgrading the 2023 car and therefore given how good that car is and given now the 2023 championship is pretty much a foregone conclusion in sense RedBull will be constructors champions for a 6th time and Max will be crowned a triple champion of the sport so why waste money, time, effort and resources on this car given your penalty and why not just start early full focus on 2024. Now with the lack of upgrades to the 2023 car could this naturally see teams close in on RedBull a lot quicker then anticipated? For sure!

Now also could Canada just been a boggy track for RedBull? Well yea that’s possible too, I mean last season it wasn’t RedBull strongest track with Max only winning 0.993 tenths of a second over Sainz and 7 second gap back to Mercedes Lewis Hamilton. Obviously this season that gap was bigger for RedBull in truth and Max did still dominate leading every lap and also taking pole almost completing the rarity of back to back Grand Slams which has still only been by 3 driver, Vettel in 2013, Clark in 1965 and Ascari in 1952. And Verstappen only missed out on it only due to fact he didn’t take the fastest lap of the race but otherwise would’ve done had he done just that which he didn’t. So Max still managed to dominate regardless of the challenge both Mercedes and Aston Martin may have laid down out on track this weekend.

Carlos Sainz and the mobile chicane!

Look this is potentially one of Carlos Sainz worst grand Prix weekends despite his decent P5 result. I mean I’ve never seen a driver impede other drivers so many and so frequently! He was this weekend a mobile chicane for the other 19 drivers during free practice and Qualifying. I mean no hate to Sainz but it was a very funny thing to watch what was going on with him this weekend but you know I think expanding on this it really to me highlights Ferrari’s problems still! I mean what I find so pathetic about Ferrari is they’ve gone from this team okay that last season or beginning of it was a true championship contender out the box, after three races I believed it was Ferrari and Charles season to be crowned but oh boy how so wrong was I in making that assumption. Now obviously after Binotto sacking I think we all knew the year was more likely to be a year of transition but I haven’t seen much transition since Fred Vasseur took the job. I mean of course the 2023 car isn’t up to scratch but surely they can just get the drivers to do the basics, surely in Free Practice they’d of known to stop doing that error which could seen them get a grid drop and surely you’d think during the break between practice and qualifying they’d of discussed a better way to handle that. But instead they didn’t and ultimately even during qualifying they still allowed Sainz to do what he was doing.

To me whilst the race was decent result from Ferrari but it shows to me the still a long way to go for that team before it becomes a championship challenger again because clearly when Sainz was doing something of which they surely would’ve know would risk a penalty they took no action or no communication with Carlos over this and didn’t tell him to be more careful or whatever.

De Vries I’m sorry but it’s over:

Look I don’t think De Vries is going to get another season beyond 2023 unfortunately for himself. Dreadful so far this season and that’s period. He might not even get a full season in Alpha Tauri this season and you know could you blame Marko or anyone who’d do a mid season driver change there? I couldn’t! I mean the problem with De Vries he keeps making these silly errors and now being 8 rounds into the Championship mistakes like this need to stop immediately. When your costing the team money through damages in parts your therefore putting yourself out there to be replaced at free will.

And look you wouldn’t mind it, If he was showing something decent but crashing and always been behind your teammate in every session is almost the unforgivable curse of F1. If he wants to remain in F1 he need to show something at the Austrian Grand Prix I’d of thought otherwise he could be gone as soon as midsummer break. What reason does RedBull have to keep him there? They’ve got a pool of drivers who could I think make the step up potentially, you have Ricciardo waiting on the sidelines, the are just in my opinion more drivers who could be getting on that phone to Helmut Marko right now begging him for a opportunity. Tsunoda is a decent driver for sure but he’s no Max either but what I would say De Vries has got to be doing a lot better then what he’s current doing right now. Near enough all the time the is a incident involving him somewhere at the moment and as I said we are 8 races now in. Look even after 4 races the was rumors circulating about his future in F1 and if those was going around after 4 races then think of the speculation happening now after 8 races?

I just don’t think or see him seeing out the rest of the season in his current form and might only have one more race or two at maximum to prove he’s got what it takes to remain in that seat for rest of the season let alone 2024.

So those are my three things I’ve taken away from this weekend Grand Prix and next is Austria, in fact I don’t think the much if any racing on next weekend. No F1, no IndyCar, next WEC race isn’t until the 9th of July so yeah motor racing madness for next few weeks will die down for a bit I suspect.