5 Underrated Moments of The Canadian GP
The Canadian GP was one of the most dramatic races regarding of Seb and Hamilton's incident, find out the other underrated and incurious moments here.
The Canadian Grand Prix was one of the most thrilling and controversial races in many years as we have experienced an arguable decision from the FIA; a +5 sec penalty given to Sebastian Vettel for cutting the corner at Turn 3 and then almost forcing Hamilton into the wall. However, the German defended his pole position magnificently to cross the chequered flag in the first place but wasn't happy at all with the F1 controversial chiefs decision.
Hamilton was just 1.4 seconds behind meaning after the punishment was added to Vettel’s time, that’s how the Brit driver secured the win and matched Michale Schumacher’s record tally.
So, there were so many moments that have been underrated due to the incident between Vettel and Hamilton in the Canadian GP 2019, I will point out some of them…
1. Nico Hulkenberg underwent Team Orders:
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg left the track unhappily although he finished 7th for the second time after the Australian GP with the same points, however, Nico actually was faster with fresher rubber than his teammate Danial Ricciardo who finished ahead of the German with just 0.4s before the checkered flag. Well, Nico would be set his car ahead of the Aussie but team boss Cyril Abiteboul asked him to stay behind Daniel.
"Probably Nico would have had the pace to overtake him, but frankly we said 'we need that result'. Abiteboul noted.
"I don't like to have to do that, it's not the style of the team, that's something that we don't intend to do on many occasions.
“I wanted to make sure that the team's back in the game, and the drivers will also be back in the game, their own game, from next week onwards. He added.
Nico was niggled so badly as Abiteboul spoke with him after the race and said the German had been rattled by the team order. "He's a bit upset. And I understand why he's upset."
Nevertheless, the French manufacturer had suffered a difficult start this season but now sits behind fourth-placed McLaren with only two points in the difference at the Constructor's standings.
2. Ferrari didn’t inform Leclerc about Vettel’s Penalty:
Was it a hidden team order again? Well, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third at Gilles Villeneuve circuit, only his second time on the podium this season so far.
Vettel was officially scored in second place behind Hamilton by 1.342 seconds (with no adding the penalty 5 sec) meanwhile, Leclerc was behind the German by 1.038 seconds. How the Italian outfit could forget to tell or inform the 21-year-old Monegasque that his teammate has been given a 5 seconds penalty before the race finishes of 12 laps. Let us not forget that the incident has happened on Lap 48, meaning 22 laps before the end of the dramatic race.
However, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto stated that the team “SIMPLY FORGOT” to inform Leclerc that Vettel had been issued this penalty, which could have prompted him to push harder for what would have been a career-high second place finish. Here is what Binotto had to say about the matter, according to Motorsport.
“We didn’t [tell him]. It has been a mistake from our side. We were very busy on the pit wall and simply we forgot. We should have done it, but we didn’t.”
And from Leclerc’s side, he believed that he had to wait for an opportunity such as any mistakes or any car failure from the two cars ahead of him, Vettel and Hamilton.
Leclerc declared: “No. Because anyway I was pushing very hard to try to catch up. I saw they were fighting and I saw they were close at least, and I also saw that we were quite quick and catching up. I was pushing hard so that if anything happened I had the opportunity to be as close as possible to do so. So no, it would not have changed my approach.” according to Motorsport.
It’s just the usual internal issue at Scuderia Ferrari.
3. The fastest pit-stop was pointed in the season:
Williams Racing once again had shone on with a phenomenal crew at the pit with an extraordinary result on track in the Canadian GP with success in the DHL Fastest Pit Stop Award. After topping the timesheets in this category in Monaco, the historic British outfit again carried out the speediest tire change of the day at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal.
The team sent Poland's Robert Kubica on his way at the end of his second pit stop on Lap 38 in 2.00 seconds precisely. Meanwhile, most of the other teams went for a one-stop strategy in Montreal. However, the team has set a new record for the 2019 season so far.
Note that, the fastest pit-stop in F1 history is shared between two drivers with two different years, teams and locations, Felipe Massa at European GP 2016 and Mark Webber at the United States GP in 2013 with a record time of 1.92 seconds
.@WilliamsRacing beat the record set so far for this season and execute the fastest pit stop of the year in #Montreal! #DHLMotorsports #CanadianGP #MomentsThatDeliver #F1
➡️ All pit stop times: https://t.co/J27YVFaSR2 pic.twitter.com/7bpSQSbX0v
4. The most dramatic & negative conversation team radio:
Kevin Magnussen had a tough weekend after he started from the pitlane due to his huge crash in Q2. The Dane explained that he is having the worst experience ever in a race car. His Engineer reminded him that the team stayed all night fixing the car after his crash on Saturday, then, Haas boss Gunther Steiner had to step in and stopped the negative conversation between Magnussen and his engineer that would be continued if Steiner didn't deal with it, saying: “It’s not enjoyable for us either, enough is enough."
However, The American outfit has been dropped out of parc ferme so the team was free to make any changes they wanted, as the team went for a set-up that it hoped would help Kevin for a better result but finished 17th behind George Russell's Williams.
Nevertheless, Magnussen apologised to the team on the way back to the pitlane after the race.
"In the rebuild of Kevin's car we tried a little bit of a different set-up, because we could, because of the pitlane start," said Steiner.
"Obviously that didn't work.. we know now, at least we learned that one."
"He apologised to everybody like a grown-up does, and you move on. There is no point to dwell over it." Steiner added.
5. Best GP for Ricciardo since he left Red Bull:
Obviously, Renault’s Danial Ricciardo was the happiest man in the grid as he scored the best results in the qualifying of P4 in 2019 season. He said: “I never thought I’d be so happy for a fourth place in qualifying; it feels like a pole position! It was so cool when they told me over the radio I was fourth.” The Aussie out qualified Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas and put his Renault in front of Ferrari’s Leclerc. Great emotional results for the French manufacturer to set their first-second row start since Japan in 2010. However, in race day, the overjoyed Honey Badger finished 6th to earn his spot in the top-10 shootout. A big day for Ricciardo that left him smiling all day long, on the other hand, Renault's day was happily completed by Nico Hulkenberg with P7 as the German celebrating it with mixed feelings with his team.
"Daniel pulled out a great lap and the overall team result today is excellent," said the Hulk.