Papaya Rules this Canadian Grand Prix review!

The Inter-Team Mclaren on-track battle we have all been anticipating finally arrived.

It came, it soared, and one papaya car seared its wing in the sun. 

And thus, came an end of the 10 Mclaren podiums in a row. 

First F1 podium– first of many! Talent and maturity placed on young shoulders. We are excited to see where this rookie goes.

And to George Russell, who controlled the race from lights out to chequered flag.  A win certainly compensates for the not-so-great three weekends before the Canadian Grand Prix.

Following tensions in Barcelona between Max Verstappen and George Russell, Turn 1 Lap 1 was hyped following Saturday qualifying. George Russell got Mercedes first Grand Prix pole of the year. Max Verstappen beat Oscar Piastri’s Mclaren to P2.

Many thought a tight battle, a bash of wheels or a straight up incident was on the cards. Verstappen is not known to change his driving (even if he’s at risk of a race ban).

What really happened was a clean and lowkey race for Verstappen. He confidently and quietly held onto P2 despite struggling with the tyre compounds available this weekend. 

(This years medium tyre was last years soft tyre- and the compound was not the favourable race tyre then either.)

Verstappen once again finished clear of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, whose time at Red Bull doesn’t appear to be looking up. Hopefully he can catch up soon- perhaps for a particular Red Bull home race in a fortnights time!

The Start/Finish straight 67 laps in was the main drama of the race.

So far this year, Mclaren inter-team battles have been minimum. Oscar Piastri was instructed to maintain his position during the Austrialian Grand Prix. This directive was in place for a portion of the race due to the weather conditions. Imola was the first glimpse into what a battle could look like. However, it was less exciting due to the obvious tyre off-set between the cars. 

The Canadian Grand Prix was the first real show- and until its disastrous end, it was a good one. 

The pressure was intense as Norris chased Piastri down lap after lap. Neither driver made mistakes. Racing was hard and fair.

The battle was a show of offense and defense driving from both cars. Norris caught his teammate off guard with a lunge that gave him track position- but the job wasn’t done.

Piastri out-breaked Norris into the final set of corners, catapulting him back into P4.

It’s on the start/finish straight where everything went wrong for Norris.

In a move that can only be described as a rookie level mistake, Lando went for a gap that did not exist. Diving onto the grass to try and grasp the inside line from his teammate, he clipped the back of Piastri. Norris then slammed his front-left wheel into the wall along with his front-wing.

Crucially, he made very little contact with his teammate. Instead, most of his damage came from clipping the wall, taking him out of the race. Post-Race, Norris was handed a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision. This penalty does not apply in Austria. Interestingly, he received no penalty points, despite the standard being 2 points for any collision.

Given the Mclaren cars were fighting for P4, some fans question why there wasn’t a team order. Norris appeared faster all race, and most of the weekend–until a 2 off-pace runs in Q3. Giving up the place, championship-leader Piastri would have only lost 2 points.

But there’s a rather simple answer to this–it’s a championship. Only one driver will lift the championship trophy come December. Both Mclaren drivers hunger for it–and Mclaren appears happy to let them both do so until a leader emerges.

One thing is for sure, Mclaren aren’t alone in this fight anymore. So it’s only a matter of time before the infamous papaya rules show up again.

See you next Red Bull Ring!