F1 jumps across the Atlantic for what is usually the race of the season in Montreal. The Canadian race returns after a Covid enforced break, and it didn’t disappoint. Talking of disappointment, here is our 2022 Canadian Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary.
Our review covers what happened in the race so you don’t have to in the laps that matter. Plus we throw in our Race Ratings, the Best (Great) and Worst (Grape) drivers of the race weekend.
The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
2022 Canadian Grand Prix Results, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a small serving of cynicism.
And why not check out our Azerbaijan Grand Prix Power Rankings which highlight our driver of the season so far and the last race.
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2022 Canadian Grand Prix Results
THE LAPS THAT MATTERED
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the Scene – After a rain affected qualifying that shook up the grid, Sunday’s race day was dry, but no need to be disappointed as this is a track where stuff happens anyway. Throw in a mixed up grid because of qualifying woes and/or penalties for Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez and you have a lot of fun ahead. Even with Max Verstappen on pole, who has Fernando Alonso for company on the front row.
TOP 10 GRID – VER ALO SAI HAM MAG MSC OCO RUS RIC ZHO
Lap 1 – Max Verstappen gets the jump on the field and is well ahead by the first corner. Surprisingly all cars get through that first chicane without running into each other. Not much movement within the top ten either. Mick Schumacher dropping a couple of places to Ocon and Russell. As for the cars towards the back – Leclerc is up to 17th from 19th and Perez is up to 11th from 14th. Neither of the occasionally hopeless Canadian drivers has crashed yet. Latifi is last though, in what is rumoured to be his last race. Fine by us as an Aussie F1 fan with Oscar Piastri the potential replacement.
ORDER – VER ALO SAI HAM MAG OCO RUS MSC RIC ZHO
Lap 3 – Carlos Sainz gets past Fernando Alonso for second down the straight leading into the final chicane with ease. Hamilton spends lap four on this tail too but doesn’t get past. Alonso will be saving all of his cartoonish villain work to annoy Lewis Hamilton no doubt.
Lap 5 – George Russell gets past Kevin Magnussen for fifth, the Haas driver with a slightly broken front wing. Unsurprisingly we missed Russell getting past Ocon before that. Further back it looks like one of those days for Daniel Ricciardo as he is easily passed by Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou.
Lap 7 – With nothing to worry about, Max Verstappen is three second ahead of Carlos Sainz and getting a nice and easy Sunday drive. Kevin Magnussen pits to replace his front wing.
Lap 8 – Maybe spoke too soon on that “easy” Sunday drive. Sergio Perez slows to a crawl, his Red Bull broken. That will alert and/or alarm his race leading team mate. For the neutral, how great it is that these cars aren’t so boringly reliable anymore. Virtual Safety Car is declared, pit stops for Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton who drop from 1st and 4th to 3rd and 6th.
Lap 11 – Race restarts proper with two Spaniards at the front. Further back the top ten is still a good mix of cars, and Championship hopeful Charles Leclerc is only 13th.
ORDER – SAI ALO VER RUS OCO HAM MSC ZHO RIC ALB
Lap 12 – Just to annoy us after writing the above Order update Lewis Hamilton passes Esteban Ocon for 5th on the pit straight.
Lap 15 – Max Verstappen breezes past Fernando Alonso to take second.
Lap 18 – Growing frustration for Charles Leclerc as he is stuck behind Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon for 10th, 11th etc. Although just as we finish typing this Bottas gets past Albon into the final chicane and Leclerc gets by Albon too on the pit straight in double disappointment for the Williams driver.
Lap 20 – Guanyu Zhou passes Mick Schumacher for 7th, who celebrates his demotion by parking the car where Sergio Perez did. As for the Red Bull retirement, the Virtual Safety Car is declared. A few more teams decide to pit, including race leader Carlos Sainz who drops to third. The stubborn Alonso doesn’t pit this time either. Virtual Safety Car ends too.
ORDER – VER ALO SAI HAM RUS OCO BOT LEC STR ZHO
Lap 22 – Charles Leclerc overtakes Valtteri Bottas into the final chicane for 7th. But he is yet to pit. Carlos Sainz makes easy work of Alonso for second too.
Lap 23 – Replays show that McLaren stuffed both pitstops for the driver, with credit given to the team for consistency. Lewis Hamilton also gets past Fernando Alonso pretty easy. Meanwhile Max Verstappen is nine seconds up the road.
Lap 29 – Fernando Alonso pits for tyres and drops to seventh. Talking of Alpines, the car not the forest, Ocon is hanging on for 5th in front of a growingly frustrated Leclerc.
Lap 34 – Max Verstappen, race and leader and early pit stopper, is on the radio advising his tyres are starting to go off. It’s not even halfway yet, so he’ll need another pit stop.
ORDER – VER SAI HAM RUS OCO LEC ALO BOT STR ZHO
Lap 37 – Lance Stroll continues to hold up Zhou, Tsunoda and Ricciardo. We wish someone who hurry up and overtake him, or run into each other trying. Leclerc is also still behind Ocon.
Lap 42 – Obviously as bored as us with his inability to get past Ocon, Leclerc pitted for new tyres, The bold decision by Ferrari wasted as the change took double the time of the premium stops, and those seconds prove crucial as he comes out on the back of the Stroll train.
Lap 44 – Max Verstappen pits for new tyres, and comes out alongside Lewis Hamilton who sneaks in front of his 2021 title rivals. This presents Verstappen with his first point of frustration of the day. Just as we start to dream about a little clash on circuit to liven things up, Hamilton pits for tyres too.
Lap 45 – Charles Leclerc, determined to avoid public transport on the Stroll train, picks off Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda in quick succession. That leaves him 10th now with 7th the likely apex for his efforts today. Make that 9th as he passes Zhou a few laps later. A lap after that Leclerc passes Stroll, well sort of, he was passing him but Stroll finally pit for new tyres.
ORDER – SAI VER HAM RUS OCO ALO BOT LEC ZHO RIC
Lap 49 – Yuki Tsunoda provides some interest in the race. Did he crash? Pushed off the track? Mechanical issues? If you picked ran straight into the wall coming out of the pits then you win whatever prize we can offer.
His crash also brings out the Safety Car which will liven things up in front. Carlos Sainz gets new boots for his Ferrari, so this will give him slightly better tyres for the end. More pit stops throughout the field, with those who had yet to stop being rewarded for their hard work.
Lap 53 – Lapped cars are allowed to overtake the Safety Car. Looks like they managed to do this one properly eh?
Lap 55 – Safety car leaves and the race resumes with the cars all nicely bunched up. Leader Max Verstappen backs them all up nicely before restarting to hopefully maximise chaos. No chaos as the top cars stay as they were, but at least they’re plenty close now.
Lap 57 – Carlos Sainz is really having a go at Max Verstappen now. Sets fastest lap, and has real look into the final chicane. He continues to press the leader and Lewis Hamilton is not far away in third waiting for scraps if the top two clash.
Lap 59 – Leclerc has got past Alonso for sixth, and was almost ahead of Ocon for fifth but goes straight on at the final chicane. He does it for good a lap later. Good damage limitation now for Leclerc.
Lap 63 – Sainz continues to pressure Max Verstappen but just can’t get close enough going into the final chicane where he has been 20 km/h quicker down the straight.
Lap 68 – More of the same as above. Carlos Sainz gets close, but not close enough to make a move. Especially against a driver like Verstappen.
Last Lap – Max Verstappen is far enough ahead to stay in front of Carlos Sainz as they cross the finish line. Lewis Hamilton is not far behind in third, and a rare 2022 podium. Further back George Russell is mentioned for the first time in our report for finishing 4th, and Charles Leclerc does well to end up 5th from 19th.
FINAL ORDER – VER SAI HAM RUS LEC OCO ALO BOT ZHO STR
2022 Canadian Grand Prix Results
RACE RATING
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 6 / 10
A points extending race for Max Verstappen, but also a decent bout of damage limitation for Charles Leclerc after taking a penalty in qualifying and starting second last. Perez’s retirement shows that Red Bull aren’t immune from a DNF here and there either. Which could bite Max Verstappen in later races.
ON TRACK ACTION – 7 / 10
Hard to complain about the racing early with loads of overtaking throughout the field for all the positions except first. Mixed up grid helped but that was all early. A lot of the second half of the race was about cars trying really hard to overtake but not doing so. A convenient safety car towards the end livened things up.
ENDING 8 / 10
A Safety Car on Lap 49 injected a bit of life into the race, because otherwise it was heading for a winding down period of drivers moaning about new tyres. This led to battles throughout the top ten including Carlos Sainz putting Max Verstappen under pressure for the first time in the race. The battle for first was a fascinating one, but one that just never quite looked like seeing a move attempted.
OVERALL RATING 21 / 30
An exciting enough race, with overtaking throughout the field, and what looked an easy win for Verstappen being turned around with a Safety Car with 20 laps to go.
2022 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 Bahrain Grand Prix 26/30
R2 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 21/30
R3 Australian Grand Prix 16/30
R4 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix 17/30
R5 Miami Grand Prix 19/30
R6 Spanish Grand Prix 17/30
R7 Monaco Grand Prix 24/30
R8 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 22/30
Season Average – 20.2 / 30
2022 Canadian Grand Prix Results
GREAT & GRAPE OF THE RACE
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
It used to be called the good, bad and ugly, but everyone is using that now. And who doesn’t like grapes.
THE GREAT-EST – CARLOS SAINZ
Probably should have gone to Max Verstappen, but the winner always getting our top award is getting boring. And Carlos could do with a little love after a lot of bad luck in 2022. The Ferrari driver stepped up with his team mate a penalty-induced 19th on the grid. He charged after the Safety Car and pressure Max Verstappen for the win for the last ten laps. Not quite good enough for first today, but sure he’ll be happy with our tick of approval.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Doesn’t get much easier for the Championship leader. With his main rival Charles Leclerc at the back and needing to fight his way through the field, and nearest points challenger Sergio Perez retired it was Max-imum points collection for the Championship. But he had to battle for it late under pressure from Carlos Sainz.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Outqualified his team mate, finished ahead of his team mate, podium finish, doesn’t feel like he has ridden in a rodeo instead of driving an F1 car is a season highlight thus far in 2022.
FERNANDO ALONSO – Fernando Alonso turning back the years with a front row in qualifying and maintaining top five in the first half of the race. Faded late in the race but still good fun, and still feisty too, discussing his team mate’s pace in the closing laps while stuck behind.
GUANYU ZHOU – Solid drive from the Alfa Romeo rookie. In and around the top ten for most of the race.
CHARLES LECLERC – Good damage limitation from 19th on the grid to fifth. Still loses out to Max Verstappen for points, but at least the car finished.
THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PREZ
Anyone daring to talk up a fanciful Championship run for Perez only needs to look at this race. An off in qualifying leaves him outside the top ten, and then in the race he gets the bad luck with unreliability.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
HAAS DRIVERS – Qualified fifth and sixth on the grid, but neither managed to turn that into points
McLAREN DRIVERS – Another poor race for McLaren, with at least Daniel Ricciardo outperforming Lando Norris, just. Ricciardo being blow off the track by Lance Stroll for 10th in the closing stages all you need to know about their race. Norris’ race compromised by mechanical failure in qualifying, but he never made much progress in the race.
YUKI TSUNODA – Was having a decent race, near the top ten and ahead of his much more hyped team mate, but then runs straight on into the wall after pitting for new tyres.
2022 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated.
