2024 F1 Canadian GP: Winners and Losers

The 2024 F1 Canadian GP in Montreal proved to be a great race with splendid action and twists. The race had three phases where a different driver each was fast and thus could have won the race. In the end, it came down to Max Verstappen making the fewest overall mistakes and nailing the run.

The Red Bull driver made one mistake early in the race, but other than that, he would not put a foot wrong and won his 60th race. In P2, we have Lando Norris, who was very unlucky with the safety car's timing which possibly cost him the win and in P3, George Russell whose Sunday proved rather eventful.

As the F1 circus moves on from the Canadian GP, who would be happy with how the weekend panned out, and who will be a bit disappointed? Let's take a look.

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2024 F1 Canadian GP

Winner

Mercedes

It's almost hard to believe that Mercedes could have actually won the F1 Canadian GP. While many would consider the front wing a panacea, it's just not the case. It's the whole car finally coming together and working perfectly in Montreal.

The next race in Barcelona is possibly the biggest asterisk that the team would be looking to get rid of, as the challenges of the track are possibly much different from Canada. Having said that, if there was a team that was probably the happiest in the paddock, it was Mercedes.

Loser

Ferrari

On the completely opposite side of the spectrum lies Ferrari, which had a disaster of a weekend. A double DNF thanks to everything going wrong is not what the team had in mind but that's precisely what it has to deal with. There were signs of an old team that was messy, operationally inept, and surprisingly, in a position where even reliability was an issue.

The next race in Barcelona should be more fruitful for the team after a major blow in Montreal.

Winner

Max Verstappen

Before the F1 Canadian GP, Max Verstappen was looking at a shrunk championship lead. He was only 31 points ahead of Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc who won the race in Monaco. He'd won 1 of 3 races coming into the weekend, and Red Bull was struggling.

Despite all of this, the driver kept a level head and, alongside an exceptional operational unit, clinched his third successive win in Canada. His championship lead is now back up to 56 points, and anyone harboring the thought of a title challenge will have to string together a better set of runs in the upcoming races.

Loser

Lewis Hamilton

Consecutive losses to teammate George Russell are starting to get to Lewis Hamilton now and it was obvious after the race in Canada. The way in which George just muscled through and got the podium would have hurt Lewis, but the bigger baseline point doesn't change - he was slower than his teammate.

This has been evident since the first race of the season and at the F1 Canadian GP, the 1-8 deficit in qualifying or just the ease of Russell's pass stamped home the point that's been visible to anyone who has been watching the two drivers.

Winner

Daniel Ricciardo

Being the target of brutal criticism from Jacques Villeneuve was certainly something that was not on Daniel Ricciardo's mind when he arrived in Canada. Whether it gave him the extra motivation or not, the Australian still had a very impressive weekend in the RB.

Qualifying P5 and then bringing the car home for points in conditions that saw his teammate lose - it was just further proof that when the car is in the right window for Daniel, he can get the job done.

Loser

Sergio Perez

Possibly the worst possible time to have an off-race for Sergio. The F1 Canadian GP was not kind to him in any way. A poor qualifying followed by a poor race accentuated the issues Red Bull faces when it has Perez in one of the cars.