Here’s an analysis of the Canadian GP, focusing on the race pace hierarchy on track. Was Ferrari in contention for a win?
In this breakdown, we examine the race pace comparison between the top teams during the Canadian Grand Prix. The top six finishers all ran a two-stop strategy, starting on medium tyres followed by two hard sets, except for Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, who switched to yellow tyres in the final stint. Each stint can therefore be assessed individually to get a more precise picture. To ensure accuracy, the telemetry data only considers clean laps for each phase from drivers who made two pit stops.
First stint
George Russell was clearly the fastest in the first stint, benefiting from clean air thanks to the superb pole he secured on Saturday. The highlight of this phase, however, was Charles Leclerc, who delivered an exceptional pace on hard tyres. That compound proved to be the best option, showing both speed and strong consistency. Comparing on equal tyres, Charles Leclerc was slightly slower early on but became consistently faster than Lando Norris by the end of the stint—evidence of strong competitiveness from the Ferrari.
Second stint
In the second stint, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc were the quickest, taking advantage of fresher tyres. Since both had started on hards, they made their stops later and had newer rubber for the middle phase of the race. This time, Norris was faster by nearly two tenths.
The McLaren proved the best car among the rest too, with Oscar Piastri lapping a tenth and a half quicker than the Mercedes. Max Verstappen was another tenth and a half slower still, though he again extracted the maximum from a car that seemed slightly behind the frontrunners in pure pace.
Third stint
Lando Norris also dominated the final part of the race, showing speed that looked sufficient to earn him a brilliant comeback podium—until he threw it away with a major error in battle with his teammate. Even in this stint, McLaren led the way in performance terms. Had Lando Norris maximized his potential from Saturday onwards, the Grand Prix could likely have been his.
Despite the circuit layout and conditions favouring the W16, Mercedes was not the fastest car on track. It won the race thanks to a brilliant qualifying and flawless race execution from both drivers and pit wall. Ferrari, very close in both pace and tyre management, could have equally fought for victory if it had started from the front. However, starting further back meant the team realistically couldn’t challenge for top positions against rivals of similar performance, making qualifying the decisive factor in Ferrari’s weekend. In the end, it was Saturday’s error that truly cost the team, although the race did show flashes of competitive speed.
