Great Italy in Montreal
Raise your hand if you imagined, maybe even under the influence of alcohol, that Kimi Antonelli would win four (and even in a row!) of the first five grands prix of the year, jumping to the top of the Formula 1 World Championship standings. No one. Just as no one could have guessed that the championship would take a decidedly Italian turn, but of an Italy that is not called Ferrari. It all seems so unreal. Yet Antonelli is a disruptive and unpredictable reality that now really makes us dream, dare to make predictions that go far and that we even fear to pronounce.
Read more Leclerc: “The worst weekend since I have been in F1, Hamilton was incredible”
But have you seen how he drives? And have you seen how relentless he is in attacking rivals? And, again, how he transforms into a giant, he who is slight and even seems fragile, when he is in the lead and makes everyone understand not to torment themselves chasing him, because he will stay there until the end?
Canada was the stage of a feat that will be remembered for a long time, carried out – some will say – with the complicity of Russell’s retirement. But I have no doubt that Kimi would have won anyway even if the duel had continued, fair but very tough, with his teammate. Because at this moment Kimi’s skill has made Russell an intimidated, disoriented, fearful driver in direct confrontation to the point of uttering obscure phrases and maliciously interpretable about a confrontation to be faced ‘on equal terms’, as if Mercedes had already made hierarchical choices in favor of Antonelli.
This is not new: when a champion with qualities that bloom exponentially race after race emerges, the first to suffer is the one who races with the same car. Russell, who by the way fought very well, now has to find himself again, to get his head straight, an exercise that does not always succeed immediately. But in the meantime Kimi will grow even more. Or the ethereal English driver will have to resign himself and think about a future elsewhere.
If the go-go duels between Russell and Antonelli excited us in the first part of the race, in the finale there was the show, like in the old days, between Hamilton and Verstappen, with a masterful Lewis who prevailed by climbing to the second step of the podium. It was his best race ever with Ferrari and those 10.7 seconds gap from the Mercedes show how effective the SF26 was on a track of braking and acceleration on many straights, but without fast corners. We haven’t seen a Hamilton like this for years and this is what Ferrari wanted when they hired him. Being very moody, the Canada race is a spring that will push him even higher. Provided it was not an outburst linked to the track he loves. In any case, this time it was he who saved the Prancing Horse, while Leclerc seemed lost in the desert of Notre Dame Island, which has always been allergic to him. He can make up for it in two Sundays at home, in Monte Carlo, a race Ferrari must win. But how nice to see Verstappen and Red Bull fight with the leaders again. And what a disappointment the incomprehensible choices of McLaren at the start, when they chose intermediate rain tires, which moreover gave Norris the bonus for one (useless) lap in the lead.
Montreal offered the same winner as the previous three grands prix, but there was a nice reshuffling of cards. And then seeing an Italian triumph and Ferrari fighting back strongly is not something that happens every day. But what if it was just the beginning?
Read more Antonelli: “Today I was calmer, I forced Russell into a mistake. I was faster than him”
