Rate the race: 2016 Canadian Grand Prix

2016 Canadian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Canadian Grand Prix.

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Rate the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (6%)
  • 8 (22%)
  • 7 (31%)
  • 6 (22%)
  • 5 (8%)
  • 4 (5%)
  • 3 (2%)
  • 2 (2%)
  • 1 (2%)

Total Voters: 465

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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146 comments on “Rate the race: 2016 Canadian Grand Prix”

  1. Can’t help but feel that another pit lane shocker by the challenger has handed the win back to Mercedes. I have to agree with Ted Kravitz in that the core weakness of the Mercedes is in following other cars, as demonstrated by Rosberg at times today. Ferrari removed that weakness by pitting so early after Vettel’s fast start. That’s not to say that Vettel would have won without the pit call, but it felt a bit self-destructive.

    Excellent defensive driving by Verstappen against Rosberg at the end. Hard but fair from Hamilton against Rosberg at the start. A bit of rain would have been nice!

    1. Rosberg was never going to beat Ali, err Hamilton.

    2. Hard but fair?
      Wasn’t Rosberg alongside Hamilton?
      Looked like Hamilton just pushed Rosberg clean of the track..

      1. Michael Brown (@)
        12th June 2016, 20:41

        its completely legal, because the significant portion alongside rule only applies to straights. Hamilton’s most known for doing it, but others have in the past, even in this race (Verstappen against Rosberg in turn 1).

        1. no, even in corners you are supposed to leave a car’s width if another driver is along-side. Just ask Maldonado, he knows best.

          1. Michael Brown (@)
            12th June 2016, 20:47

            The rules favour the driver on the racing line.

          2. Nope. Not a rule. Never was. Look in the race regs and you won’t find it. The rule for straights itself is only a recent innovation, arising from the Hamilton Schumacher battle in Monza in 2012.

          3. Applies to braking zones when there is an attacker on the inside.. Here Rosberg was not in the braking zone – had actually passed it – and he was on the OUTSIDE.

          4. I think the difference here is that, according to to HAM, he didn’t intentionally force ROS off the track. He got understeer in the corner, and looking at the footage that looks accurate. So there was no deliberate forcing off the track, just a small misjudgement about the amount of front-end grip available.

        2. It’s really hard to call a penalty on that move. The inside driver (in this case Lewis) simply pushes through the corner and it’s simply a matter of understeer will push the outside car off the track with no telemetry data to say they did anything wrong.
          You can’t penalize a driver for drifting slightly in a corner is essentially what they’ll say.

      2. It certainly looked he was alongside.Hard to call it but this is again same stuff,Ros gets alongside and then he lets Ham push him wide.Either back up earlier or stick to your bloody line spineless Rosberg! This and for sure Monaco decided this championship if they both have same reliability.Rosberg will again fall apart and even when same pace with Ham he always lets himself being run wide.And Ham will do that again. Rosberg is simply not having b**ls to put his foot down to stick.Is it something again Merc said to him internally just like after 2014.Spa but he is just not the same last two races.

        1. Calm down man.
          Rosberg went too close towards the inside of the track, bumping his tyre with Ham’s as they entered the corner. Ham having the racing line defended. But there is nothing there really hence it wasn’t even worth looking at by the stewards. Plus, this is the first corner of the start of a race. There is room in the rules for drivers to fight for positions at the start unless one brazenly damages another’s car due to a stupid move.

          1. So if he don’t crash him totally he is allowed to run other car wide while he is alongside? Especially your team mate. I know that stuff is rarely penalized and i am not calling for that.I am just commenting that Ros should have kept his line and let Ham under steer into him and have major contact until he learns that he can’t do that anymore. In basic Ham is dirty driving towards Ros and why Ros yielded again is beyond me. If we want to go to details and “team benefit bs pr talk” Ham cost Merc a lot of points by forcing Ros wide. If he left room they would probably have 1-2 in race.Think about that.

      3. This was normal racing. If this is not allowed anymore, than quit racing all together. Hamilton did nothing wrong, Nico did nothing wrong, they just raced.

      4. everyone wondered why Nico did that overtake attempt, he did it twice, on Lewis and on Max, failing both times, there`s simply no space in 2nd-3rd corners to overtake from the right, if you are not quite faster than other car…

    3. Agree fully my thoughts exactly. Mercedes has a pronounced weakness when it comes to following another car…

      And Ferrari do what? Give up track position.

      Other than that, amazing start by Vettel, awesome defending by Verstappen…

      Everything else was kinda so-so.

      Vettel pushing for 30 laps trying to close in was fun. But it was apparent it ain’t gonna happen.

      Also since when is overtaking so hard in Canada?

      1. We saw some highway passes between cars on fresh tires on slower cars, but between more or less equally fast cars it was still incredibly hard. The track design is actually not so good for overtaking: the hairpin is way too slow. I think a 90-degree corner would have been better for overtaking, but that’s of course not possible.
        By the way, in my country the coverage was horrible. They managed to miss virtually all on-track action.

    4. I wouldn’t say it was fair. It’s a ridiculous move that simply forces the other driver off track or crash, even if they’re slightly ahead. This type of move isn’t acceptable in the straight and I cannot understand why it’s a different rule in the corners. If Nico hadn’t have gone off they would have collided

      1. Probably go watch some Senna video’s on youtube!

        1. And to see what? Senna was one of the dirtiest drivers ever and Michael S. during his years did much the same. Blocking drivers clearly faster,running them wide,going for “gap” tha t is NOT THERE and leaving to other driver to move out of the racing line or crash??? I never will deny anything about Senna and M.S. speed and driving skill but for real? Half of rules are invented to prevent weaving and blocking after those two and including Ham in later years were “famous” for that.

          1. Exactly you’ll never make WDC if you get ‘bossed’ on track all the greats do exactly that to their rivals.

          2. Even if Senna was one of the dirtiest drivers on the grid he did it most of the time within the regulations of that time. The same Max is doing now, defending within todays F1 regulations. It’s not so hard to understand it!

          3. “Senna was one of the dirtiest drivers ever”

            I disagree. He was simply the dirtiest ever

          4. Agree Senna was a shocker for blocking

        2. I don’t agree with Senna actions as well.

        3. This is exactly the sort of comment I knew somebody would post.

          Senna is really made to look like a complete hero in every possible way. I’m not saying he wasn’t a great driver, but his era was very different to this one, and not everything that he said or did still applies now

      2. And Schumacher whilst you’re at it…

      3. Maybe listen to Nico himself when he describes it as a racing incident

        1. That’s fine if Nico describes it that way, but there is a possibility he doesn’t want to give the “mental strength” to Hamilton by reacting. Nonetheless he may well genuinely hold that view, which is fine but I don’t agree personally, hence my comment

      4. That move was far from dirty and was perfectly legal.

        1. I don’t know why nico puts himself in these positions. He should know very well that ANY driver on the inside is going to push him wide being on the outside of a corner when exiting. Hamilton has done it to him time and time again. If he backed out he would have exited the corner in 3rd instead of 10th. Pick you battles mate.

          1. + 1. He should have just HAM go and tried again later. He might have been third or even second then instead of 5th!

      5. Rosberg did the exact same thing to Hamilton back in 2014

        http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2inak1
        Fast forward to about 8:30

        1. +1 Rosberg’s done it himself and knows perfectly well that it’s a legitimate defensive move. If you’re going around the outside you need to get in front fast otherwise you’ll be pushed wide. There’s no shame in taking a chance, but you need to be able to react fast enough to bail out when you see the outisde pass isn’t going to work.

      6. come on…its a race, not tea party in olds house…
        if you have guts to pass from the right in the 2nd corner, then you must be LOT faster, because your path is slightly longer, Nico failed to do this thing twice, with Lewis and with Max later… his only hope on Lewis was that he will back off avoiding crash, like he did on start in Spain.

    5. Someone please explain Ferrari’s fascination with early stops.
      It has not worked previously for them or others this year and it isn’t working. Knowing that Mercedes’ is awful following other cars, Ferrari should not give away any little advantage. Before Seb went in, Ham could not get close enough to over take so I wonder why they sacrificed that position so easily.

      Kudos to Ham for a well executed error free drive and kudos to Seb for a rocket start. Congrats to Bottas for making the podium and to Vestappen for being a skillful defender.

      1. Usually it takes a lot of time to remove stopped car from Montreal circuit, but Button stopped at the right place, next to the evacuation pocket, so caution period was very short. Minute or two extra of that VSC would help Ferrari to win

    6. There was a little bit of rain today except during the Grand Prix.

  2. I rated the race a 6, I rated RBR a 1. How, seriously, how do you throw it away like that? 4th and 7th. Makes no sense.

  3. 7/10

    great on the first half
    but an anti climax ending

    Ferrari screwed it up again

    1. If the track would be made as it was, with gravel traps Vettel would not even finish the race. But due to the silly tarmac runoff areas he was unpunished for his mistakes 3 times…

  4. 7/10.

    Decent race but a shame that, as always, the battle for the lead amounted to nothing. Still the rest of the race was enjoyable

    1. I’m starting to think Ferrari need a new strategist and another guy to pair with Sebatian Vettel… Kimi is not doing a good job

  5. A decent race, but nothing amazing. 6/10.

    1. And this race confirms that Rosberg will not be world champion. He is just not good enough. Brilliant defending from Verstappen though.

      1. Yeah. He is well known for his weak overtaking skill. I doubt he will be world champion. Maybe he will be the driver has most wins without winning a championship.

  6. Remember that 4/5/6 way battle for the lead? Remember that rain threat? Remember that awesome unknown on strategy that would produce a fascinating race?

    How disappointing
    4/10

    1. This is why recently (in terms of years) I started losing my interest in F1 after more than 15 years of watching. Still afraid that there might be a coming year when I will lose my interest altogether; yet, I am still hopeful of having close racing back (maybe).

    2. nope, can`t quite remember that times, F1 was always domination sport…with one or two teams dominating rest of the field, at least for last 25 years…

      1. He wasn’t talking about ‘other times’. He was referring to this race’ build-up.

  7. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    12th June 2016, 20:38

    Bit dull to be perfectly honest.

    Although Ferrari’s pitstop looks like an error, I think Hamilton would have regained the lead anyway.

    Pleased Bottas was on the podium though, did well.

    Other than that… bit ‘meh’ really.

  8. Decent race, but once again far too many commercials on NBCSN for me to truly enjoy it. Hard to really get into a race when it’s chopped up with commercial breaks.

    1. Use live streaming as a backup during commercias.

  9. LOL now smack talk of Vettel…. “My start was ok did you notice?”

    “Was watching some seagulls and locked up.”

    In any case Who will first point out… Hamilton totally ruining Rosbergs race?

    1. Well done bottas..to many mistakes by Seb

    2. Nico ruined his own race – what goes around comes around.

  10. 7. Well… that chicane shouldn’t be called “Wall of champions”, it should be called “Chicane of champions”. Other than, I propose a gravel trap or a wall there because how many went off there?

    Mercedes… tyre warmup? Rosberg and Hamilton looked like they had no traction at the start… Mercedes are going to be looking at the starts and the warm up going to Baku.. Ferrari should stop trying to be clever because they lost 2 chances to win this season…

    1. I think it’s more than tire temps. If you watch the early laps, Vettel was pulling away coming out of the chicane. It looked like Ferrari had their low gears set up better than Mercedes but I’m sure it’s more complicated than that.

      1. Hairpin

    2. @krichelle That chicane is NOT called the wall of champions. The wall on the right and the exit of the chicane is the wall of champions. So why would they rename a wall to “chicane of champions”?

      1. I know… of course it’s the wall where I don’t know how many drivers crashed into it… But, they should give the whole area “Chicane of champions” or “Chicane of death”…. lol

        1. Calm down with the ‘death’ mate…

  11. Tense! Lots of action. Very classy by Lewis and Max, and Valterri tho I didn’t see much of what he actually did. Can’t believe Rosberg put his car in that fail position in T1 again.

  12. We’ve actually had a run of great races in F1, but my god that race sucked. DRS sucked any life or excitement out it, it’s just madness that they still have a double zone from one detection point. Kudos to Max for actually showing that you can still defend in F1, but no one else seems to bother.

    It was a toss up between watching this or Indycar, and I’m annoyed I didn’t go for the Texas 600 (fingers crossed that it’s an entertaining one as I’ve recorded it).

    4/10

    1. I didn’t think the DRS was nearly as big of a problem this race as it usually is. Rosberg certainly didn’t get anything out of it on Max. LOL

      1. Rosberg neglected his DRS totally. Forgot to open it many times. Anyone saw that? Commentators on RTL germany didn’t

        1. They actually commented on it several times @doublehelix, but we also heard that he had a problem with it, I think?

          1. he had problems elsewhere in the car, hence his speed and ability to break… he followed for too close too long, guessing he either blocked his brake ducts with dirty air and rubber bits that effected his brakes… he either overheated them or had trouble using brakes for other related issues…

    2. @graham228221 DRS saved this race.

    3. @graham228221 I guess a boring race is better than no race. :)

    4. The Blade Runner (@)
      13th June 2016, 11:54

      I agree, it really was a boring race. Like everyone else I spent what felt like an age waiting for Vettel to catch Hamilton… but he didn’t!

      Mercedes are strong enough. They don’t need Red Bull and Ferrari handing them race wins on a plate!

  13. hamilton likes pushing drivers off the track doesn’t he.

    guess its the only way he was going to close the points gap back as quickly as possible.

    nico was fully alongside, in fact he was marginally ahead for a moment so he deserved space.
    many cars behind managed to run through 2 wide & many drivers behind on the inside of turn 1 left room for the car on the outside… lewis didn’t & given how far alongside he was nico definitely deserved to be left space.

    1. The stewards don’t seem to enforce the rules with any consistency. I prefer Lewis over Nico and thought Lewis should have been penalized. I wonder if the stewards where still getting their snacks and drinks and missed the start.

      1. Again i saw roseberg turn into hamilton and touch wheels which sent him off? Plenty of room for roseberg to stay out wide?

      2. Don’t know what you mean by saying he needed to be penalised. What do you say about Nico turning and bumping into Lewis as they entered the corner before he defended?

      3. Nico’s done it to Lewis without any penalty as recently as Australia, so I’d say there’s consistency there.

    2. Drivers pushing each other off the track is now seen as something which is acceptable. Rosberg did it in the previous race and did not get a penalty, so I don’t think that it would have been right for Hamilton to get a penalty for the same thing today.

      1. Rosberg got a slagging off from fans when he did much the same to LH.

    3. Rosberg did the same to Hamilton in Montreal last year (or maybe it was 2014). However, in that case Hamilton managed to keep position behind Rosberg if I remember correctly, as he made the corner along the kerb.

    4. Crybaby, it was fair racing.

      Same move by Rosberg in 2014 except Hamilton was smart enough to give up on the outside move cos it was never going to stick. https://vid.me/eHOS/rosberg-hamilton-canada-2014

      1. @trublu spot on mate, and those who is bashing hamilton, says racing incident when ros does it bcoz ham is too aggressive :)

  14. Another dissapointing race. Red Bull never were a real threat and Ferrari once again gifted the victory to Mercedes. With all the expectations that Red Bull were faster and Ferrari’s race pace was good, this race came to nothing in terms of demonstration. I hope Baku can give us a memorable race…

    1. For the last seasons this is always one of worst tracks for Red Bull.

  15. That Verstappen is a bit good isn’t he? What a racer. Wiped the floor with his ‘faster over one lap’ teammate, if only points were given on a Saturday.
    Race itself disappointed, because the hype beforehand was rain, tyre uncertainty, close fights at the front and it offered none of those.
    Incredible kudos to Bottas and Williams, getting in front of Verstappen and Rosberg here is quite impressive. Those tyres lasted really well.

    1. Max was asked what he thought about Nico’s attack…Max replied..Wow, I was allready on the limit with breaking, and that crazy Rosberg brakes 30M later….Verstappen drove a very good race. Shame RBR had much tyre degredation today….otherwise a podium would be in the pocket. He showed Ricciardo again who is the better racer…Ricciardo, a great great driver and one hell of a 1 lap racer…outpaced by his much younger teammate in his 3rd race for RBR

  16. so boring

    4/10

  17. Baffled by the lack of action from the stewards today. Both Haas drivers and Haryanto were blocking both the race leaders massively, should have been a penalty.

    Driver of the weekend is not Hamilton who did nothing out of the ordinary except for his long stint on the softs, or Vettel who had a brilliant start but Sainz, once again proving he is the real deal. Ruined his own qualifying yesterday but spend his time well to finish eleven places up from his starting position in P9, again finishing higher up than Kvyat.

    1. I also hate all the backlash Ferrari now gets. If they won those same people would call it a masterstroke instead of ‘handing it to Mercedes’. Hypocrites.

      1. Arh, when most commentators on TV, even with their limited knowledge and brainpower, foresees that the early Ferrari pitstop is a blunder at the time they do it, then it probably is a blunder. The fact that it has happened twice this season must make You wonder what is happening.
        Did Ferrari have the alternative strategy as a desparate move to try to turn the race around if they were behind the Merc’s and then forgot that Vettel was now in the lead?
        But it sure made for an exciting race, as Verstappens brilliant defence against Rosberg. Very impressive.

        1. Everybody messes up, last year monaco? hamilton banked on VSC, but VSC disappeared as he entered pit, same with Seb, his team saw an opportunity and i think they did quite well, except instead keeping clean air, they gambled on a risky move, which didnt pay due to VSC finishing early, brilliantly controlled drive from hamilton on those tires! i expected them to have slow puncture or a massive kaboom but suprised it didnt…

          I dont think Ferrari did anything wrong, if it worked, they would be called Kings of Strategy, and back in the game, but like every major team, sometimes you dont get it right…

  18. Loved this race. A real cracker. Best race of the season for me by far.

    The contest was close, tighter than we’ve seen in a long time. Sure there wasn’t as much “action” but those who are disappointed with such a contest where the drivers are challenged, and cracks are shown, I don’t think should be watching F1.

    An F1 race should not about “overtakes per race” or any other such silliness. The closeness of the contest between the teams, and the drivers, is what makes F1 for me. And this race had that essence of the competition in spades.

    9/10 ( -1 point combined for the traffic impeding the competition in places and the lackadaisical rules regarding chicane track limits at this circuit, a track limit is a track limit and should be punished more than a very minor time infringement.)

  19. Ruined by DRS.

  20. I watched the beginning and it was very entertaining, Seb’s pass was magical, the kerfuffle between the Mercs was fun, though gutting for Rosberg. Ferrari’s early pit stop was bad luck. I tuned out a couple laps later, it wasn’t all that interesting for me, but I switched back for the ending. Bottas grabbed a podium, so I liked it. But overall it was an average race for me, so 5/10

    1. You shouldn’t be voting when You didn’t see the race, imo.

  21. Great race.
    We had a fight for the win and some good battles along the way. 8.

    Nico did the same thing in 2014, you got mad then too? Pathetic.

  22. Ok apparently we can’t censor swearwords in the comments, so again

    Rosberg, on the touch with Lewis at the start:

    “I was swearword off, but that’s racing”

  23. Downside to me was the tyres were ineffective, I would have liked to have saw 3 stoppers charging through the field. There was no benefit to using the softer tyres, may as well used the soft and medium compounds like in the past.

  24. It was better than last year’s race for me, so a 7/10, Ferrari are basically ‘shooting’ themselves everytime when the chance to win is right there, oh well, I think we may have a fight for the WDC on our hands anyway, Ferrari did seem strong in the straight’s and with Baku having that loooonnnng pit-straight, they should do well even in warmer conditions.

  25. Do not understand some of the complaints about Hamilton he literally just followed the racing line as far as I could see and Rosberg touched him? Some people just love to whine about anything Hamilton does.

    1. They conveniently forget that Rosberg did the same thing in Montreal in a previous year (2014?).

    2. Hamilton even missed the apex to turn 1 as he was trying to push Rosberg off, and yet you say that he was on the racing line? Rosberg was along side Hamilton even a bit in front so Hamilton should leave space of a car width and not push Rosberg out. It’s easier to understand that if you were to have an unbiased opinion though. It’s a drive through penalty for Lewis in every rule book.

      1. https://vid.me/eHOS/rosberg-hamilton-canada-2014
        whats your comment on this?

        Same race 2 yrs ago, and switched positions, worse, hamilton much more ahead, yet Ros outbrakes himself/corner massively to push Hamilton off… your turn?

        1. No reply to @Mysticus 2014 query then Antonio?

      2. @antonio I don’t know what rule book you’ve been reading but I can assure you there is nothing out of line about what Hamilton did he is perfectly entilted to close the door in a corner if he is on the racing line. The stewards would have taken action against Ros if he had committed and took Hamilton out. I think you’re confusing the rule about ‘a cars width of space on the STRAIGHTS’ with it being applied at all times which is not the case.

  26. Decent race. Does someone know why Red Bull aren’t better? I thought they had “by far the best chassis” but a terrible engine. Now they have a good engine, so why aren’t they winning?
    Did the new engine design ruin their chassis?

    1. I think they have the joint best chassis are ahead in slow speed corners and have the best aero. They are still down on engine power slightly and this is a power track. I fully expect red bull to win more races this season when we go back to slower tracks. In my opinion.

  27. 7/10

    I Cant believe people found this race dull, it was not a classic by any means but it had potential all the way through to move up to an 8 or a 9 out of 10. It had a great start, lots of teams having to switch strategy and some interesting battles for most of the race. This is a typical F1 race for me and would question why people watch F1 if they don’t enjoy a race like this.

    I see many complain about DRS saying it ruined the race but in the next breath complain about the lack of action, the drs here was about perfect and Verstappen showed that all you needed to do was hold the inside to give yourself a good chance in the chicane.

    This by no means was a classic but was a solid F1 race

    1. I agree Steve, but I thought DRS made passing too easy. With the exception of Max of course. Indeed why didn’t most drivers try this tactic!?

  28. All this hoo ha about Ham pushing Rosberg off track… Remind me again hasn’t Nico done this a few times this season already with Lewis on the outside?

  29. 5 for me.
    Ferrari lost the race, again…Time to change their strategic men?
    Great race by Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas anyway.

  30. 7/10

    Vettel is great on early part of the race, clumsy at the end.
    Verstappen showed he can defend too, which amazing considering Montreal has the defender in huge disadvantage.
    After eventful qualifying, no one even get close to the wall of champions?

    1. VET passed him without problems. Maybe the problem is the Mercedes following another car.

  31. My rating for the race is 6/10

    The race started with a stunning gateway off the line by Sebastian Vettel and that stirred an immediate excitement of the race for the lead. But Ferrari, for the second time this season, could not maintain the lead. Was it a bad strategy call to put on the super soft? Not entirely. The car had good pace today. After the second stop for soft tyres, Vettel was still catching up. But in doing so he made numerous mistakes which included tire lockups and missing the apexes. So can’t put the entire blame on the team this time. Lewis Hamilton put on a good drive after a bad gateway at the start. Understandably he defended the second place at the start pushing his teammate off the track. He kept the tyres till the end to see off Vettel and Ferrari. Nico Rosberg today seemed like an indicator lamp, blinking on and off. After his first lap incident he drove well, but not consistently well. There was some misfortune in the form of a slow puncture. Then there was the last lap risk which could have put him out of the race altogether, but in all fairness at least the attempt was made. Mercedes as a team did a decent job. There were good defensive driving from Max Verstrappen and Valterri Bottas. But there were some disappointments as well. Ferrari needs to seriously think about its second driver and Daniel Ricciardo in the other Red Bull has to show he is still the lead driver in that team or otherwise things could change quickly.

    1. Ferrari says that it was a strategic mistake. But there were driving errors as well.

      1. The driving error was because of trying too hard to make up for the strategic mistake.

  32. I thought the race was quite good, sure, the last third it seemed unlikely VET was getting close enough for a fight, but by that time there was good action behind him (VES did a great job again defending today). DRS wasn’t the decider in overtakes, once again, you had to have the car+tyres for it, which made for a several tense, multi lap fights, in my view.

    Vettels start was great, Sainz got back into the points (could have seen more of that on TV though FOM!), and Ferrar do have the pace to fight for a win. But they were too conservative, and like in Monaco, Mercedes by waiting longer, had more information (and had to 1-stop for the win, too), and made it. That’s racing.

  33. i wish for once both merc’s would get through the first corner and actually fight each other. 7 for me.

  34. Gave it a generous 7….was plenty going on….but came over as a high speed dash to the flag….it just didn’t sparkle…and the sky guy who said it was not if but when it would rain……was wrong

  35. 6/10. Strategic race, which lacked on-track action. The lead battle was never really on, for some time it appeared Vettel could catch and pressure Hamilton, but it hadn’t happened, likewise with Bottas and Verstappen. An explosive start promised a thrilling race, however it was pretty much average.

  36. 7/10
    I am liking the races so far, though I always get the feeling they are too hyped up by the commentators… 95% of the time the planned “recovery from the guy who makes an extra stop” never happens. I never doubted for a second Hamilton was going to win this since Vettel stopped. Nonetheless, for a one-stop race the action was pretty good.

  37. 2/10

    Seriously were was the racing? I didn’t notice any of that. Some DRS passes (= no overtaking for me), which of course the idiotic double DRS zone makes sure that cannot be defended at the next couple of corners, and victory for a guy that had to drive as slow as possible to keep the so-called “soft” tyres, 45+ laps. Only thing worth talking about was Mad Max, with some excellent defense as always.

    That’s Canadian Grand Prix 2016 for you.

    Seeing that most of you voted for a 7, makes me thing how much what the name of the track is. If we had this race in Russia there would be an outrage right now.

    1. @afonic No one else mentioned Russia until you did, so why assume that has a bearing on this?

  38. A 7 race. Good but not great. The latter part I blame squarely on Pirelli. I’ve been defending them for years but I’m running out of excuses. The so-called ultrasoft is rubbish

  39. 10/5, it was boring. Only Verstappen made any excitement. And Vettel.

  40. All you people giving this a high rating are thinking only of the start. From then on it was crap.

  41. ColdFly F1 (@)
    12th June 2016, 23:45

    solid 6minus (or in other words: just enough to stay awake)
    I was expecting a lot more from Montreal. The different tyres did nothing to the excitement of the race. I was hoping a ballsy 2-stopper would create some exciting overtaking moves, but unfortunately that did not really happen.
    And even having a Merc in position 10 did not raise the level. Good overtakes on Bottas and Ricciardo, but how disappointing that the WDC-leader could not pass Verstappen.

  42. 6 out of 10 Vettel catching and going at Hamilton wasn’t going to happen but would have been cool to see.

  43. I’m not sure what’s happened to the Canadian GP. It used to be the one of the most exciting races on the calendar. But the last 2 years have been pretty dull, I attended 2015s race but the atmosphere made up for it. Maybe it’s the tires or the inability to follow closely behind the car infront.

    1. I think the drivers are not pushing enough. We see a lot of crashes in free practice and qualifying, but not in the race. Given that Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a very unforgiving track, this takes away a lot of the usual action (crashes and subsequent safety cars) in the race. Weather conditions (2011), extreme tire graining (2010), a track that was falling apart (2008), a crappy soft tire compound (2007) were the ingredients that produced interesting races in the past years, but in the Pirelli era the dry races have been rather dull. The 2012 and 2014 races were quite OK, but only because of the final laps.

  44. I will always tend to vote higher for Montreal race ratings, as it tends to be at a critical junction of the season, and also always highlights driver talent – more so than any other track in my opinion.

    When can you ever recall a team-by-team grid line-up at Montreal? We see this regularly at Spain, Brazil, Spa, even Monaco sometimes. But never ever Montreal do we ever get it. And Massa has been outqualified by him teammate 13 times in a row here….is there any better stat to explain why he is not a world champion? Jeez, let’s give someone else a try at that Williams seat shall we? Enough already!!

    Overall a gripping race between Hamilton and Vettel which featured hot laps all race and mere inches from the Wall of Champions each time. I’ll give it a solid 7.

  45. A measly five. Vettel and Ferrari’s errors cost themselves any real chance of victory, and pretty much every overtake was completed well before the corner because of that woeful drag reduction system.

    Again, another really poor Canadian Grand Prix.

  46. A decent race, neither great nor dull. There were several battles for positions on the track, although few quieter times regarding on-track action/racing as well, but overall a decent race.

  47. I think it was a good race. Sadly not too many attacks.
    Lack of footage from backfield. I couldn’t tell from the footage that Sainz was having a great race. Where were the overtakes?

    Encouraging: Ferrari being able to attack Mercedes.
    Positive: happy drivers from Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams and RBR.

  48. VERY disappointing race, especially for the Canadian GP. Let’s hope Baku delivers. 2/10.

  49. This one failed to deliver. After the start it seemed like we would have a proper race on our hands, but then nothing really materialised: there was no fight for the lead after Ferrari made a strategic error, DRS was unsurprisingly too powerful (in most cases), and the midfield battle was cars going round. And the TV director/camera men seemed to miss some key events (like Vettel’s lockup into the chicane on the first lap – “oh there’s a puff of smoke, he’s clearly not going to make the corner, let’s show something else”).

  50. I am getting quite fed up of this tactic from Hamilton of pushing his rival off the circuit in the first few turns of the race, it completely ruined Rosberg’s chances of fighting for the victory this time. Just because it is tarmac runoff these days does not mean it should be an acceptable move.

    1. Forgot to claim my rating, which is probably not helped by the poor highlights programme from the BBC copycats (with ridiculously long commericial breaks bookended by silly hashtags) that is channel 4. It’s a 5/10.

  51. It was a bit of a stale race at times, but had it’s interesting bits. Hamilton did well to win on a one stop strategy while Vettel ultimately scuppered himself in what was arguably a quicker car. Bottas also put in a solid race for third while Vestappen put his Monaco mishaps behind him with a good drive and hard but fair defense late in the race.

    Rosberg hit both ends of the spectrum for good and bad, thundering through the field when he had to pit a second time while letting his determination getting the better of him twice at both the beginning and end of the race. While sometimes you have to push and do something a little bit mad, other times you have to simply back off and Rosberg doesn’t seem capable of learning that, which is his only major weakness at the moment.

  52. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    13th June 2016, 14:51

    7.
    Could’ve been a 9 if Vettel didn’t made the two mistakes and got distracted by seagulls.
    Despite he did start unbelievably, he couldn’t even win.

  53. Dull race. Only some action at the start and at the end and the rest was just watching cars going around. Hope next week gives us more action.

  54. I gave the race a 6.5 rounded up to a 7.

    The Canadian GP is one of my favourite races so my expectations beforehand were high, unfortunately those expectations weren’t met.

    It was a good race and it had its moments but it wasn’t a classic, if a race like this had happened at a circuit where I had low or no expectations before the GP I probably would have enjoyed it more as there would have been no disappointment on what could have been.

    It was a similar start to this year’s Australian GP, in that Hamilton had a poor start while Vettel made a blistering start, then the two Mercedes went side by side into the first corner, but this time it was Rosberg who was pushed out wide and dropped down the field not Hamilton.

    When it became clear that Hamilton was on a one stopper and Vettel was two stopping I thought that Hamilton would take the victory but when the Red Bulls had to stop again I wondered if Hamilton’s tyres would last and whether we would be in for a dramatic finish, but in the end it seemed as if Hamilton was just managing his car until the finish to make sure of the win.

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