“What goes around, comes around?” Why Verstappen’s win wasn’t payback for Miami

Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase thought they had payback for the race they lost in Miami when the Safety Car first appeared during yesterday’s race.

They had lost victory to Lando Norris when the Safety Car arrived with perfect timing for the McLaren driver, allowing him to make a pit stop and jump ahead of Verstappen into a lead he never lost.

Yesterday Norris was leading when the Safety Car appeared. He did not pit immediately, but Verstappen did, and claimed the lead from Norris on the following lap when the McLaren pitted.

“There you go – what goes around, comes around,” said Lambiase. “That’s Miami back.”

But while, from the outside, it appeared as though Norris had been unfortunate with the timing of the Safety Car, the driver revealed he could have made it into the pits. After the Safety Car was deployed he asked his race engineer Will Joseph whether he should “box or not?” and was told to “stay out.”

Did McLaren miss a second opportunity to get Norris into the lead later in the race? Their bold decision to stay out two laps longer than their rivals on intermediate tyres as the track dried paid off to an extent, helping Norris gain a place from George Russell. The McLaren emerged from the pits fractionally ahead of Verstappen, but with slick tyres on a still-wet part of the track he fishtailed as the Red Bull motored by into the lead.

Would Norris have been better off staying out just one lap longer instead of two? Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested this after the race. On his in-lap, Norris was still quicker than Verstappen in the first sector but lost time in the second. It’s likely he never quite had enough of a gap over Verstappen to be able to pit and keep the lead at this point, particularly as both his pit stops were quicker than Verstappen’s anyway.

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Ferrari’s striking decision to put Leclerc on hard tyres on lap 28 looked like a poor call at the time, but realistically this was just a gamble on the weather. All weekend showers had developed rapidly near the circuit and vexed strategists by intensifying or weakening as they reached the circuit, or missing it entirely. With Leclerc’s race already ruined by his engine problem, this was merely a ‘Hail Mary’ play by Ferrari rather than a tactical blunder.

Until that point, Haas had made the boldest tactical call of the race by starting their drivers on the full wet weather tyres while the rest of the field lined up on intermediates. However the ultimately gained little benefit from it, despite Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg rising to fourth and seventh respectively at one point.

Both eventually pitted for intermediate tyres, Hulkenberg leaving it as late as lap 12. But even with fresher intermediates than everyone else, both drivers felt they needed to pit again for new intermediates when the rain arrived – despite three other drivers choosing to remain on their original sets of worn intermediates. The upshot was both Haas drivers finished outside the top 10 despite the fun they had passing rivals from Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes in the opening laps.

2024 Canadian Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2024 Canadian Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2024 Canadian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2024 Canadian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank	#	Driver	Car	Lap time	Gap	Avg. speed (kph)	Lap no.
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’14.856		209.73	70
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’14.895	0.039	209.62	70
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’15.558	0.702	207.78	67
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’15.569	0.713	207.75	70
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1’16.247	1.391	205.9	65
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’16.303	1.447	205.75	70
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’16.499	1.643	205.23	68
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1’16.683	1.827	204.73	67
9	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’16.762	1.906	204.52	70
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’17.012	2.156	203.86	70
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1’17.013	2.157	203.86	70
12	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1’17.076	2.220	203.69	68
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	1’17.250	2.394	203.23	65
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1’17.309	2.453	203.08	70
15	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	1’17.325	2.469	203.03	68
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	1’18.819	3.963	199.19	51
17	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’18.957	4.101	198.84	51
18	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’19.359	4.503	197.83	51
19	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’26.012	11.156	182.53	39
20	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1’26.484	11.628	181.53	19

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2024 Canadian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2024 Canadian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank	#	Driver	Team	Complete stop time (s)	Gap to best (s)	Stop no.	Lap no.
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	23.423		1	26
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	23.476	0.053	2	44
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	23.762	0.339	1	25
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	23.86	0.437	2	43
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	23.977	0.554	1	25
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	23.983	0.56	2	47
7	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24.031	0.608	1	25
8	63	George Russell	Mercedes	24.044	0.621	1	25
9	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	24.125	0.702	2	43
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	24.226	0.803	2	43
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	24.233	0.81	1	12
12	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	24.246	0.823	2	45
13	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	24.284	0.861	1	25
14	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	24.306	0.883	1	25
15	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	24.346	0.923	2	44
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	24.408	0.985	2	40
17	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	24.423	1	2	43
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	24.495	1.072	1	44
19	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	24.629	1.206	3	31
20	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	24.668	1.245	2	25
21	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	24.751	1.328	3	44
22	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	24.753	1.33	1	25
23	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	24.804	1.381	2	44
24	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	24.833	1.41	3	41
25	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	24.911	1.488	1	25
26	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	24.929	1.506	1	42
27	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	25.025	1.602	2	44
28	63	George Russell	Mercedes	25.431	2.008	2	45
29	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	25.569	2.146	1	44
30	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	25.598	2.175	1	24
31	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	25.788	2.365	1	25
32	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	26.794	3.371	2	25
33	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	26.845	3.422	4	54
34	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	27.626	4.203	1	25
35	63	George Russell	Mercedes	28.157	4.734	3	54
36	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	28.375	4.952	3	52
37	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	28.817	5.394	3	54
38	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB	30.298	6.875	1	26
39	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	30.472	7.049	1	7
40	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	33.762	10.339	1	25
41	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	47.186	23.763	2	28

2024 Canadian Grand Prix

• “He needs to be more careful”: Unheard radio messages from the Canadian Grand Prix
• Marko contradicts stewards’ reason for Red Bull and Perez penalties
• Only one F1 championship looks like a worthwhile fight in 2024
• Red Bull can fix kerb-riding without losing RB20’s major strengths – Verstappen
• Mercedes suspect Montreal track layout ‘made us look quicker’

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