A little water and a lot of excitement - Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix

Coming off the always boring Monaco GP, nothing could have been more exciting than a wet Canadian Grand Prix. Heck, even if it had been dry conditions it would have made for a more exciting race.

Photo courtesy of Reuters

It was an engaging weekend from Free Practice 1 all the way thru the race itself. Everyone was bringing surprises, and seemingly upgrades, and most of the upgrades seemed to be working. That is unless you are Ferrari. But Mercedes topping the charts during practice? George Russell on pole for the race?? Are they back? Signs point to yes with a caveat of maybe. The car finally looked good, and consistently good. Hamilton and Russell both spoke highly on Friday and Saturday of how much better the car was performing. It was just unfortunate for Hamilton that qualifying didn't work out as well as practice, and in his words he had a terrible drive for the race. P4 in those conditions, and starting from P7 is definitely a good result, but yes he did have some miscues here and there that were more due to conditions than from driving choices/mistakes. Speaking of which, his Merc partner sure made it a bit of a mess after dropping the lead and losing P2 to Norris. Toto coming on the radio to tell him to 'focus' is yet again a reminder that though George is a solid driver, and can bring home podiums, his focus and decision making needs some refinement. If he wants to get to the top step of the podium, he needs to sharpen both. But it definitely seems Mercedes is finally seeing results from their upgrades, and have tightened the gap to the front.

Speaking of the front, even though it was yet another Max win, McLaren are absolutely in the fight. If not for a wrong decision to stay out during the safety car when everyone else was diving in for slicks, it very much could have been Lando's race. He and Piastri are driving the wheels off those cars, and the cars are complying. The days of Max running off into the distance are diminishing, and the blur of papaya orange is leading the way. I'd love to see Lando take another race win this season.

Speaking of blurs, the Aston Martin team seemed to actually get things right finally. P6 for Alonso, P7 for Stroll, and their vision is coming back into focus. Alonso loves the wet races, so was no surprise he did well. Are Aston Martin thru their malaise of the past races and chaos? I'm not sure they are, but for one weekend at least, they got things figured out. Barcelona could be another strong drive for Alonso if the car is running right.

Other surprises? Haas going for broke with a wet tire to start and absolutely driving around the field till the conditions changed and it was back to the usual, although a P11 and P12 result is great. The best surprise? Ricciardo nailing P5 in qualifying and hanging on for P8 at the finish. Welcome back to the points Danny! The worst surprise? Ferrari. What in the world happened to big red??? A double DNF? How does a team go from solid results in Emilia Romagna, running great in Monaco, to a basket case in Montreal? Engine issues? Where did those come from? I mean yes, it does happen. And the slick track took Sainz out (as well as Albon), but boy going from firing on all cylinders to firing on none is tough. I am sure though they will get it figured out and ready to rock in Barcelona.

They got two weeks to get it back, as does everyone else who struggled this weekend. Ah the sunny skies of Barcelona await!