Excellent recycling news from David Croft: the Île Notre Dame was built in the St Lawrence seaway using the soil excavated to build Montreal’s metro system. So the track is literally built on a foundation of transit projects past. The driver countdown is on, and we are almost go - unless, perhaps, your name is Lance Stroll, whose Aston Martin is currently in pieces thanks to a suspension problem.
George Russell, asked about Mercedes’s only problem area (the start), offered the diplomatic classic: “We control what we can control.” Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton zooms by on a scooter, setting a good example to any watching kids by wearing a helmet. Wildlife watch: in case you were in doubt, all groundhogs are marmots, but not all marmots are groundhogs. This is crucial context for what follows.
Half an hour to lights out for the sprint race, with the winner getting 8pts, second 7pts, and so on down to eighth getting 1pt. Current championship standings: Kimi Antonelli leads with 100pts, followed by George Russell on 80, Charles Leclerc on 59, and Lando Norris on 51. The full qualifying times show Russell on pole at 1:12.965, just 0.068 seconds ahead of teammate Antonelli at 1:13.033. Norris and Piastri lock out row two for McLaren, Hamilton and Leclerc row three for Ferrari, Verstappen and Hadjar row four for Red Bull.
Bearman, Gasly, Bottas and Albon will start from the pitlane - Bearman had modifications outside parc fermé, Gasly had suspension work, Bottas had setup and suspension changes, and Albon had setup changes unsurprising after his collision with the marmot. It is safe to say the Canadian Grand Prix weekend is not working out the way it was supposed to for plenty of participants. As Robbie Burns almost wrote, the best-laid plans of marmots and men in Montreal often go awry.
First, there have been more red flags than on Hannibal Lecter’s dating profile. Liam Lawson lost power steering and parked up by a chicane, picking up a €30,000 part-suspended fine for Racing Bulls because the FIA ruled they failed to ensure his clutch disengagement system button was working. Then Alex Albon’s Williams had a collision with one of the aforementioned marmots, following in the messy tyre tracks of Lewis Hamilton last year. Finally, Esteban Ocon spun his Haas into a wall and needed a new nose. Neither Lawson nor Albon made it to the start line for sprint qualifying.
Once actual competitive driving got going, Fernando Alonso crashed out - the Spaniard struck a wall after setting his time, ending his participation and making it a messy thé-time on the Île Notre Dame with a long delay. For the organisers, the bigger clouds are, er, big clouds: while all is set fair for today, it will be absolutely tipping it down all tomorrow. The odds on there being more red flags are surely short.
One thing you can all but rely on in 2026: Mercedes will be at the front. And one man for whom Canada is going to plan so far is George Russell, stung by his teammate Antonelli’s run of wins and now 20 points behind in the standings. As Giles Richards wrote: “Should Mercedes have made the same advances that their rivals did in Miami, they will retain the whip hand - and with it the intensity of the title fight between their drivers will surely ratchet up.” Russell noted: “It’s been a turbulent start but the truth is Miami felt like the first tough race of the season. It’s still so early days and I know how to deal with it.”