Winners and Losers from 2024 F1 Canadian Grand Prix

It was a thrilling, chaotic Canadian Grand Prix that ended with Max Verstappen earning a 60th grand prix victory as four seasons hit Montreal. 

Rain, semi-dry, rain and back-to-dry conditions faced the drivers around the 70 laps of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with Verstappen emerging victorious as Lando Norris and pole-sitter George Russell completed the podium places.

It was an up and down weekend for some - but we start with our race-winner.

Winner - Max Verstappen

To paraphrase what Rudyard Kipling wrote in the opening of his famous poem If: "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs... then you'll be a Canadian Grand Prix winner, my son!"

Verstappen was not quite perfect during the race as he had a minor slip at Turn 2 through the grass which ultimately helped ease Norris through to attack Russell and take the lead. 

Certainly, Verstappen got lucky with the timing of the Logan Sargeant safety car as he was about seven seconds behind Norris, giving the team valuable seconds the McLaren did not have to pit - with Norris getting caught by the safety car. 

This allowed Verstappen to take the lead and he stayed there after the switch to slicks, despite driving around a suspension problem Christian Horner alleviated as not of major concern post-race.

Despite all the troubles Red Bull had during practice and qualifying, the fact stands that Verstappen has won two of the previous three races. For a team and driver supposedly on the back foot, that's not a bad showing...

Loser - Sergio Perez

If this was the way to celebrate being handed a new two-year contract, then what would the weekend have looked like if Perez was leaving Red Bull?

Being knocked out in Q1 was terrible, even in the tough conditions, but in a car that set the same time as the pole-sitter, it was unacceptable. 

In the race, Perez did not make clear progress forward and was languishing outside the points when he summed his weekend up by spinning off at Turn 6 and damaging the rear-wing.

Red Bull tried to get him back to the pits to ensure he did not stop on track and trigger the safety car to impact Verstappen's cruise out front - and in doing so, the team earned a massive fine and Perez a three-place grid drop for Spain as he drove a car in an unsafe manner.

In the end, that just about summed it all up.

Winner - Mercedes

Mercedes' new front-wing appears to have delivered the performance boost it hoped for as it put in its strongest showing of the season across the weekend. 

The team has been optimistic over the past few races that tangible progress is being made, and this was the strongest evidence of it as the W15 looked favourite for pole position heading into qualifying and after Russell stuck it P1, possibly for the race as well. 

The new wing has abandoned the low-drag concept originally used at the start of the year, with the wing now creating more load - and thus bringing performance.

A three-four with fastest lap was worth 28 points - the biggest haul from the team a two-three at the 2023 Spanish GP over a year ago. 

Finally, there are signs the Mercedes beast is awakening.

Loser - Ferrari

From the mighty highs of Monaco to the Montreal misery. 

A double Q2 exit and double DNF was a terrible result for Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz putting it down to a lack of grip and ride comfort as the SF-24 never appeared to be anywhere near the ideal set-up window throughout the weekend. 

Charles Leclerc was battling an engine issue that was costing him up to 1.5s per lap as Ferrari endured a first point-less weekend since last season's Australian Grand Prix.

It is weekend's such as these which must be eradicated if it is to be considered a title-challenger.

Winner - Daniel Ricciardo

After Jacques Villeneuve took a flame-thrower to Ricciardo's career, he answered the 1997 world champion in emphatic fashion.

He took fifth on the grid in qualifying, but whilst he slipped back to eighth, that was perhaps understandable as the faster cars of Lewis Hamilton, and the Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll got past. 

At the start, the two world champions passed Ricciardo, who had earned himself a five-second time penalty for a false start, although replays showed him barely moving before lights out. 

He battled away well in the vicious fight for the final points places and banked eighth place to score four points and almost double his tally for the season. 

Now he has done it, Ricciardo simply must deliver this level of performance to shut Villeneuve up. 

Loser - Alpine

Now, on the face of it, a double points finish given the season Alpine has had, should make it a winner. 

Esteban Ocon's drive from last on the grid to the points was a stunning effort, but all that will be remembered is the team orders spat that broke out at the end of the race.

Ocon was asked to let Pierre Gasly through with a handful of laps to go to attack Daniel Ricciardo, nearly three seconds up the road. 

Ocon was then told he would not be let through to re-assume his P9 by the team, and even if Ocon is leaving, it is an odd decision not to let the Frenchman back through.

The same happened in Suzuka last year, albeit roles were reversed for a team that is finally making on-track progress, but off it, problems remain.