2023 F1 Canadian GP: Winners and Losers

The 2023 F1 Canadian GP is now done and dusted and we have Max Verstappen leading the championship by 69 points from Sergio Perez. The race was refreshingly interesting as we did not see the Red Bull cars run riot on the rest of the field.

Both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were able to keep Max Verstappen in check and not run away with a 30-second lead in the race. Having said that, with the 2023 F1 Canadian GP over, who would be sitting satisfied with how those 70 laps went? And who would be a bit disappointed? Let's find out as we take a look at the winners and losers for the 2023 F1 Canadian GP.

2023 F1 Canadian GP

Winner

Max Verstappen

Let's get one thing straight: If Max Verstappen had messed up his qualifying like his teammate did and started the race outside top 10, he was not winning the 2023 F1 Canadian GP. This weekend, Red Bull was not the all-encompassing car that we've seen far too often this season.

At best, Max Verstappen was able to extract a couple of extra tenths over his competition. That's not a race-winning gap unless you're going to be flawless and this weekend was just another case of the Dutch driver not putting a foot wrong all weekend. The championship is as good as in the bag for Verstappen now as his focus has shifted to the records of most wins and most pole positions in a season.

Loser

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez rebuked suggestions from the Red Bull boss that he needs to forget about the world title and just focus on producing results every weekend. Unfortunately, it might be time for him to start doing that because the title battle is as good as over now.

Perez has not reached Q3 in a car that has secured pole position in the last three races and his average starting position is worse than Esteban Ocon in an Alpine. The Mexican is showing what could happen if you don't utilize a fast car properly.

Winner

Alex Albon

We're starting to reach a point where we need to discuss how good Alex Albon is and which team should be looking to poach him from Williams in the coming seasons. This was another race of impeccable tire management and defense from the Thai driver and the six points are well deserved.

Loser

Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll

It's hard to say much about Lance Stroll at this moment other than the fact that Lawrence Stroll might need to face the hard facts. His son, whose career he has funded through and through and who wants to provide him with the best car possible, is just not good enough.

Aston Martin is a team owned by the Strolls but after the 2023 F1 Canadian GP, all we hear are chants of "O Fernando Alonso.." while Lance comes home in P8. Lance is holding Aston Martin down and if the team's success is paramount, the young driver has to go.

Winner

Mercedes and Aston Martin

It might be the result of conditions, but both Aston Martin and Mercedes have every reason to be proud of the result in the 2023 F1 Canadian GP. Both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton finished the race less than 15 seconds behind Max Verstappen and this deserves to be applauded.

Aston Martin's upgrade seemingly worked on this track, while Mercedes too should be happy because Canada was supposed to be a bogey track for the car. There are certainly positive signs when we talk about these teams and, as fans, we hope they can hunt Red Bull down even more.

Loser

Ferrari

It might be an overstatement, but Ferrari had the pace to win the 2023 F1 Canadian GP. At least on the face of it, this does appear to be the case, as the team was able to execute a one-stop strategy perfectly. It was once again a case of making a mess when the team needed to keep a cool head and that hurt the team big time.

The qualifying debacle on Friday is nothing new. But the habitual and predictable nature is worrying, especially since this was one thing that Vassuer was supposed to fix when he joined the team.