F1 | CANADIAN GP, THE POINT BY GIAN CARLO MINARDI “Antonelli is leading Italian motorsport forward

The fourth straight win by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who also took the Canadian Grand Prix, confirming that Italian motorsport is at the top of the world championship ladders. This is also an extremely positive sign for all the work being carried out by ACI Sport and the Federal School.

It was an exciting Grand Prix, just like the whole weekend. Looking back at what we saw on Saturday, with a few more laps Kimi could probably have taken the Sprint Race as well. Both he and George Russell gave us thirty fantastic laps, giving life to a very fair and spectacular duel.

Toto Wolff certainly deserves credit. As the perfect head of the family, he knew how to mend the tear that arose after Saturday’s scuffle. We will surely see other clashes between these young men as the season progresses.

Like the great champion that he is, Antonelli gave his best performance on the very last lap, showing that he still has room for improvement and an extraordinary ability to keep his cool when managing the race.

It was also a positive result for Ferrari that took second place with Lewis Hamilton. On this occasion the British driver managed to clearly outpace his teammate, giving the impression that he has rediscovered his enthusiasm and consistency following the difficulties of last season.

Congratulations also go to Franco Colapinto, who finished in an excellent sixth place with the Alpine F1 Team ahead of his teammate Pierre Gasly, eighth across the finish line. Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Oliver Bearman also performed well, making the most of the opportunities created by the high-profile retirements of Russell and Lando Norris.

It was an excellent race also for Isack Hadjar who was able to match Max Verstappen’s lap times something that Red Bull Racing had not seen for some time.

On the other hand, it was a race to forget for McLaren that paid a heavy price for a major strategic mistake at the start, compounded by various problems during the race. The team was probably aware that it did not have the pace to fight it out at the front and decided to play the card of the intermediate tyres, but without achieving the desired results.

Now the championship comes back to Europe with start times that are decidedly convenient for us fans.

Gian Carlo Minardi