Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix Prediction: Can anyone stop McLaren's duo?

Formula 1 teams and drivers have travelled to North America for the second time this season. The tenth race of the 2025 World Championship is on the agenda, the Canadian Grand Prix. McLaren's situation looks very comfortable after the first nine races of this season. The Woking team arrives in Montreal with a huge advantage of almost 200 points over the second-placed team in the constructors' standings. In the last four races, McLaren has had both drivers on the podium, and it is increasingly certain that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will fight for the championship title. With the victory in Spain, Oscar increased his advantage to ten points over his teammate. The ratio of wins is 5-2, and in the best starting positions, 4-2 for the Australian. There were certain theories that the balance of power between the teams could change since the race in Barcelona, but since this did not happen, from today's perspective, it looks like McLaren is in line for the double crown, although there is still a long way to go.

Canadian GP

The Canadian Grand Prix began at Mosport Park in 1961, but it was not until 1967 that it first found its place on the Formula 1 World Championship calendar. Jack Brabham was the winner. In the following years, the race was held at two locations – Mosport Park and Mont-Tremblant – until it first came to its current location in 1978. At that time, the Montreal track was officially called Circuit Île Notre-Dame and was renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 1982. Since 1982, the Canadian Grand Prix has had a permanent home in Montreal, and has only been cancelled on four occasions – in 1987, 2009, and 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After Barcelona, we have another famous Formula 1 location on the calendar, where the record number of victories is shared by Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. The German won his first Canadian victory in 1994 with Benetton, and then won six more times in a Ferrari car. Hamilton distributed the victories a little more equally, so he has three with McLaren and four with Mercedes. Interestingly, of the active Formula 1 drivers, only Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso still know how to win in Montreal. The Dutchman has won three consecutive races in the last three years in a Red Bull car, while the Spaniard achieved his only victory in Canada way back in 2006 with Renault.

Hadjar gets a penalty, Sainz furious: He ruined my weekend

Isack Hadjar interfered with Carlos Sainz on his qualifying lap during Q1 at the Canadian Grand Prix and was penalized with a three-place grid penalty. The Racing Bulls driver had previously completed his fastest lap in the first qualifying round, a lap that would have guaranteed him passage to the next stage. Carlos Sainz was racing in his Williams in an attempt to do the same, but on the approach to Turn 6, he came across the Frenchman who had failed to move out of the race track in time. It was a textbook example of interference in qualifying, and it cost Sainz dearly. The Spaniard remained in a poor 17th place and failed to progress to Q2. The stewards analyzed the situation after qualifying and decided to penalize Hadjar by dropping him three places in the final qualifying standings.

Russell claimed pole position for the Canadian GP, and Norris starts seventh

For the first time this season, the pole position was not won by a McLaren driver or Max Verstappen. At the Canadian Grand Prix, George Russell in a Mercedes took the best starting position with, as he says, probably the most exciting lap of his life. Four times Piastri, three times Verstappen, and twice Norris – that was the distribution of the best starting positions after the first nine Grand Prix races in 2025. With an excellent performance in Montreal, George Russell also joined the list of pole position winners. In the final round of qualifying, the Briton drove a brilliant lap in his Mercedes and set a time of 1:10.899. He was 16 hundredths of a second faster than Verstappen.

Expert Betting Tips

Given the results achieved in the current season, it is surprising that neither of the first two practices in Canada nor the qualifications had a McLaren driver in first place. McLaren arrived in Montreal with significant upgrades to their cars, so the first two free practices were spent by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri trying to collect as much data as possible and figure out whether these upgrades were a step in the right direction. Of course, in parallel, they were looking for the ideal set-up for the very challenging Gilles Villeneuve circuit. It was clear during practice that many drivers struggled with the stability of their cars, as well as frequent skidding on a track that does not offer much grip. Lando Norris was faster than his teammate, but not the fastest in practice, while in the qualifications, Piastri dominated. Norris will have a difficult challenge ahead of him, but we believe that he can get to the top three in Canada.

OUR PREDICTION: Lando Norris in top 3