They say that this weekend’s 2026 Canadian F1 Grand Prix will be a pivotal race, yet this seems to be the way with every round. In some ways this is true with so much on the line for individual drivers, teams, the FIA, sponsors and stakeholders.
The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve hosts the fifth race of the season with its superb setting on a semi-permanent track, on an island on the St. Lawrence river not far from the city of Montréal.
“The circuit is characterised by some long, fast straights, heavy braking into low-speed corners and a difficult final chicane, where the challenge is to be able to ride the kerbs and retain enough control to avoid hitting the concrete ‘Wall of Champions’ on the exit,” said Tim Goss, VCARB Chief Technical Officer. “On top of this, wet weather is often thrown into the mix.
“The long straights of the circuit have traditionally led to teams choosing a lower downforce rear wing setting to shed drag and shift the priority towards maximising speed in a straight line. However, with the 2026 regulations, the use of the Straight-Mode active aerodynamic settings will drop the drag level significantly, and as a result we retain the standard rear wing level.
“This to some extent simplifies the engineering task and removes any difficult decisions on wing level, but with the complexities of matching chassis and power unit settings with different circuit characteristics, there is still much to do.”
Rain is forecasted for Saturday and Sunday which will introduce another dimension for drivers and teams.
“We have a slight edge in this area, having run Wet and Inter tyres in a Pirelli tyre test session after the Japanese GP, and we will use this knowledge on wet weather tyre warm-up and balance to our advantage. The baseline car set-up focus for dry weather will be on good braking performance, stability on entry, good low-speed through corner balance, kerb riding and traction.”
Despite the predicted rain for the weekend, the focus will be on the chase for the driver’s title.
Kimi Antonelli has a 20-point lead over Mercedes teammate George Russell in the drivers’ championship with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third 21-points further back. Who would you put your money on to win the title between Antonelli or Russell? They have won all four Grand Prix raced so far this season with three to Kimi and one to George.
George has vast experience and a good head on his shoulders whereas Kimi, only in his second F1 season, is proving quickest having won the last three GPs.
How will George respond to a fourth, should Kimi be successful this weekend.
At the back of the field, Aston Martin Aramco-Honda have a poor finishing record with Fernando Alonso retiring out of the first two and finishing 18th and 15th in the others. Lance Stroll will be keen to finish his home race having not started in the opening Australian round, retiring out of the next two and coming home 17th in the fourth. They can and should do better and thus we can all agree that we want Aston Martin to put some points on the board.
Teams Standings
1/ Mercedes 180
2/ Ferrari 110
3/ McLaren 94
4/ Red Bull Racing 30
5/ Alpine 23
6/ Haas F1 Team 18
7/ Racing Bulls 14
8/ Williams 5
9/ Audi 2
10/ Cadillac F1 team 0
11/ Aston Martin Racing 0
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