{"id":693312,"date":"2026-05-25T20:19:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/693312\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T20:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:19:21","slug":"edd-straws-2026-f1-canadian-grand-prix-driver-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/693312\/","title":{"rendered":"Edd Straw’s 2026 F1 Canadian Grand Prix driver rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Even without the full anticipated impact of the rain, the Canadian Grand Prix put Formula 1 drivers through a serious test this year – one that most largely passed.<\/p>\n

Here is our ranking of how the 22-driver crop stacked up in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Want to quiz Edd on his driver rankings? Sign up to The Race Members’ Club<\/a> to do exactly that and we’ll put your points to him in a brand new video debate format later this week’. Just head to this post<\/a><\/p>\n

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Started: 1st Finished: DNF<\/p>\n

While this was a bad weekend for Russell in terms of the race result thanks to a power unit failure that wasn\u2019t of his making, his performance overall was impressive. <\/p>\n

Yes, there were times when Antonelli potentially had a slight underlying edge, but the fact remains that Russell ticked every box he could – sprint pole, sprint victory, pole position and leading the race when he retired. <\/p>\n

Antonelli caused some headaches and there were close moments in battle, but Russell had been getting the better of him – just – while both cars were still on track.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Pushed hard by Antonelli, but stood up to it well.<\/p>\n

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Started: 2nd Finished: 1st<\/p>\n

There were hints that at times Antonelli might have had the underlying pace edge on Russell, but (perhaps as you\u2019d expect from a 19-year-old early in his second season) there were still signs of slightly rough edges. <\/p>\n

That stood out in the sprint race, when Antonelli could well have defeated Russell with better judgement of risk-versus-reward in battle and instead cost himself second place to a rash move amid the frustration of the Turn 1 incident. <\/p>\n

He had the chance to make up for that in the grand prix and was giving Russell a hard time, which may have yielded victory, but he didn\u2019t have the chance to prove it and the way things played out relied on his team-mate\u2019s power unit failure.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Pace outstanding, but didn\u2019t always use it to best effect.<\/p>\n

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Started: 5th Finished: 2nd<\/p>\n

Having dispensed with pre-weekend simulator work and focused on data analysis aimed at improving the set-up for ride stability and braking improvements, Hamilton was delighted with the feel of the car in Canada. <\/p>\n

That made this weekend a rare occasion when he was positive with the performance despite not maximising the potential of the sprint race, in which he was shuffled from fourth to sixth by Piastri and Leclerc, or main qualifying, where a combination of the active aero not engaging at the start of the lap and a mistake meant he aborted his final run. <\/p>\n

However, he saved the best for last with a strong drive to a best-possible second in the grand prix, prevailing in a battle with Verstappen that required him to be at something like his best. The contrast versus Leclerc\u2019s struggles was marked, and it\u2019s only the rough edges on Saturday that cost Hamilton a potential top spot in the rankings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Delivered his best grand prix drive for Ferrari.<\/p>\n

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Started: 3rd Finished: DNF<\/p>\n

Throughout the weekend, Norris had a slight edge on team-mate Piastri in terms of pace and seemed to be fractionally more confident in the car. He probably maximised the results in sprint qualifying, the sprint and main qualifying, although perhaps you could argue there might have been a way to have beaten Russell in Saturday\u2019s race had he delivered perfection. <\/p>\n

Starting on inters put him on the back foot in the race after briefly taking the lead, but he was making progress in recovering when a gearbox problem put him out.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Extracted the potential from the McLaren well.<\/p>\n

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Started: 6th Finished: 3rd<\/p>\n

After a strong Miami weekend, Verstappen was back to struggling with the Red Bull a little in Canada. He was pushed by Hadjar in qualifying, albeit having the edge in both sessions, and raced well, although Verstappen at his best would perhaps have been able to prevail in the tight battle with Hamilton. <\/p>\n

That said, it was still a good weekend\u2019s performance and he overall was stronger than his team-mate, coming away with two good results in a tricky car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Good, but not at his best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 9th Finished: DNS<\/p>\n

This was Lindblad\u2019s most impressive all-round weekend since starring in Australia, albeit without the opportunity to show what he could do in the grand prix thanks to the gearbox problem he suffered on the grid. <\/p>\n

On his first outing at this track, he made SQ3, then converted that into a point in the sprint race despite being the only driver to start on hards, finishing ahead of the closing Colapinto. That was a preview of what likely would have been his battle in the race. <\/p>\n

Although his retirement doesn\u2019t count against him, it did deny him the opportunity to excel and potentially achieve an even higher ranking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Bad luck meant he couldn\u2019t close out a great weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 10th Finished: 6th<\/p>\n

For the second successive event, Colapinto performed strongly. That was particularly impressive given he missed practice after an electronics problem emerged at the start of the session, forcing a control electronics change. <\/p>\n

Despite going into sprint qualifying blind at a track he\u2019d never driven before, he did a good job to qualify 13th for the sprint, which he turned into ninth and closing on Lindblad late on – overtaking Hulkenberg, who put him on the grass, and Sainz along the way. <\/p>\n

His performance in the grand prix was mostly excellent, but his ranking suffers because of the error emerging from the pits under the VSC when he had a moment rejoining the track and slapped the wall on the left side. It was a hard enough hit that he has to be considered fortunate to have escaped without damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Pit-exit error hurts his ranking.<\/p>\n

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Started: 15th Finished: 9th<\/p>\n

While the Williams continues to improve, Sainz overachieved to make it to SQ3. Equally, he could have done better in qualifying proper even if a repeat of a top 10 was unlikely – but didn\u2019t have the tyres in the right window for the start of his final Q2 lap. <\/p>\n

That put him towards the back of the midfield group, but despite the mistake of starting on intermediates that he took responsibility for he recovered well, particularly after that initial stop, to prevail in his battle with Bearman.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Other than slight qualifying underachievement, a strong weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 12th Finished: 7th<\/p>\n

A hydraulics problem restricted Lawson to just two push laps in free practice, with the resulting power unit change keeping him out of sprint qualifying. In those circumstances, his sprint race was impressive, although qualifying could have been better as \u201cI didn\u2019t help myself, made a couple of mistakes in Q2 and then put a lot of pressure on that last lap\u201d. That left him 0.349s slower than Lindblad, who made Q3. <\/p>\n

Lawson produced a strong race drive to seventh, managing to hold off Gasly despite the Alpine having a race-pace advantage – and the brief moment at the end of lap 66 when Gasly nosed ahead approaching the final corner, with both cutting the chicane.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Q2 disappointment the main negative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 20th Finished: DNF<\/p>\n

Perez led the line well for Cadillac, outpacing Bottas and managing to beat Stroll in both qualifying sessions as well as picking off Gasly in sprint qualifying. He starred in the sprint, starting on softs and jumping to 11th and robustly holding onto the position throughout. Too robustly – he earned a penalty that dropped him to 14th for forcing Lawson off the track that he called \u201ctotally unfair\u201d (even though it was a fair cop), but that was perhaps an understandable risk on his part given the racing situation. <\/p>\n

Despite the time lost to starting on intermediates, he had a good race before retiring with a front-right suspension failure that didn\u2019t appear to be the result of any misadventure on his part.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Led the line for Cadillac well.<\/p>\n

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Started: 8th Finished: 4th<\/p>\n

Qualifying proved a major headache for Leclerc on what he described as \u201cthe most complicated weekend\u201d of his Ferrari career. That said, he did make progress – having battled braking troubles in sprint qualifying that he at least felt were resolved by qualifying proper. Even then, he struggled as he was unable to get the tyres in the right window in Q1 and Q2 before at least feeling he had the car under him in Q3. Despite his troubles, he did a decent enough job to be only 0.084s and 0.108s slower than his team-mate in the qualifying sessions. <\/p>\n

The races were better, as he was able to grab fifth off Hamilton late in the sprint, then come through to fourth in the grand prix.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Limited the damage despite struggling with the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 7th Finished: 5th<\/p>\n

Hadjar bounced back after his difficult Miami weekend, lapping just 0.101s off Verstappen in sprint qualifying, then just 0.028s off in qualifying proper – despite what he called, with characteristic self-criticism, a \u201ctour de merde\u201d thanks to overdriving. That reveals much about his hopes of outpacing Verstappen. <\/p>\n

The sprint race was short-lived, as he ran eighth but was held back by engine problems that soon led to his retirement. In the grand prix, he lacked a couple of tenths to Verstappen and picked up a couple of needless penalties, one for mistakenly chopping Leclerc on the straight when \u201cI just got confused where he was heading\u201d. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, he salvaged a decent result aided by the McLarens not being a threat.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Back on form after Miami struggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 18th Finished: DNF<\/p>\n

The sprint element of the weekend was ruined through no fault of Albon\u2019s after hitting a groundhog in FP1 and ending up in the wall, requiring a gearbox and power unit change that kept him out of sprint qualifying. <\/p>\n

This meant his first taste of low-fuel running was in Q1. He lapped almost six tenths slower than Sainz and was eliminated after what he called a \u201cmessy\u201d session. <\/p>\n

His grand prix was short-lived as he was eliminated after being torpedoed by Piastri at the hairpin while running 12th, denying him the chance to contend for a minor points finish.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Groundhog incident put him on the back foot.<\/p>\n

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Started: 16th Finished: 10th<\/p>\n

Bearman ran the upgrade package from the start of free practice as Haas split the specifications across its two cars. While the expected downforce was there, he struggled initially on the brakes and traction as problematic characteristics were introduced. <\/p>\n

That led to him not having the pace to escape SQ1, which was an underachievement despite the problems, although he put the car broadly where it appeared to be on merit at the bottom of Q2 in qualifying proper after gains were made that increased confidence but meant he ran into a problem with front-locking. <\/p>\n

With the Haas the ninth-best car, he relied on circumstances to be able to score a point but drove in a good race (that should’ve been better if not for a 25-second pitstop).<\/p>\n

Verdict: Struggled valiantly with a tricky car.<\/p>\n

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Started: 14th Finished: 8th<\/p>\n

This was one of those weekends when Gasly never really got on top of the car, complaining variously of a lack of grip, braking problems and deployment troubles. <\/p>\n

Both of his qualifying sessions were messy, although partly due to factors outside his control such as hitting a groundhog in Q1 on his final lap and suffering floor damage he carried into Q2. But he was a clear step behind Colapinto and not extracting the potential from the car. <\/p>\n

The sprint race was a write-off after starting from the pits following spec and set-up changes, but he drove a good grand prix to climb to eighth, although the Alpine had the speed to have beaten Lawson.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Salvaged a good result on a tough weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 19th Finished: DNF<\/p>\n

While the Aston Martin-Honda was, as expected, fighting with the Cadillacs at the back, its underlying pace was better than in Miami. Alonso made SQ2 with the assistance of Lawson and Albon not running, but relied on a lap completed before he pushed too hard and nosed into the barrier. <\/p>\n

As others improved, there was no realistic chance of repeating that in qualifying proper, although he at least kept it out of the wall. <\/p>\n

He briefly ran 14th in the sprint but was gradually shuffled back before retiring to save the car. He also failed to finish the main race after pain from the seat became too much for him, but not before briefly surging to 10th at the start.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Quick, but this wasn\u2019t one of his best thanks to Friday crash (and forced retirements).<\/p>\n

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Started: 13th Finished: 13th<\/p>\n

Bortoleto was usually on the wrong side of the battle with Hulkenberg pace-wise, although the qualifying deficits of 0.032s and 0.185s respectively in sprint and main qualifying show it wasn\u2019t by much. The driveability and low-speed balance weaknesses of the Audi meant that while it was competitive in the midfield group, the car was not at the level of the Alpine or Racing Bulls, meaning there was no disgrace in finishing outside the points after the time lost to starting on inters. <\/p>\n

However, he did pick up a penalty for a VSC infringement, and had a couple of brief chicane excursions across the two races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: A very middling weekend.<\/p>\n

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Started: 17th Finished: 14th<\/p>\n

With Haas introducing a significant aerodynamic upgrade package, Ocon ran the old spec for practice and the sprint components of the weekend before switching to the new spec for qualifying proper. He had problems with both, struggling with a car that was too stiff early in the weekend, crashing nose-first after losing it at the exit of Turn 4 on Friday, but recovering to make SQ2. <\/p>\n

He was eliminated in Q1 in main qualifying, lapping four tenths off Bearman in a car he found difficult to drive. <\/p>\n

He climbed to 11th during the sprint, only to suffer a lock-up and go off at Turn 8, which cost him four places – although he got two of those back to penalties for Perez and Hulkenberg. <\/p>\n

He had a poor main race, saying there was \u201cclearly something that failed on my car\u201d, although the team said both cars had similar troubles.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Not at one with the car in either spec.<\/p>\n

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Started: 22nd (pits) Finished: 15th<\/p>\n

Although Stroll quite rightly pointed out that the Aston Martin wasn\u2019t able to do anything more than fight with the Cadillacs in Montreal, he had the air of defeat before he\u2019d even started. Alonso was clearly quicker, although in main qualifying the gap was exaggerated thanks to Stroll having a small off at Turn 3 that prevented any improvement on the final lap. He also complained of grip struggles. <\/p>\n

The sprint race was ruined by a pitlane start after a suspension problem arose on the grid. The grand prix was another pitlane start after a battery and control electronics change and set-up modifications. <\/p>\n

That led to an anonymous main race in which he never ran higher than the 15th place he finished in, always having Bottas covered but running behind Perez when the other Cadillac retired.<\/p>\n

Verdict: A nothing weekend in a nothing car.<\/p>\n

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Started: 21st Finished: 16th<\/p>\n

There was a concerning deficit of around eight and a half tenths to Perez in both qualifying sessions, which although not entirely representative did demonstrate Bottas didn\u2019t have the pace of his team-mate. <\/p>\n

He never looked entirely at one with the car, opting to try a risky set-up direction but ruining his final run in Q1 with a lock-up and off at the first corner that created too big a flatspot for a successful second attempt. <\/p>\n

After the sprint race was rendered a test thanks to set-up changes and a pitlane start, he earned a five-second pitlane speeding penalty in the main race and struggled for pace while battling oversteer problems in a car Perez extracted far more from.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Well off his team-mate\u2019s level.<\/p>\n

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Started: 4th Finished: 11th<\/p>\n

In terms of performance, Piastri was second-best McLaren driver but only by a tiny margin. That appeared to be the result of a slight confidence disadvantage relative to Norris, but – with a decent drive in the sprint to beat Hamilton and decent qualifying performance – he still had the makings of a good weekend.<\/p>\n

Until, that was, he made a misjudgement while attempting to pass Bearman\u2019s Haas into the hairpin, locking up and sailing past him and clattering into Albon. <\/p>\n

That forced him into the pits for a new front wing and condemned him to a frustrating run to a pointless result.<\/p>\n

Verdict: Error means his ranking plummets.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Started: 11th Finished: 12th<\/p>\n

Pace-wise, Hulkenberg put the Audi on the fringes of the top 10 by setting the 11th-fastest time in both qualifying sessions – making it six times out of eight that he\u2019s ended up in that position this year. That\u2019s despite finding the low-speed balance of the Audi a little off on a weekend where the car\u2019s low drag compensated partly for its power limitation. <\/p>\n

A good start by Audi standards was squandered by cutting a chicane on the first lap, which earned him a time penalty that dropped him to 15th in the final sprint results. <\/p>\n

Starting on intermediates compromised his main race, but while he finished ahead of team-mate Bortoleto and had a pace advantage over him throughout the weekend, Hulkenberg also earned a penalty for speeding in the pitlane (by just 0.3km\/h), and spun at Turn 1 after dropping a wheel on the grass\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verdict: Quick, but far too many in-race errors.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Even without the full anticipated impact of the rain, the Canadian Grand Prix put Formula 1 drivers through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-693312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}