2025 Canadian Grand Prix Preview: 5 Big Talking Points Heading into the Weekend

Linus O'Howell
Jun 12
3 min read

Lance Stroll Returns Home

After missing the Spanish Grand Prix due to injury, Lance Stroll returns for Aston Martin to compete in his Home Grand Prix! Lance has actually been doing alright this season given the lack of pace his car has produced, and whilst Canada is his Home Race, it’s also one of his best! Besides 2018 (where he crashed on Lap 1 with Brendon Hartley), Stroll has scored points in every single Canadian GP he’s competed in, and that’s pretty impressive given the cars he’s driven in! The big thing for Lance Stroll this weekend is whether he’s rushing his recovery or not, if he’s all healed up, he should go well this weekend, but if he’s still not 100%, is it exactly worth it?! I guess only time will tell, but Lance will be aiming for points in front of his home crowd!

Haas’ 200th Grand Prix

This weekend is a landmark occasion for Haas as they will compete in their 200th Formula 1 Grand Prix! It’s been an interesting ride for the American team, they’re still yet to get a Podium, they’ve spent plenty of years languishing right at the back, and let’s not even talk about 2021! However, there have been some highs, 2018 was a great year as Haas finished 5th in the Constructors’, Nico Hulkenberg was superb for them last season, and their highlight of course being Kevin Magnussen’s Pole Position in 2022 at Sao Paulo! Right now, Haas are 7th in the Standings, just 2 points behind Racing Bulls, but they’ve only scored 1 point in Canada before which is a little bit concerning! However, having said that, Esteban Ocon has scored points in every single Canadian Grand Prix he’s competed in! Congrats to Haas on making it to 200 Races!

Lewis Hamilton Needs a Result

I feel like I say this a lot about Lewis Hamilton, but he really does need a strong result! Lewis is yet to stand on the Podium for Ferrari on a Grand Prix Sunday, but he has taken 2 Sprint Podiums so far (including that iconic win in China)! Hamilton isn’t a million miles off his teammate in the Championship, just 23 points, but the problem that Lewis has had recently is Charles Leclerc was miles clear of him in both Monaco and Spain, so he really needs to close the gap! However, Lewis Hamilton is a specialist around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, he’s won here 7 times, and he even scored 2 Podiums with Mercedes in this era of cars (which says a lot)! So, if anyone can pull something out of the bag this weekend, it may well be the 7-time World Champion!

100 Races Down for Alpine

Whilst the Enstone-based team has technically been going for an awfully long time, this weekend marks the 100th Race under the Alpine name! It’s been a whirlwind of a time for the French team, Esteban Ocon won for them in 2021, Fernando Alonso returned to the Podium in Qatar (that same year), Esteban and Pierre Gasly scored terrific P3’s in Monaco and Zandvoort respectively (in 2023), and of course the iconic double Podium last year in Sao Paulo! However, they’re the highs for Alpine, but there’s been so many lows, whether that be far too many team principals being replaced, the way both Alonso and Oscar Piastri left the team in 2022, the fact that they’re scrapping the Renault engines from next season onwards, like this is all terrible! Also, Alpine are currently last in the Constructors’ Standings, last! That is not good enough at all, and they need to sort themselves out!

What Will Max Verstappen Do?

Max Verstappen was definitely the talk of the town after his actions in Spain that left him on both 11 penalty points and 49 points off the Championship lead! That is a massive gap, especially when you consider that the McLaren is far quicker than the Red Bull, and it’s going to be really tough for Max to pull it back! There’s then the penalty points part of this, 1 more incident for Verstappen this weekend could see him banned for the Austrian Grand Prix, and that would be a commercial failure for both Red Bull and the Red Bull Ring itself! I mean, Max has his own grandstand for crying out loud! Anyway, whilst some people might think Max Verstappen will take it a little easier this weekend, I’d be shocked!