Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won two races this weekend as he took the checkered flag twice at the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix. It was a snoozer of a race as Vettel, starting from the pole, drove away from everybody else and was mostly never seen again while the other five drivers with the most realistic chance at the podium, fought for the scraps. Eventually, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas claimed second place and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen surprisingly failed to crash into anything for an entire weekend and finished third.
The race itself was over from the fifth lap onward as the first lap was marred by a tussle that took out Brendon Hartley from Toro Rosso and Canadian Lance Stroll of Williams. After the restart, Vettel blasted away from Bottas and Verstappen while Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Vettel’s Ferrari teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, fought for the position 4-5-6 table scraps. Without much movement in the top six or elsewhere on the grid, ASN awards points to the finishers in order.
With Verstappen managing to get through a weekend without crashing, the Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award was up for grabs this week. The race provided no clear winner so ASN awards it to Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who killed an innocent Canadian marmot in the second practice session. Verstappen, of course, still holds a commanding lead in this category.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award was also up for grabs as the race itself was light in banter, so ASN will go with pre-race comments, resulting in a tie between Verstappen – who expressed that he was tired of the questions about him crashing so often and threatened that “if I get a few more, I might headbutt someone” – while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso merely went the self-promotion route and declared himself to be “one of the F1’s best ever”. Hamilton narrowly leads this category over both Alonso and Verstappen.
The Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Moment Award is a no-brainer – going to the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix officials who told Hamilton’s supermodel pal, Winnie Harlow, to wave the checkered flag one lap too early. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson – “D’oh!”
2018 ASN Formula One Driver Standings – after Canadian Grand Prix
1] Sebastian Vettel – 11 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 10
3] Daniel Ricciardo – six
4] Valtteri Bottas/Sergio Perez/Kimi Raikkonen – three
7] Pierre Gasly/Nico Hulkenberg/Max Verstappen – two
2018 Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award – after Canadian Grand Prix
1] Verstappen – 4-1/3 points
2] Grosjean – two
3] Red Bull/Ricciardo – 1/3 point
2018 Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing! Award – after Canadian Grand Prix
1] Hamilton – two points
2] Fernando Alonso/Verstappen – 1.5 points
4] Bottas/Vettel – one
2018 Bernie Ecclestone Doofus Award – after Canadian Grand Prix
1] Hamilton/McLaren – 1.5 points
3] Canadian Grand Prix officials/Ferrari pit [Raikkonen]/Monaco Grand Prix officials – one
6] Azerbaijan Grand Prix officials/Spanish Grand Prix officials – .5 points