One one-thousandth of a second. Even a blink of an eye takes 150 times longer than that. And yet it was still not enough to separate Mercedes' George Russell and Red Bull's Max Verstappen in qualifying, who finished with "identical" times. This was only the second time two cars have set identical pole times since F1 adopted millisecond timing precision (after "that" three-way tie at the 1997 European Grand Prix). The two cars were effectively separated by just 6 centimetres, but Russell was awarded pole position by virtue of setting his time first. Replays showed that George likely benefited from a distant "tow" down the Casino Straight, but nonetheless it added momentum to the latest Mercedes mini-revival.

Russell controlled the first phase of the race well, leading the pack off the grid in a remarkably uneventful start as they negotiated the typically wet Monreal park track. The early winners were both Haas who had elected to start both tyres on the extreme wet tyres and such was the state of the track they were able to quite literally drive past those on the intermediates. However the rain itself had stopped falling shortly before the start of the race and a dry line quickly appeared. Kevin Magnussen had worked his way up to fourth before the intermediates became the quicker tyre, and Hulkenberg had moved up from 18th into the points. As the track dried it was the McLarens who then took on the pace, with Norris and Piasri trading fastest laps and Norris passing both Verstappen and Russell on track to take the lead of the race.

The drying track and forecast of more rain started to give drivers and strategists a dilemma - would their starting intermediates hold out until the next spell of rain or was there sufficient lap time to justify swapping to slicks? As often however, it was Logan Sargent to the rescue who spun his car around at the exit of turn nine, bringing out the Safety Car and allowing drivers to come in for fresh intermediates - in the knowledge that the rain was well forecast to have started again by the time racing resumed. All drivers that is, except leader Lando Norris, who fractionally miscalculated the timing of the safety car and was delayed on his in-lap to the pits - an inversion of the luck that helped Norris to his win in Miami. This allowed Verstappen (who had also passed George Russell for second) and Russell to get back past Norris, who had to rejoin in third.

With the brief spell of rain over the second stint of the race followed the first, with teams and drivers looking for the optimal time to "crossover" from intermediate to slick tyres. Again, Norris was the fastest car on track on worn intermediates and elected to stay out two laps longer than those around him - a move to perform the overcut that almost worked except by the time he came out of the pits alongside Verstappen for the lead, the Dutchman's tyres were up to temperature and yielded him the required grip, whilst the Englishman was left slithering around under power and had to settle for second. Further back, Hamilton had made good progress from seventh to third, although it was Russell who won the team head-to-head after robustly fighting past both his teammate and Piastri to claim third place - remarkably Mercedes' first podium of the season.

It was George Russell who was left feeling that this was "one that got away" - a couple of mistakes whilst under pressure cost him positions and the Mercedes was no match for the McLaren in wet conditions. Norris also had a good chance to come away from the race with more, but seemed the more satisfied of the two Brits at the end. Verstappen reminded everyone that Red Bull will always be there to capitalise on driving or strategic mistakes, but it is encouraging for the rest of us that for the third weekend in four, the Red Bull may not have been the out-and-out fastest car around the track. That said, the upcoming triple-header of Spain, Austria and Silverstone will play towards the 'Bulls' strengths around high-speed corners.

The week leading to the Canadian Grand Prix saw a pair of driver announcements that started to bring some clarity to the 2025 grid. In the aftermath of the Monaco race, it was confirmed that Esteban Ocon would end his toxic partnership with Pierre Gasly at Alpine at the end of the season. The two Frenchmen collided around the Principality earning the wrath of team principal Bruno Famin and Ocon a grid penalty from the stewards.

Sergio Perez announced an extension to his Red Bull contract, ending speculation that he would be dropped in favour of Carlos Sainz or Yuki Tsunoda; the latter subsequently confirmed he would remain at RB for a further year. This marks an ongoing change in approach from Red Bull, who several years ago would have likely lost patience with Checo's inconsistency by now, with Tsunoda certainly doing more than many to have earned themselves a call-up to the senior team. Perez must feel himself lucky that at least whilst the team is being successful they seem to have less motivation to keep rolling the driver dice that saw the likes of Kvyat, Gasly and Albon all being sought, and later rejected, as the partner for Verstappen.

However, this weekend offered no opportunity for Perez to celebrate, following his non-event in Monaco with another weekend to forget. There couldn't have been many serviceable parts left from the Mexican's tangle with both Haas' along Avenue d'Ostende last time out, but Perez struggled with car setup all weekend, failing to escape from Q1 for the second consecutive weekend. He continued to strip bits from his rebuilt car in Canada, tripping over the Alpine of Esteban Ocon at the first corner. Perez continued a largely anonymous race stuck in a chain of cars well outside the points before dropping the car into turn 6, largely severing the rear wing from the chassis as he went backwards into the tyres. Perez limped back to the pits under instruction of the team keen to avoid a third safety car, but the stewards were less impressed with the further distribution of Red Bull carbon fibre parts around a race track and issued the Mexican with a grid penalty for the next race in Spain.

At least Red Bull left Canada with some points, which is more than can be said for Ferrari. The team went from a double-podium in Monaco to a double-DNF in Canada. The weekend started badly with neither car progressing from Q2 as they took a risk on deteriorating track conditions that did not pay off. Starting from 11th, Leclerc's race was hampered from the start with the team reporting issues with his ERS, leaving him stuck in traffic throughout the first stint. The team opted for a lengthy turn-it-off-and-on-again approach during the first safety car period, but this was accompanied by a highly-questionable decision to fit hard tyres during the second spell of rain. Although the rain was relatively short-lived as the team had predicted, Leclerc was unable to generate any heat into the hard tyres on a wet track and was lucky to keep everything pointing the right way for a couple of laps and having to pit again for intermediate tyres. By this time he was running last and the Monaco race-winner suffered the indignity of being lapped by the front-runners, before the team called off proceedings and retired the car. Before long, Charles was joined in the Ferrari motorhome by teammate Carlos Sainz, who also lost the rear of the car at turn 6 before collecting the innocent Williams of Alexander Albon as he tried to pass the spinning spaniard.

At least the premature finish would have given Sainz some more time to negotiate his next move. The future for him remains unclear, with the Red Bull door now closed (at the senior team at least) and Mercedes' Toto Wollf appearing to indicate that the team were "moving in the direction" of the youngster Kimi Antonelli. However the young Italian's services may yet still not be required as it is speculated that Verstappen has not yet made up his mind on whether to stay with Red Bull beyond the end of the season or will exit to Mercedes (who are believed to have a strong 2026-spec engine). Such a move would yet again flip the drivers' market around should they need to seek a partner for Perez. As things stand, there are known vacancies for Sainz at Alpine and Haas and likely slots at Williams (who have been openly courting the Spaniard) as well as Sauber ahead of them becoming Audi in 2026. The return of the F1 community to Europe for a prolonged period historically brings further discussions and announcements to driver contracts - the silly season should now be in full swing.

With the early-season flyaways now done, the season "rests" in Europe for a few months. F1 moves next to Circuit de Catalunya for the penultimate time before the Spanish Grand Prix moves to Madrid in 2026. Don't blink about 9 million times, or you'll miss it.