Verstappen and Alonso have advantage over Mercedes in Canada

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso appear to have an advantage over Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. Judging by Pirelli's predictions, the drivers at the front of the grid have the right tyres at their disposal for Sunday's race.

Because of the rain that fell in Montreal on Saturday, most drivers have plenty of dry weather tyres left for Sunday's race. In addition, it looks set to remain dry, so a normal strategy is obvious. Pirelli revealed ahead of the race which tyres the drivers have left and which strategy should be fastest on paper.

Bad luck for Hamilton and Russell?

According to Pirelli, the fastest strategy is to start on medium tyres and then do two stints on hard tyres. If the Italian tyre supplier gets this right, then Verstappen and Alonso have an advantage. They each still have two new hard tyres at their disposal, whereas the Mercedes drivers only have one.

Should the fastest strategy be with two stints on medium, Alonso might be at a disadvantage. The Spaniard has only one fresh set left from the yellow tyre. Verstappen has the fewest soft tyres left, but the C5 is not expected by Pirelli at all in the race. So the fact that Verstappen has only two sets of those left does not seem to be a disaster.

The projected fastest #CanadianGP strategy involves two sets of hards – but some drivers only have one set left for the race #Fit4F1 #F1 pic.twitter.com/KAtsoCrXBo

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) June 18, 2023