The race in Montreal finished the 1/3 of the season. The fight for leadership in the championship continues between both Mercedes drivers. Although, many people hoped that in this season Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari can show his strength and on equal fight with Lewis Hamilton as in the last year.

The 2019 season Ferrari began not quite confidently, but Sebastian Vettel was on the podium from time to time. 

And here is the race in Canada, the seventh in a row, Ferrari's progress in practice is the same as in Bahrain. Is this the return? Is that an application for the podium?

Saturday's qualification brought a lot of impressions and surprises for Formula 1 fans, and Ferrari fans experienced a special joy, because Sebastian Vettel took the pole position, which was the first for the German driver this season and the second for the team. 

Drivers fought a fierce battle in the third segment of the qualification. Hamilton was faster than anyone, even two-tenths faster than Vettel, but the German driver set a new record and was on the first place. 

Sebastian Vettel, driver of Ferrari, said: 

"I'm full of adrenaline! It's so cool when it works out, you feel the car, you fight for pole. It's a real pleasure!" It is clear that Mercedes will fight, but we will try to get ahead of them."

It is clear that after such a great qualification everyone hoped to see the same exciting race. The battle between Mercedes and Ferrari definitely had to take place, because, according to the pace of the drivers, both World Champions seemed very strong.

Sebastian Vettel started very well, he kept the lead throughout the race and looked just fine. All 70 laps, the German driver was confident in his long-awaited victory. Lewis Hamilton was all the time behind, and Charles Leclerc closed the top three from time to time showing the best time.

But the key point of the race for Vettel occurred a few laps before the finish. He made a mistake, and was out of the track, almost bumping into Hamilton. Lewis managed to slow down and avoid the accident, but later the stewards gave for Sebastian 5 seconds penalty, considering that he returned to the track in an unsafe way.

And thus, the winner of the race was the British pilot, despite the fact that he was not the first to cross the line. And Vettel also received two penalty points. 

Opinions were divided: many drivers, journalists and fans stood up for Vettel, saying that the penalty was not fair, and they gave examples of many similar cases in different years. Many said that Formula 1 rules don't allow drivers to race and fans can't see a really interesting race. 

Australian driver of Renault Daniel Riccardo expressed the opinion that the stewards of the Canadian GP acted inconsistently. Riccardo recalled that three years ago at the Monaco Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton did not receive a penalty, despite similar actions.

"Lewis didn't have much room, but still enough. I had an identical situation with Lewis in 2016 in Monte Carlo. He had to drive on the side of the road, I was right behind him, and he almost pushed me into the wall. In my opinion, this situation was more dangerous than today in relation to him. Then he didn't get any penalty. But it was normal, just the fight was tough," — quoted words of Riccardo Auto Motor und Sport.

Jenson Button, F1 World Champion of 2009, said:

"Two great champions fought on the track. And then the stewards took it away from the audience. After this it is impossible not to feel sadness and disappointment. I'm sorry about what happened.

In my opinion, there was an ordinary racing incident. Vettel made a mistake, but in this situation it is impossible to stop the car. I don't think Sebastian deserved a penalty. But the stewards made a decision based on the rules." Someone thought the judges were right.

Photo Courtesy: formula1.com

Nico Rosberg, F1 World Champion of 2016, said in his blog:

"Is Vettel guilty? I am sure that someone will not like my opinion, but I will say the following: I want Vettel to do his job perfectly, and I wish him victories and an interesting fight with Lewis for the title, because we all want to see it. I wanted Vettel to succeed – that would be great. But it turned out as usual. When Vettel faiths with Hamilton, and he feels the pressure, he is mistaken. In Canada he made a mistake again.

The pressure was getting stronger with each lap – and Sebastian flew off the track, and then returned to the it. He shouted on the radio: "I have dirty tires! I can't control the car! Where could I go? I never saw Lewis!". All right. He knew Lewis was there. The rules are: when the driver flies off the track, he must return there without posing a threat to rivals. And Vettel went diagonally! In this case, he deserved a penalty.

Toto Wolff, CEOof Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport,said:

"It is clear that we would like to win on the track [and not in the stewards’s office]. But, in my opinion, it is very difficult for them to make decisions that would suit everyone. It is not necessary to put pressure on the stewards, as thus we will only complicate their work in the future. They must be supported. Sometimes the decision is in your favor, sometimes against you. We have also been punished in the past."

He added: "I think the penalty was in line with the rules. And the stewards ruled on the law. If you think the rules aren't perfect and we need tougher races, feel free to sign me up as your supporters. Then they will make other decisions. Let's work on the rules in anticipation of their changes to the season of 2021."

It is not difficult to guess how Sebastian Vettel reacted to his defeat. After a lost victory due to a penalty, he refused to park his car under the podium and be part of the traditional interview after the finish. Instead, the German driver stopped at the entrance to the pit lane and hurried to the motorhome of Ferrari. He went to the room of stewards, to express his dissatisfaction. But after all he came to the podium and called the fans not to boo Lewis Hamilton. 

"This has nothing to do with Lewis, – Vettel said. – Of course, I understand that people were unhappy, and I was not happy with this decision. But it has nothing to do with Lewis. It's just not nice to have people booing at you, so I stood up for him. I think we respect each other, and he had nothing to do with it."

As for the race, the driver said:

"First of all, I liked the race and the fans. I believe that today we deserved to win. That is our opinion, but not everyone thinks so. The race was great. I was supported on every lap. In the second turn I had no time to look around, but in the tenth turn I looked at the stands – there were so many fans in red! I am very pleased with this support.

We want our sport to stay popular, don't we? And such decisions... the audience wants to see our fights. And that was the faith. I hope the audience will come again to the race. This is important. We can build these amazing machines and put on a show. It is a pity that there are such strange solutions."

In the weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix it became clear that the situation with the harmonization of the rules of Formula 1 for the season-2021 is far from settlement. It is complicated by the fact that not all teams agree with the postponement of the approval of the regulations. Such a delay was initially expected only in respect of technical issues, but it became known that the participants of the championship are asked to postpone decisions on other issues related to sports and financial rules.

Therefore, the FIA will convene another meeting of the teams to agree on the F1 regulations for 2021.