THE BIG PICTURE: The season has certainly gotten a lot more interesting than we thought it would. Let's see how it plays out over the summer.

EVENT: Rain. Hail. Armageddon. But the fans still show up in record numbers and love every minute of it.

TRACK: The repaving did its trick, except for the bump in turn one which still exists, and it was a proper repaving, unlike China.

QUALIFYING: It's about timing, and not just the time you set, but when. Russell set the identical fastest time first, so he got the pole over Verstappen, McLaren got the second row, and after Ricciardo is spurned by the parent team he outqualifies Tsunoda. Meanwhile, Perez (they resigned him, why?) fails in Q1, and the Ferraris (weren't they the favorites?) fail in Q2.

RACE: The ever changing conditions created an unpredictable race. And more importantly, enabled the driver to be a much greater factor than usual.

START: The field ever so delicately, ever so gently, tiptoed off the grid and through the first few corners, as the front runners were content to keep their spots, while the Haas cars, starting on full wets, began to eat up the competition like Pacman.

VERSTAPPEN: This one he had to earn with strategy, luck, and driving, because Max did not have the fastest car.

PEREZ: It turns out, he did not sign a two-year contract, but rather a one-plus-one, with lots of options on the second year. So, Red Bull did hedge their bets.

TSUNODA: Bit of a surprise Yuki is staying at RB for another year. Nowhere else to go? Decided to wait out the driver market for another year? Or, was he told about the true nature of Perez's contract and informed he still had a chance? Or, is this simply Honda's influence, again?

RICCIARDO: This most likely means the end of Daniel's F1 career. After all, is Red Bull really willing to pull an Alpine and lose a young driver of their future by not giving Liam Lawson a seat?

RED BULL: Do they really think they can win a constructor's championship with one hand tied behind their back as the competition gets closer? Do they really care? Is this all about pleasing Max no matter what?

NORRIS: This time the safety car took a win away.

PIASTRI: Oscar has been ever so quietly doing his business in an extremely quick, effective manner. It won't be long before he ends up on the top podium step.

MCLAREN: Eager to see what all their upgrades will do on the traditional European circuits.

RUSSELL: Great pole position. Not so great race. Even worse, Toto Wolff had to interject some sage advice.

HAMILTON: Perhaps a bit too hard on himself.

MERCEDES: Arguably, the fastest car of the weekend, but not the fastest strategy of the weekend.

ALONSO: A little bit of his mojo back.

STROLL: Enjoyed that home crowd backing.

ASTON MARTIN: Their results look better than reality thanks to three top drivers/teams dropping out.

OCON: His post race press conference was very, very interesting. He couldn't say how good of a team player he was enough times...

ALPINE: Peace. For a day. Now, they start looking for a new driver.

HAAS: Well, at least both their cars came back in one piece.

SAUBER: At this rate, no good, or even decent, driver is going to want that other seat. Future Audi project or not.

ALBON: Wrong place. Wrong time. But that double overtake earlier was spectacular.

FERRARI: How quickly fortunes change in Formula 1.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Weather.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 0.000

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: What's more amazing than two drivers putting in identical times for pole position? Three drivers putting in identical times for pole position. That happened at the 1997 European GP at Jerez, the final race of the season. They were, in order of setting the time: Jacques Villeneuve (Williams-Renault), Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Williams-Renault) at 1:21.072. And Damon Hill (Arrows-Yamaha) was just 0.058 seconds behind. That was the race where Schumacher tried to knock Villeneuve out of the race, instead crashing out himself, and eventually penalized by having his second place in the championship stripped. Villeneuve clinched the title that race by finishing third, behind the McLaren-Mercedes duo of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: @SpareSteward:

Something new and quite funny is the grandstand fans booing the F1 Experiences fans when they drive by on the back of the flatbed.

I think it’s an “eat the rich” vibe. #F1 #CanadianGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: There's honesty. Then, there's brutal honesty. And then there's Jacques Villeneuve honesty when he ripped Daniel Ricciardo, "Why's he still in F1? Why? We are hearing the same thing now for the last four or five years. 'We have to make the car better for him.' Sorry, it's been five years of that. No, you are in F1. Maybe you make that effort for Lewis Hamilton whose won multiple championships. You don't make that effort for a driver that can't cut it. If you can't cut it, go home, there's someone else to take your place. That's how it's always been in racing, it's the pinnacle of the sport. There's no reason to keep going and to keep finding excuses."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Charles Leclerc after being advised by the team's PR person in the press bullpen, turns to the reporter, saying, "I will say what I want."

SCHEDULE: Now that we are entering the bulk of the European season with traditional tracks, the ones which Red Bull excel on, there could be a return of some dominant performances once again.

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