After two 1-2s in succession, does that mean the McLaren is now the pacesetter on the grid? Not necessarily. Montreal is never the best form guide. Take 1992, for example. In a year when the Williams was virtually untouchable both before and after Canada, Ayrton Senna took pole for McLaren on the Ile Notre Dame and led the early going, which pressurised Nigel Mansell into making a race-ending mistake. This year, the next two races at Valencia and Silverstone will be better gauges of where the teams stand.

One suspects that Red Bull might just have the edge at circuits where aero efficiency becomes important, less so an F-duct. McLaren were always likely to be the team to beat in Canada since it has had the best combination of rapid aero development, the most effective F-duct on the grid, and the strongest engine in F1. Hamilton’s Q3 pole lap was stunning, and although he was jumped by Fernando Alonso at the first tyre stop, the way he opportunistically retook position from the Ferrari would have been very satisfying.

From there strategy played into Lewis’ hands and he thoroughly deserved to win. If there was one question mark hanging over his race it was why no action was taken regarding that arguably dangerous release at the first stop. In many similar situations a penalty has been issued either to driver or team. Perhaps no sanction was applied in this instance because Alonso got ahead anyway, and that’s sensible enough. But ultimately a dangerous release is a dangerous release regardless of outcome, is it not?

If 2010 has shown us anything about Jenson Button, it is to emphasise his remarkable ability to nurse tyres during a race. His driving style always leaves just the right amount of margin. The flip side is that he cannot always max out the tyres when needed, and here the way he struggled in qualifying compared to Hamilton bordered on embarrassing. But it’s the race that counts, and although he never really threatened his team-mate, after his own opportunistic pass on Alonso he’s only three points behind in the title race.

At this point, it is worth discussing the strategy issues which played out on Sunday afternoon. For the first time, the top teams in particular faced a real tyre choice dilemma. Prior to race day, the primes were so much more durable. Do the Q3 runners sacrifice grid places for race performance, or do they go for track position and take the punt on tyre life? Red Bull were the only team that could run primes in qualifying and still set excellent times, and on Saturday night they looked unbeatable barring any safety cars.

Now, if you want to be a conspiracy theorist over Mark Webber’s gearbox change, you can. I won’t. While a five-place grid penalty hurt, a gearbox failure in the race would have hurt more. Early in the race, with the option-runners having pitted, Sebastian Vettel assumed the lead from Webber, with Robert Kubica also on primes in 3rd. What no-one foresaw was that the primes would also start fading, even if not as quickly as the options. Kubica pitted; Red Bull waited a bit longer, and found themselves 4th and 5th.

As we know, Red Bull split their tactics at the first stop. Vettel was put onto options which effectively meant he joined strategies with the front three - and accordingly he stayed 4th to the end notwithstanding more reliability and fuel issues. Webber was put onto the primes to go as long as possible to try to build a gap, but instead his tyres faded whereupon it was a matter of getting within a window to run options to the finish - and so he did not gain anything from his strategy and stayed 5th.

Was this another strategic cock-up by Red Bull in a season which has been plagued by them already? In this case, no. If anything, on Saturday night most people felt that Red Bull held all the aces if there was no safety car early to give the option-runners a free stop. At the time when the McLarens and Alonso first pitted, it still looked to be Red Bull’s race. Whilst others were mired in the pack, the Red Bulls could build a lead from the front and run the options last after the track had rubbered up.

Was Kubica’s early stop despite starting on primes the first sign that something unexpected was happening? Not necessarily. It was a move to cover Adrian Sutil whom the Pole was directly racing against. It was not obvious that the primes were starting to drop off as well. Michael Schumacher, who was 4th behind Kubica, almost leapfrogged the Renault despite pitting three laps later, so there was life in the primes yet. By the time Red Bull could be definite that the primes had faded, it was too late.

Where Red Bull have been deficient this year is in failing to do what was obvious (like switching to slicks in Australia), or doing what was not obvious (like switching to inters early in China). They cannot be blamed for not doing what was not obvious at the time, and only obvious in hindsight. In the end, McLaren and Alonso’s strategy turned out to be the most effective one, but the night before everyone had thought it would be hopelessly wrong if there was no early safety car.

The remaining question is, did Red Bull cost Webber a better position by leaving him out on his second set of primes when they were well past their use-by date? Again, the answer is no. Vettel’s strategy was never going to achieve better than 4th. Webber’s strategy, however, could have paid dividends. If that second set of primes lasted longer than the first as the track became more grippy, he could have built a gap that would allow him to keep the lead after his second stop.

But when that second set started going off, there were some 30 laps left - too far for a set of options. If he was brought in straight away, he would have had to make an extra stop, and would have wound up 5th anyway. By hanging out there, even though he was caught by Hamilton and Alonso, it meant that he would fall to 5th but he could use the options as best as possible for as long as possible, with the possibility that the front four, each running a set of primes for over 40 laps, might fade and be caught.

Never mind that that did not happen. The point is, after the first stops, the Australian was 5th and unless he tried something different, he would stay there. His gamble did not work, but he had had nothing to lose. In the bigger scheme of things, without the gearbox change he would have been in Vettel’s position, i.e. 4th. He only lost one place and two points to Sebastian as a result. Arguably more importantly, he had out-qualified Vettel again and now leads the qualifying duel 5 to 3.

Ferrari could disguise its aero deficiencies in Canada with a decent engine and F-duct, and Alonso had his moments when he was as fast as anyone. But in the final analysis, he was ahead of both McLarens after the first tyre stop. He got outfoxed by both when he came up to slower cars, and he was also held up by traffic during the second stops such that he could not challenge Hamilton. Luca di Montezemolo may unfairly blast the new teams, but the truth is that Fernando continues to be not quite his relentless best.

Once Felipe Massa tangled with Vitantonio Liuzzi in the first few corners, he spent the rest of the race jousting in mid-pack with the Force Indias in the battle of those who had all made unscheduled stops, and tangled with Schumacher towards the end, and was also given a post-race pit-speeding penalty for his troubles. Interestingly, it was Felipe’s first non-scoring result this year, but in some ways this race also demonstrated one of this problems this season.

All in all, Massa was quite feisty in Canada, perhaps more so than we have seen all season. His clever dive down the inside of Sutil whilst the German was distracted by lapping Heikki Kovalainen was terrific. He gave no quarter to his former mentor Schumacher late in the race. But all this aggression was when there was little at stake; where was it in Australia and Malaysia when it mattered? Felipe has been signed on by Ferrari for two more years, but it’s not because he’s showing top-flight form this season.

After becoming the third-best team in Turkey, Mercedes followed it up with its least competitive outing this season, and Valencia will show what is a truer indicator of form. Nico Rosberg got snookered behind the spinning Liuzzi on the first lap, and quietly played catch-up for the rest of the afternoon almost unseen to finish 6th. The attention - little of it good, mind you - was on his team-mate Schumacher instead, who also endured the worst weekend of his comeback thus far, much worse than China even.

For starters, Michael missed Q3 which on pure one-lap form this year has been on the cards more than once. Then there were three incidents in the race which raised eyebrows. There was his unyielding defence against Kubica when he came out from his first stop. That was fairly marginal, but still within the realms of acceptability. Not so were his double-move and chicane-cutting antics on Sebastien Buemi and Massa on the run to the final chicane later in the race.

Added to that was his crazily belligerent defence against the Force Indias on the last lap despite his tyres being completely shot, and it seemed just that he dropped out of the points as a result. It was all over-aggressive even by Schumi’s own line-blurring standards, as if he was trying to make up for the fact that the car was not good enough and - maybe, just maybe - he really is past it. All he succeeded in doing was taking out the 'Reject of the Race' award for behaving like a grumpy old man in peak-hour traffic.

Kubica has now finished in every place from 2nd to 7th this year, but this was a rather messy race for the Renault driver. In relation to his incident with Schumi, it was easy to blame Michael because, well, he’s Michael. But even if Schumacher did not keep hanging around the outside, Robert went too deep, understeered, and could not make the corner either. Then there was the incident with Sutil, when the Force India went past, Kubica ducked into its slipstream, and dove around the German to go into the pits.

It gave Sutil a puncture, it looked dangerous, and the Pole received a reprimand for it. The bigger issue was that it showed a lack of foresight on Robert’s part. If he knew he was pitting, why did he go to the inside down the straight? Once Adrian edged ahead, the Renault had no choice but to pull in behind, which caused the dilemma when Sutil braked. If Kubica had stuck to the outside, it would have obliged Sutil to take the inside line all the way down the straight, and he would have had a clear run into the pits.

After being most impressive in Turkey, normal service resumed for Vitaly Petrov in Canada with another Q2 elimination, but this was his first visit to this track. His race was over as quickly as it began, with two drive-throughs for a jump start and then for tank-slapping into Pedro de la Rosa on the run to the first corner. Although it was yet another set of incidents in what has already been an eventful year, that kind of thing can happen at starts. He just needs to channel his Istanbul form in the coming rounds.

Force India promised much with both cars making it into Q3, only to endure disappointment. Liuzzi had the edge on Sutil and was brilliant in qualifying, starting 5th after Webber’s penalty. That was not altogether surprising, remembering how well he had gone at Monza last year on his comeback, and Montreal is the most similar to Monza on the calendar. It is Tonio’s inconsistency that is most staggering. No driver has shown as much variance in performance from race to race, and that is so frustrating to watch.

Sadly, his hopes were all but over after clashing with Massa at the first corner, but the truth is that the Italian had been too ambitious and it was largely his own fault. Yes he may have been upset that Felipe had beaten him off the line, but the Ferrari already had Button on his outside and was half a car length ahead of the Force India. Tonio should have expected nothing else than for Massa to turn in, leaving him with nowhere to go. He was leaving his nosecone in no-man’s land and inviting trouble.

Sutil was in the mix for good points until his incident with Kubica, the resulting puncture leaving him to fight with his team-mate, Massa and the Toro Rossos. In the end, Buemi finished 8th, which was just reward for a very good start, a consistent and faultless race whilst others failed to keep their cool, and a refusal to get intimidated by Schumacher late in the race. Meanwhile, Jaime Alguersuari showed good pace to catch back up to the Massa-Force India battle after his early clash with Rubens Barrichello.

It was another race to forget for Williams - but what else has there been this season? If it is true that you can make your own luck, then the opposite in F1 must be that you can make yourself prone to the bad luck and vagaries of the midfield by not being good enough. Both cars came close to Q3, but Rubens made a poor start, was also stuck behind Liuzzi and Rosberg, and collided with Alguersuari. But it was Nico Hulkenberg who also caught the eye mainly for the wrong reasons.

It was bizarrely similar to the kind of race had by that other famous former client of Willi Weber. Early on he clumsily lost his front wing assaulting the rear of Sutil, later he weaved down the straight ahead of the same Force India, plus he incurred a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding. The mentality might be similar to Schumi as well - using aggression to make up for the fact that expectations aren’t being met and anonymity is uncomfortable, but it succeeds in impressing no-one.

For Sauber it was a case of one step forward in Turkey, two steps back here. The C29 was uncompetitive despite running an F-duct, and Kamui Kobayashi added his name - and tyre marks - to the ‘Wall of Champions’, whilst de la Rosa suffered yet another engine failure. Sauber are staring down the barrel of having to take regular ten-place grid penalties for using engines beyond the allocated eight for the season from mid-season onwards.

Lotus had reason to celebrate, with Kovalainen finishing in front of Petrov, not only by default due to the Russian’s mishaps, but because the Finn held off the Renault towards the end of the race and got to the line half a second ahead. Kovalainen has been the star for the new team so far this year. Although Jarno Trulli is the renowned one-lap king, they are 4-all in their qualifying battle and Heikki has been the one who has taken the fight up to the midfield runners when opportunities have arisen.

That may be partly attributable to the problems which Trulli has had with his chassis, which will see him getting a new car for Valencia, even though that was originally earmarked for Kovalainen and the Italian was happy for his team-mate to have it so that the team could honour their promise to the Finn. That tells you everything you need to know about why Lotus is the best of the new teams so far. Even if development might be slowing on the T127, with luck a point is not impossible in a race of attrition.

Bruno Senna once again split the Virgins in qualifying, but recorded his sixth retirement of the season, five of which have been caused by mechanical failures. Karun Chandhok, on the other hand, has recorded six classifications and beat Lucas di Grassi’s Virgin home. Given the fragility and underdevelopment of the HRT machine, one wonders if the disparity between Senna and Chandhok’s finishing records is due to mechanical sympathy. If so, then the Indian is doing exactly what his team needs.

Virgin couldn’t repeat their double-finish from Turkey with Timo Glock failing to finish, although once again the German set a decent pace in qualifying, and di Grassi made a promising start and was up to 10th during the early pit stop sequence, marking the first time that a Virgin has run in the points. Nevertheless, more reliability issues meant that the Brazilian slipped back as the race went on and was the last finisher. He remains the only driver from the new teams that has not done anything impressive so far this year.