10/06/2017
NEWS STORY
Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified 14th and 18th, respectively, for the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
Grosjean set the 11th-fastest time in Q1 with a lap of 1:13.780 around the 4.361-kilometer (2.710-mile), 14-turn track. Magnussen was 18th quickest with a lap of 1:14.318. Only the top-15 drivers move on to Q2.
Magnussen's Q1 drive was initially thwarted by traffic where a clean lap was unobtainable and, ultimately, by Pascal Wehrlein spinning his Sauber off turn one and into the wall to halt the session with less than 40 seconds remaining.
In Q2, Grosjean earned the 14th fastest time with a lap of 1:13.839. Only the top-10 drivers from Q2 move on to Q3.
Taking the pole for the Canadian Grand Prix was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. His fast lap of 1:11.459 set a new track qualifying record, breaking the 13-year mark of 1:12.275 set by Ralf Schumacher in 2004 with Williams. Hamilton beat Scuderia Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel for the pole by .330 of a second. It was Hamilton's 65th career Formula One pole and it tied him with the legendary Ayrton Senna for the second most poles in Formula One history. Only Michael Schumacher has more poles with 68. This was also Hamilton's fourth pole this season, his third in a row for the Canadian Grand Prix and his sixth at Montreal, tying him with Schumacher for the most poles at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Before Grosjean, Magnussen and the rest of their Formula One counterparts participated in knockout qualifying, they had one final practice (FP3) to dial in their racecars for a quick lap around the track. The Haas F1 Team duo made the most of the hour-long session, running each of the three tire compounds made available by Pirelli. Installation laps were made on the Yellow softs followed by an eight-lap drive on Red supersofts before culminating with a seven-lap qualifying simulation on Purple ultrasofts.
With the ultrasofts being the grippiest compound in Pirelli's lineup, it was no surprise they allowed for the fastest times. Grosjean set the 14th-quickest time with a 1:13.994 on his 17th lap. Magnussen earned his best time on his 16th lap - a 1:14.392 that put him 17th overall. Grosjean tallied 19 laps and Magnussen ran 18.
Quickest in FP3 was Vettel, whose fast lap of 1:12.572 was .292 of a second better than his Scuderia Ferrari teammate and second quickest driver Kimi Räikkönen.
Romain Grosjean: "It's not been easy. We knew we were not in Q3, but I was hoping to get a bit more magic in qualifying. Q1 went pretty well. In Q2, we just didn't get any grip at all on the last set of tires. I did my best, managed to get a decent time, but it was nowhere near good enough to go through with a better position. We're going to work, try to analyze everything. The positive is this is a track where you can normally overtake. It's going to be a long race and it can be tough on the brakes. Hopefully, we can play with that and get some points tomorrow."
Kevin Magnussen: "It was very frustrating. There were a lot of things going on - mainly traffic. It's the second weekend in a row that we don't get laps because of traffic. I didn't get a good feeling for the car as I didn't really get to put a lap down. The important thing is to try and be on the same strategy as the guys around you so that you don't do fast laps when everyone else is doing slow laps. We didn't get to show our full potential today. We need to try to be better."
Guenther Steiner: "Not the qualifying we wanted to have. We struggled a little bit with the tires on both cars. Then Kevin, on his last lap, ended up in a double yellow - that was his day. Romain tried hard, but his last set of tires, we couldn't get them to work. We need to look into that and why. It's so tight. Everything is possible, but nothing is possible. Today, not a lot was possible. I wouldn't say nothing, as tomorrow is a long day. This is one of the tracks where you have more chances to overtake, so we have to take advantage of that and get ready for tomorrow. We have to try to understand the tires and put a good race in place."