Valtteri finished the Canadian Grand Prix in P2 - his fourth podium finish at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and fourth second place of the 2018 season. Lewis came home in P5 - his 32nd consecutive finish in the points. Today's result marks the 20th podium finish in Canada for Mercedes-Benz power.
Sebastian Vettel (121 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by one point from Lewis (120 points) with Valtteri in P3 (86 points). Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (206 points) lead the Constructors' Championship by 17 points from Ferrari (189 points).
Toto Wolff: This has been a tricky weekend for us, with Ferrari showing they had the quickest car in qualifying and in the race. We came to Montreal expecting to perform strongly and today's result is a further lesson to us that the historic patterns of performance between the teams are not holding true this year. It is very hard to see a trend from circuit to circuit, and the race results are being decided by tight margins - which team makes the fewest mistakes, develops its chassis and power unit most effectively, finds the right balance between performance and reliability, and puts together their race weekend cleanly from Friday onwards. Today, the fastest laps table showed three teams within 0.15s and this is the new reality of 2018. Looking at today's race, Valtteri got a good start then defended extremely well from Verstappen in the first two corners. We never had the pace to challenge Sebastian - but that move was the basis for his P2 finish. After this, he raced hard, hardly put a foot wrong but we didn't have the pace for any more today. On Lewis' side, we had an issue with a chassis component that compromised his cooling from the opening lap. That meant the engine was running hot and we had to manage temperatures, costing performance, in the opening stint. We were able to open up the bodywork at the pit-stop to improve the situation, but also lost a place to Ricciardo that we were unable to get back during the next 50 laps. It has been a tough weekend for us - tougher than we expected - and this result is a wake-up call for everybody in the team. We now need to reflect in the right way, understand where we can find more performance and respond in Paul Ricard in two weeks' time.
Andrew Shovlin: We came here to win so to leave with a second and fifth falls a long way short of what we had thought we were capable of. We'd not seen what Sebastian could do on the UltraSoft or SuperSoft tyres during Friday running so his pace was an unknown, but almost straight away it was clear he had a little bit on Valtteri and was able to keep us at arm's length during the first stint. Not being able to put him under any pressure meant we couldn't create any opportunity for Valtteri so second was all we could play for today. Valtteri got a bit marginal on fuel towards the end of the race, having pushed hard to keep up in stint one but he managed it well and was able to defend the threat from Max who was putting in some quick laps towards the finish. Lewis had a tricky afternoon, from the word go we could see that we had a chassis side issue with the cooling to the power-unit that was costing us performance. We couldn't resolve this during the race but eventually found some means to contain the situation and more importantly, we were able to contain the damage and thereby manage the risk to the PU so we could complete the race. This weekend has not been ideal for either championship and we are only a third of the way into the season with a very long way still to go. We clearly need to be getting performance on the car and we will be working hard to ensure that we can perform more strongly in Paul Ricard.
Maurizio Arrivabene: "Without a doubt, today's win is down to a very good car and a great drive from Seb. The team, both at the track and back in Maranello, has worked hard and methodically, preparing the car, which right from Saturday's qualifying proved to be very quick. The tyres responded very well to the strategies we devised. It's a shame that Kimi's mistake in qualifying affected his whole race. There is still a long way to go in the championship and we have to continue giving it our all. I take this opportunity to thank our fans and customers who never fail to show us their support and our sponsors and technical partners, especially Shell, for their support in our development programme."
Christian Horner: "Third and fourth represents a great team result today. Max drove a very strong race finishing within a tenth of a second from Valtteri. Starting on the hypersoft he nearly managed to get ahead of him off the line but unfortunately didn't quite make it. Thereafter his pace and management of the race was very, very strong, so we are really happy with what he has achieved today and all week in Montreal. Daniel was the only car in the top six who made any progress, passing Kimi on the first lap and managing to pull off the overcut on Lewis, after a great stop from the guys in the pit crew. To achieve P3 and P4 at this type of circuit, including the fastest lap of the race once again (one of five fastest laps of the 2018 season), is a strong performance delivering valuable points to the team."
Sahara Force India scored two points in today's Canadian Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon racing to ninth place ahead of Sergio Perez in P14.
Otmar Szafnauer: "To come away with just two points is a bit disappointing considering the speed we've shown across the weekend. Esteban drove well and we just unfortunately had a slow pit stop with a delay fitting the rear jack, which ultimately ended our chance of beating the Renaults. Sergio was racing very well until Sainz hit him, forcing him off the road, and dropped him outside the points. He had made the overtake so it was extremely disappointing to lose four or five places as a result. It effectively ended his afternoon. So a mixed result today, but we take encouragement from the speed we have shown in both qualifying and the race, and it's good to keep picking up important points."
Sergey Sirotkin finished 17th in the Canadian Grand Prix, meanwhile Lance Stroll retired following a collision with Brendon Hartley. Lance started the race in 16th on the ultrasoft Pirelli tyre. Sergey started on the supersoft Pirelli tyre in 17th position. Both cars made clean starts, with Sergey gaining several positions by turn two. On the first lap, the safety car was deployed after Lance made contact with the Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley, bringing an end to both their races. At the safety car restart, Sergey was unfortunate to lose position, and crossed the chequered flag in 17th. On lap 26, Sergey pitted for a set of ultrasoft tyres.
Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: This was a very disappointing result, especially for Lance's fans and there were many of them here today for his home race in Canada. As for the race itself, we chose to split the strategy across the two cars, with Lance starting on the ultrasoft and Sergey on the supersoft. Both cars made good starts off the line, initially gaining places. Unfortunately, Lance had an accident in turn five involving Hartley, which brought his race to a very early conclusion. On Sergey's side, due to the harder tyre slow warm up, he lost the positions he had gained at the start after the safety car. He then settled down to protecting a position ahead of Ericsson and Vandoorne. We chose a relatively early stop for the ultrasoft to go to the end, thinking that this would gain an advantage, but unfortunately, we didn't find any pace in these softer tyres, which appeared slower than the supersofts. We know we are not where we need to be and we have a lot of work to do. We are working very hard behind the scenes and intend to come back stronger as soon as we can.
Renault Sport Formula One Team equalled its best-ever points finish with Nico Hülkenberg taking seventh, leading home team-mate Carlos Sainz in eighth in today's Formula 1 Heineken Grand Prix du Canada.
The ten points scored at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve equals the team's score in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month. This further bolsters the team's position of fourth in the Constructors' Championship as it is now on 56 points, just one point shy of its entire season points tally in 2017.
Nico started from P7 on scrubbed Pirelli Hypersoft tyres, pitting on lap 13 for a new set of Supersoft tyres. Carlos started the race from P9 on scrubbed Hypersoft tyres, stopping on lap 14 for a new set of Supersoft tyres.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "Today was a highly positive result with Nico and Carlos achieving the best finishes possible with the current pace of the Renault R.S.18 relative to those ahead of us. We enjoyed good judgement from the pit wall which enabled a strategy to recover from a not so perfect start. The ten points achieved today are very healthy for the Constructors' Championship. The entire weekend illustrated the beneficial teamwork between Viry and Enstone. We delivered upgrades to the Power Unit and chassis and these worked extremely well. We did have difficult moments on Friday and Saturday but the team has done an amazing job of recovering from that, including changing a turbo one hour before qualifying with all hands on deck in a magnificent display of teamwork. We now aim to build on this result by looking at what can be done to reduce the performance deficit to the top three teams."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "This was not our race weekend... our problems started in qualifying with a change of power unit on Pierre's car, and as a result he had to start from the back of the grid. Pierre drove a good race today, but unfortunately he was not in the position to score points and finished 11th in the end. After having a good start to the weekend, it's a shame Brendon retired on the first lap of the race after he was pushed into the wall by Stroll. I think we can get more out of our package than we were able to show today, and I'm confident that we can have a better performance in the upcoming race weekend in France."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "A weekend of positives and negatives: on the positive side, the PU updates we brought here delivered a noticeable increase in performance, which is a good sign for the next stage of the season. On the negative side, we had a reliability issue on Pierre's PU on Saturday and Brendon's race was very short. However, Pierre had a strong race from the back of the grid and now we will focus on ensuring both drivers can perform well, starting with Pierre's home race in two weeks' time in France."
Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished 12th and 13th, respectively, in the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
While the result did not garner any points, it was impressive nonetheless for Grosjean, who started last in the 20-car field and climbed to as high as seventh in the 68-lap race around the 4.361-kilometer (2.710-mile), 14-turn track.
In fact, Grosjean ran the first 48 laps on a set of Pirelli P Zero Purple ultrasoft tires before finally pitting for a new set of Red supersofts. Grosjean stayed out longer than any other driver in the hopes of a full-course caution that would bring out either an actual safety car or the virtual safety car. It never came to be, and after wringing all that was available from his ultrasofts, Grosjean made his necessary pit stop. This dropped Grosjean to 12th, where he returned to the track in front of his teammate, Magnussen.
Magnussen started 11th, but lost a position on the start when Charles Leclerc successfully maneuvered his Sauber past Magnussen's Haas VF-18. Magnussen held steady in 12th, particularly on lap five when Sergio Perez worked to collect his sideways Force India during a dicey moment in turn one. Magnussen later came under threat from the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly, whose Pink hypersoft tires - the grippiest and fastest tire in Pirelli's lineup - proved to be quicker than Magnussen's ultrasofts. Gasly eventually got by Magnussen on lap nine, dropping him to 13th.
Soon, scheduled pit stops began, allowing Magnussen to climb to eighth before he made his own pit stop for supersofts on lap 22. This dropped Magnussen to 15th.
When Fernando Alonso was forced to retire his McLaren after 40 laps, Magnussen picked up 14th. And when Perez made his second and final pit stop on lap 44, Magnussen rose to 13th and later in the race held off Perez who ultimately finished 14th.
It was a gritty performance by both Haas F1 Team pilots in the seventh round of the 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship.
Seven rounds into the 21-race Formula One schedule, Haas F1 Team is tied with Toro Rosso for seventh in the constructors' standings with 19 points apiece, nine points behind sixth-place Force India with a seven-point advantage over Sauber, their nearest pursuer.
The 2018 FIA Formula One World Championship resumes with the French Grand Prix June 24 at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
Guenther Steiner: "It was a disappointing end to a disappointing weekend. Lady Luck didn't quite go our way during the race. The only thing we can do is look forward to the next race. I'm hoping we'll get a break at some stage and show what we can do."
A difficult day in Montreal for McLaren with both Fernando and Stoffel enduring tough races.
Both drivers agreed that overtaking opportunities were few and far between this afternoon, and neither could make great headway through the field without the help of a good strategy call. Fernando made up three positions after his first stop and benefitted from opportunities in the Safety Car window, but a points finish wasn't meant to be - he was forced to retire on lap 41 due to a broken charge air cooler pipe which led him to lose boost pressure.
Stoffel had a right-front puncture after running over debris from the first-lap incident, and endured a slow pit-stop that put him to the back of the field - a situation which gave him little opportunity to move forward for much of the race. In addition, he spent the final laps of the race nursing an intermittent electrical management issue which meant he was unable to push the car to its limits. He finished the race in 16th place.
Eric Boullier: "Today has been a day to forget and move on for McLaren. While both drivers did extremely well to avoid the chaos on lap one, Stoffel reported a puncture after driving over the resultant debris, and his subsequent stop lost him a lot of time under the Safety Car. From there, he was in last position, and, despite driving well to manage his strategy and pace to his nearest competitors, the unforgiving nature of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve meant he was unable to make significant gains on the pack ahead. To compound his struggles, he spent the final stint of the race nursing an intermittent energy management issue, which we are currently investigating. All things considered, he drove a hard-fought race to bring the car home in 16th.
"Fernando was left in a much better position than Stoffel after the first-lap chaos, and benefitted from the early Safety Car period to jump three places forward into 11th on a one-stop strategy. While we thought a points-paying result was becoming a distinct possibility, he suffered cruel luck once again and was forced to retire the car after losing boost pressure thanks to a broken charge air cooler pipe. Although very frustrating, it's an unusual problem, and one that we don't expect to affect us going forward.
"From here, the important thing is to pick ourselves up and turn our attention to our return to Europe and three back-to-back races in as many weeks. With a renewed focus, hard work and better luck, we hope an upturn in fortunes will come our way."
The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team concluded a positive weekend at the 2018 Canadian Grand Prix with one car, driven by Charles Leclerc, finishing the race in the top-ten and the other in the top 15 with Marcus Ericsson. Both drivers gave a strong performance, and did a good job of managing their tyres on the demanding Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. After qualifying in P13 (Q2) on Saturday, Charles Leclerc drove consistently throughout the race, and moved forward, ultimately finishing in P10 and scoring a further point for the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team. Marcus Ericsson also did a good job, and advanced during the race, finishing in P15, despite having to slow down in the first part of the race because of traffic. The Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team currently holds 9th place in the Constructors' Championship, with Charles Leclerc in P14, and Marcus Ericsson in P17 in the Drivers' Championship. The team looks forward to the upcoming races with a boost in motivation and confidence after a successful weekend in Montreal.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "Overall it was a good weekend for us. We had one car in Q2 (Charles Leclerc) again - it was the fourth time in a row for us. The race today was also good. Charles managed to stay ahead of his competitors and fight his way forward, scoring a point for the team again. Marcus did a good job as well, but unfortunately got stuck behind another car after his pit stop. The team did a good job with a very fast pit stop again. Everything is coming together and looking positive, and good steps are being made as a team. We have to stay focused and continue working in this direction for the upcoming races."
There was a mix of tyre strategies in play at Montreal, with three different teams on the podium and two different philosophies on strategy.
Ferrari's race winner Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes runner-up Valtteri Bottas both started on the ultrasoft and then switched to the supersoft at around the same time.
The two Red Bull drivers in third and fourth went the opposite route, carrying out a shorter first stint on the hypersoft and then switching to the supersoft for the run to the flag.Throughout the frontrunners' battles with their direct rivals, the timing of the pit stops was also an important consideration, with many drivers attempting an ‘undercut' in a close strategic duel. Haas driver Romain Grosjean, who dropped to the back of the grid after a problem in qualifying, completed an extremely long first stint on the ultrasoft before finishing just outside the points on the supersoft.
Mario Isola: "The strategy was really dictated by qualifying yesterday, with the early safety car period here also ensuring that a one-stopper became the way to go, on top of the low wear and degradation seen on this track generally. All three nominated compounds were used extensively during the race, with different thinking on strategy all the way down the grid. A number of drivers, notably Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Haas driver Romain Grosjean were able to use strategy to boost their grid positions. The championship has now taken another twist, which makes it even more interesting as we head next to a completely new venue at Paul Ricard in France."
