Lewis took his 78th career victory today - his fifth of the 2019 season and his seventh at the Canadian Grand Prix. Valtteri managed to fight his way up to P4 and took one additional point for the fastest lap of the race.
Today's result marks the seventh win for Lewis at the Canadian GP, making the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve his most successful track for F1 race victories.
Lewis (162 points) leads the Drivers' Championship by 29 points from Valtteri (133 points). Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport (295 points) lead Ferrari (172 points) by 123 points in the Constructors' Championship.
Marga Torres Diez, Trackside Power Unit Engineer on car #44, accepted the Constructors' trophy on behalf of the team.
Toto Wolff: It was a tricky weekend for us and a tricky way to end the race. The Stewards have looked at the incident with Sebastian and Lewis and I think it needs to be respected. Sometimes decisions go against you, and sometimes they go in your favour. A decision like this is never black and white and everyone will have different opinions on this and of course I respect that. We've had one of the most difficult weekends this year. We've had to overcome some challenges this weekend like a fuel pressure issue on Valtteri's car on Friday and a hydraulic leak on Lewis' car this morning which required rebuilding almost the entire car. We were not even sure that we'd make it to the race or whether the car would finish. And all this is happening behind the scenes, so I can only congratulate the team for their incredible efforts this weekend to be competitive and of course Lewis for what was a fantastic drive which in the end got us the victory. Valtteri had a trickier day in the office, starting P6 and struggling with overheating issues. His race was lost in qualifying yesterday, so coming home fourth and getting the additional point for the fastest lap was damage limitation.
James Allison: It's been a hot, hard and difficult day in the office, not just for our two drivers, who raced strongly in the heat today, but also for the whole team. A hydraulic leak caused us to have to do a lot of work on Lewis' car in the morning and was not at all easy to get the car ready for the race. The mechanics did tremendous work to get everything prepared and ready. For a race weekend that had started pretty strongly, our races were very tough. Valtteri was able to make really decent progress and good pace in free air, but it was a different thing altogether getting past those really quite quick Renaults in front of him. Eventually having done that, he made a good fist of getting into fourth place. Lewis had one of the hardest races with us for some while, having to wring every last drop out of the car to keep up with a very hard charging Sebastian. You could say that the incident which gave rise to the penalty was a result of the pressure that Lewis was putting on him and therefore you can take some satisfaction from the win, but it clearly doesn't feel quite as joyful to win under these circumstances - however well-earned - as it does in a more conventional manner. But it was a really great drive by Lewis today and he got the just rewards for his efforts.
Scuderia Ferrari finished second and third in the 50th Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix, after Sebastian Vettel was given a five second penalty which dropped him behind Lewis Hamilton, even though the German was first across the finish line. Sebastian produced a masterly performance following on from yesterday's pole. He led from start to finish, keeping the reigning world champion behind him. Charles Leclerc took the second podium of his career, following on from his third place finish in Bahrain.
Sebastian maintained his pole advantage at the start over Hamilton, while Charles got alongside the Englishman in Turn 1, but he had to give best to avoid a probable collision. From lap 2 onwards, it was a close fight between the German Ferrari driver and the Englishman's Mercedes and it went all the way to the chequered flag.
Sebastian pitted on lap 26, switching from the medium to the hard tyres, rejoining third. Two laps later, Hamilton came in, rejoining behind Charles and Sebastian who was back in the lead at this point. The team tried to lengthen the stint at this point to try and make the most of any Safety Car situation that might arise, as it often does in Montreal, which would have allowed him to close up the ten second gap, meaning he could again fight for the win. On lap 33, Charles stopped to go from mediums to hards, coming out behind Max Verstappen, who had started on the hard tyres on a different strategy. Leclerc took a lap to warm up his new tyres and then on lap 35, he retook third place.
The key incident of the race came on lap 48, when Sebastian lost the rear of his SF90 at Turn 3, rejoining at turn 4 having gone off on the grass, but keeping the lead. The stewards however decided that Sebastian had rejoined unsafely forcing Hamilton off track and thus came the 5 second penalty to be added to his total race time. Sebastian crossed the finish line ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, but the penalty swapped the order of the first two drivers on the podium.
Mattia Binotto Team Principal: "At the moment, we, as a team, are naturally disappointed, but most of all our thoughts are with Sebastian and the spectators. As for Seb, I don't think he could have done things differently, which is why we have decided to appeal the Stewards' decision.
"We leave Canada knowing that today, as indeed over the whole weekend, we proved we were competitive and that fact has been a confidence booster for the whole team."
Christian Horner: "Another strong race and a good recovery drive for Max today progressing from ninth to fifth. He lost quite a bit of time in the early laps clearing traffic but running long on the hard tyre was a strategy that worked well. He managed a small brake issue in the last few laps but finished the race comfortably in P5. With Pierre we tried to get the undercut on Daniel during the pit stop, we nearly made it, but he unfortunately got stuck behind Stroll which pretty much ended his race, allowing Hulkenberg to sneak ahead. Fifth and eighth were not the results we were looking for but heads down and the focus is on Paul Ricard."
Renault F1 Team secured its first double points finish of the 2019 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season with Daniel Ricciardo sixth and Nico Hulkenberg a close seventh in the Pirelli Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal, on Sunday.
Starting from a superb fourth on the grid at a hot and sunny Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Daniel maintained that place in the early running, lapping strongly before his pit-stop on lap eight. A quick wheel change from the crew allowed Daniel to extend his gap over Pierre Gasly.
Nico too was clean off the line from seventh place - passing Valtteri Bottas on lap one - and ran longer than Daniel on Soft tyres to build up a gap to Gasly, which ultimately led to Nico passing the Red Bull Racing driver after his pit-stop on lap sixteen.
From there, it was about maintaining positions and seeing home an excellent team finish, with Daniel finishing closely ahead of Nico.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: "This weekend is no more than the blueprint we set ourselves as an objective and the demonstration that we are able to achieve it. We need it to continue in the upcoming races and Daniel's sixth position and Nico's seventh, the best possible results at this stage under normal conditions, restart our season. The drivers were faultless all over the weekend. Daniel was exceptional in his qualifying lap yesterday, he gave us all a smile nearly as wide as his!
"The rest of the team executed everything impeccably giving us confidence back while also not forgetting errors made at the beginning of the season. We remain very concentrated and conscious of the work there is left to do. We're moving forward to the French Grand Prix from tonight, as it marks the second stage of our recovery plan after the first one on the engine side, which has benefitted from the visibility and the recognition it deserved on the most challenging circuits of the calendar."
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen brought home finishes of 14th and 17th, respectively, in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
Grosjean, making his milestone 150th career Formula One start, lost four spots from his 14th grid position when he was forced to avoid a pileup that scattered pieces from the car of Toro Rosso driver Alexander Albon's car in front of him. Riding on a set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires during his initial run, Grosjean made steady forward progress and reached 11th place by lap 13. He pitted from 13th for a set of White hard tires on lap 36 and resumed in 15th. He moved up to his finishing position of 14th when Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen pitted for a second time on lap 60.
Magnussen started the race from the pit lane in his Haas VF-19 after a completely new car build following his accident in qualifying Saturday. He did his best to preserve his hard tires during his opening run and climbed as high as 14th on lap 11 before pitting from 16th on lap 41 for the set of medium tires he rode to the finish.
Today's results dropped the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team from sixth to eighth with its 16 points in the constructor's championship, one behind seventh-place Toro Rosso and three ahead of ninth-place Alfa Romeo.
Guenther Steiner: "The weekend didn't end better than yesterday. We got two cars to the end, but the result is quite disappointing."
Andreas Seidl, Team Principal: "After having some good Sundays at recent races, there were several incidents today which meant we weren't able to score the points we hoped would be on the table with the pace we had in our cars.
"Unfortunately we lost Lando's car quite early in the race due to an mechanical issue at the rear of the car, which we still need to investigate in full once the car is back in the garage.
"For Carlos, we had to pit on lap three as one brake corner was overheating. Frustratingly, we found some parts of a tear-off visor inside one of the brake ducts, which we tried to remove as best we could. At the same time we had to put him on the Hard tyres, and try to manage the pace over the remaining distance of the race to make the strategy work by not adding an additional pit-stop. Carlos did a great job managing the tyres for 67 laps but unfortunately ran out of tyres in the last five laps and there was no way for him to hold the two cars behind.
"It's important now for the entire team to leave this weekend behind us as quickly as possible and focus on preparation for the French Grand Prix."
Otmar Szafnauer: "It's fantastic to see Lance score points at his home race. After such a tough Saturday, he delivered a really strong performance today to fight through the field from P17 to ninth. He kept his head down and made the strategy work with some decisive overtakes too. Checo's strategy - with the medium tyre for the first stint - didn't play out as well, but we felt it was worth splitting the strategies between the cars. These two points are important after a tough couple of races and show all the hard work is beginning to pay off in terms of performance and results."
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: "After being very close to getting into Q3 yesterday, we were convinced we could have a good race performance. However, an unscheduled stop for Kimi due to a visor strip - not his own, this time - in his brake duct and Antonio suffering contact in lap one prevented us from competing against the rest of the midfield. We are working hard to understand the performance of the tyres and we'll make the most of the developments we have lined up for the next few races. I am confident we can recover the speed we showed earlier in the season and get back in the fight for points."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Today leaves me with mixed emotions really. On the one hand, we had a good race with Dany scoring a point following a nice little end of race battle with Stroll and Sainz. On the other hand, unfortunately, the opportunity for Alex to be involved in the midfield fight has ended at the start of the race with contact, necessitating a front wing change and no possibility to come back from this. On the team side, the guys performed well in the pit stops, the engineers managed the tyres and race strategy well and we have learnt a few things about our car here in Canada. We now look forward to the next few races, which we expect will suit our package a bit better."
Franz Tost (Team Principal): "From the beginning of this weekend, our performance showed we weren't on the same level as in Monaco. Nevertheless, the engineers and drivers did a very good job to compensate for the deficiencies we had. We started the race from P10 and P13 and both drivers had relatively good starts. Unfortunately, Alex had a collision with Giovinazzi where he lost the front wing, so we had to pit him early to change to a new one and move him onto the base tyre. At this point, the race was more or less over for Alex because he lost too much time after the collision, so we retired him to save mileage on the PU. Daniil had a fantastic race and defended his position very well against Perez at the start, and towards the end of the race, he was able to increase his performance which enabled him to pass others and score a point. I think this was the maximum we were able to achieve here, so we have to analyse all the data and figure out where we were losing here in Canada compared to others, to come back in the upcoming races with a stronger performance and get both cars finishing in the points."
Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director): "We leave Canada having got three cars in the points, but in every case not as high up as we would have liked, after a difficult qualifying on Saturday. Daniil never gave up fighting and claimed his point for tenth right at the very end. As for Alex, he was unlucky to be involved in a first lap collision which meant he had to pit to change the nose and there was nothing much he could do from there. We must work to improve in order to perform better as soon as possible, given that we are now coming to our first back-to-back races in France and Austria."
George Russell finished 16th and Robert Kubica 18th in the Canadian Grand Prix. The Brit started 18th and Robert 19th on the grid, both on the medium Pirelli tyre. George ran a one-stop race, pitting on lap nine for the hard Pirelli tyre. Robert pitted twice during the race, on laps eight and 38 for the hard Pirelli tyres.
Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: The hottest day of the weekend threw up some new challenges and led to many drivers managing their car, be it for brake temperatures, tyre degradation, or engine temperatures. Fortunately for us we had most things under good control and were able to race cars around us. For George, this meant that he was able to race Magnussen and, until his retirement, Albon. For Robert, who struggled more this weekend, we opted to make a second stop and use our full complement of Prime tyres.
We made some small improvements to the car this weekend, and we managed a difficult race well. The team continue to do a very good job with the pitstops and both drivers again completed well-constructed races and brought both cars home with no damage.
Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished first on the track, but Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the race after the German was given a five-second time penalty in Canada. Ferrari and Mercedes occupied the top four places, starting the race on the medium tyres and making a single stop for the hard compound: a strategy that we had predicted as the fastest.
This was one of the hottest Canadian races in recent history, with more than 50 degrees of track temperature and 30 degrees ambient as the race started.
Vettel led from pole and stopped after 26 laps, two before Hamilton, with the pair fighting hard throughout most of the race, separated just by a couple of seconds. Their duel was only decided by an ‘unsafe re-entry' penalty for Vettel from the race stewards.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen ran an alternative strategy after starting from ninth on the grid, with a long initial stint on the hard tyre and a final stint on the medium. The same strategy was adopted by Racing Point's Lance Stroll, who finished ninth.
The majority of drivers stopped only once despite the high temperatures, with a notable exception being Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas, who took the extra championship point for fastest lap, thanks to a short final run on the soft tyre.
Renault claimed a double points finish for the first time this year, with a soft-hard strategy. There were four different strategies in total within the top six.
Mario Isola: "This was a fantastic fight between two champions with nine titles between them throughout the whole race: held in extremely hot conditions, with 52 degrees track temperature at the start. This obviously affected the soft compound most, while the thermal degradation on the medium was lower than expected. In general, the tyres stood up extremely well to the challenge, ensuring that nearly everybody stopped only once. Medium to hard was clearly the best strategy under these circumstances. The weather conditions also meant that drivers completing a long first stint on the hard were able to use this compound to good effect, with both Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll scoring valuable points after making their way up through the field."
