Christian Horner: "In a race like today with those variable conditions, so many things can go wrong but we made the right calls at the right times. McLaren were fast on the inters at the beginning of the race, but getting the crossover onto the slick tyre was really crucial, and once we gave away track position, we had some heat in the tyres and could really push. Max was incredible today. In those conditions you're driving with your senses, but everything must work in unison and the Team lifted itself to the adverse conditions and delivered in every area. There are so many things you can get wrong on a day like today, but happily we got them right. It was however a horrible weekend for Checo, but thankfully Ferrari didn't score with either of their cars and we were able to mitigate the damage. We'll assess the car once we get back to Europe and Checo will put this weekend behind him. We know that he's incredibly resilient and will dust himself off and come back fighting in Barcelona."
George Russell finished third with Lewis Hamilton fourth in the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix. George lined up on pole position with Lewis Hamilton as the inclement weather conditions seen on Friday and Saturday continued into the weekend.
It was therefore an Intermediate start for all and, as the track dried, George dropped to P3 as his Intermediate tyres wore out. The first Safety Car of the afternoon was deployed shortly after and, with more rain expected, both cars pitted for new Intermediates. Good work by the pit crew helped Lewis jump up to P5 and ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
The McLaren of Lando Norris pitted one lap later than others which meant George took the restart in P2. As the track dried, George switched to the Hard compound tyre with Lewis taking the Medium. Norris used the overcut to take P2 back from George before the Safety Car was deployed once again. Both cars boxed once again, this time with George taking the Medium tyre and Lewis the Hard. Both drivers put the fresh rubber to good use and in the closing stages, made their way up to P3 and P4, falling just short of taking P2 from Norris. Lewis also secured the fastest lap point with his best effort on the final tour. George therefore took the 10th podium of his F1 career and the team's first of the season.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: It has been an encouraging weekend. We have taken the right steps recently and brought updates that are working well. Directionally, we seem to be adding performance every Grand Prix. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth continues to work incredibly hard and it's great to see their efforts rewarded with our first podium of the year. I hope that we can continue this positive trajectory. Looking ahead to Barcelona, it's a circuit that really tests a car. We are excited to go there and truly understand where we are performance wise.
Today's race was a challenging one. When you finish P3 and P4, given where we have finished in recent races, then of course it is positive. Both drivers know that we could have achieved more though. We certainly could have taken one or two more positions and then maybe have fought for victory. It is a little bittersweet therefore but ultimately, if you had said to us before the weekend that we would be third and fourth, then we would have taken it.
The Canadian Grand Prix had nothing but disappointment to offer Scuderia Ferrari HP, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz having to retire from the race in Montreal. The team and the Monegasque are still second in their respective championship classifications and now everything about this weekend will be analysed in depth to ensure that this race remains the only flaw in a season that up until now had lived up to expectations.
The Grand Prix started on a wet track and things immediately got complicated for Charles as a problem with the power unit compromised his pace. Carlos also had a difficult start from the wettest side of the grid, which caused him to drop several places. Leclerc was in damage limitation mode until a car reset in the pits fixed the problem, but by then he had already been lapped and there was no point in adding kilometres on the car with no chance of scoring points. The team therefore called him back to the pits to retire on lap 40. Carlos was just outside the points for a long time, running in a train of cars, all with DRS. It seemed as though his race might come alive after the rain abated and all the cars had switched to slicks. On Medium tyres, Carlos was up to tenth place and had just set his best lap overtaking Alexander Albon for ninth place. However, on lap 53, the Spaniard was caught out by a wet kerb which sent him into a spin. Unfortunately, the Williams driver was right behind and was unable to avoid clipping the Ferrari. The collision ended the race for both of them, in Sainz's case because of a broken rear wing and damaged floor.
The team now returns home after what was, by a long way, the worst weekend of the season so far. Time to recharge the batteries and go racing again in a fortnight's time in Carlos's home race, the Spanish Grand Prix at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
Fred Vasseur: This has been a very tough weekend for us. On one side of the garage with Charles we had an issue on the engine which meant we lost around 80 horsepower for about 15 laps. We were hoping for a red flag to be able to do a reset and restart. There was no red flag, so we had to pit which cost us a lap and effectively that was the end of Charles' race as he was lapped.
With Carlos, he did not get a very good start and so he was in the pack and at one point there was contact in which he damaged the rear wing and also the floor, so it was impossible for him to continue.
For sure, it's not been a good weekend right from the very beginning. I hope it means we have had all our troubles in the one Grand Prix and that we will be back in Spain in much better shape. We will debrief and look at what we could have done differently. We didn't expect this weekend to be so difficult especially as our long run pace was good on Friday. It's a long season, so we will have ups and downs but I hope we don't have too many 'downs' like this.
Andrea Stella - Team Principal: "As expected, we had an entertaining and exciting Canadian Grand Prix. The field has compressed, and the competition is very tight. With the variable weather today, it meant several drivers were favourites for the win at different stages of the race and it's important that Lando was one of those. This is the key message we take away from Montréal: McLaren is competitive, able to take podiums and compete for victory in different conditions.
"The timing of the Safety Car was a little unfortunate for Lando, because it came when his pace was very strong and he was in the lead, opening a large gap, but this is racing and we won't dwell on it. He drove a very good race. Oscar was very strong also. It's great to see him in his second season fighting for podiums.
"Our focus has to be on improving the car and improving our operations so that we can consistently be at the front like we were here in Canada. We take home a big haul of points, once again more than our rivals, and consider this a positive outcome. My thanks to the team for another big effort this weekend, and on we go to Spain."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "A busy home race in Montréal - we made good strategic calls at the right time and the team carried out solid pit stops including a double stack when we went to dry tyres. Lance and Fernando drove faultlessly in difficult conditions and we were rewarded with having both cars finishing in the points in P6 and P7. I'm pleased Lance was able to get a solid result in front of the Canadian fans. It has been a better weekend for us as we learn more about recent upgrades and extract more performance from the AMR24. Our focus now shifts to Barcelona and Fernando's home Grand Prix but we need to keep unlocking more pace to challenge our closest competitors."
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "Overall, a positive team result today with a double points finish - the first of the season, so well done to the team for a very well executed race. It is pleasing to be able to bounce back after a difficult day in Qualifying yesterday and make the most of the mixed conditions. We knew going into the race it would be crucial to make the right calls at the right time and the team executed well operationally today, both on strategy and pit-stops. We managed to secure three important points for the team and moving up one position in the Constructors' Championship."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: The race started well on a wet track for both cars. We were able to hold positions in those first very tricky laps. Getting the Inters up to temperature was going to be key. Alex had good pace on the first set of Inters in those tricky conditions. When Logan made a mistake and the Safety Car came out, we decided to pit Alex for a fresh set of Inters as a second rain zone was arriving.
We struggled a bit with pace on that second set and Ocon managed to get past us just before everybody started to pit for slicks. We pitted for a set of Mediums and knew it was then going to be a fight all the way to the end with several cars for P8.
Unfortunately, Sainz made a mistake just in front of Alex. As there was no room for Alex to avoid the Ferrari, it meant we had to retire. Not the result we wanted today but we were happy to see that we again could fight for points this weekend. All our focus will now turn to the triple header ahead and Barcelona in particular.
Guillaume Dezoteux (Head of Vehicle Performance): "Overall, it was a positive race and another four points in the fight for the constructor championship. Daniel started by getting a penalty as he slightly moved on the starting grid before the lights went off. He did follow the procedure correctly, so it looks like it's on the car side, likely some slight clutch drag pushing the car forward a few centimetres. The first stint on Intermediate tyres was difficult with very low grip and bad visibility. We decided to serve the penalty during the Safety Car period. After the second rain shower, the track dried up quickly and we reacted at the right time to switch to medium tyres. From there, Daniel drove consistently and managed to overtake Ocon for eighth behind both Aston Martin cars. Yuki had an eventful race too. During the Safety Car period, we decided to leave him out as our Intermediate tyres were looking good and he gained three positions. Towards the middle of the race, he was P7 matching Alonso's pace in front of him. Unfortunately, in the last part of the race after the second Safety Car period, Yuki had some moments and finished outside the points. It was a difficult race for everyone today but overall, a positive weekend for the team."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "The Canadian Grand Prix is always one of the toughest events of the year, even without the added pitfalls thrown up by the rain and so to score a few points here is an achievement, even if, based on our grid positions and where we were on track until just a few laps from the end, we could have hoped for more. The penalty for Daniel at the start, due to some very slight clutch dragging, and a couple of moments on track for Yuki cost us a few points but there are a lot of positives from this weekend: The drivers and the team are really working well together as a solid unit at the track, while back in the factory the efforts of our staff have been equally rewarding and indeed rewarded with both cars in Q3 yet again and points today. Daniel spoke about the fact that Saturday was the tenth anniversary to the exact day of his very first F1 win which came at this track and it seems that he likes the place, as seen by his spectacular fifth place in quali and P8 in the race! Also on Saturday, we announced that Yuki is staying with us for another year. It is well-deserved and it is also very good for him and us to know so early in the season that this matter is not something we have to think about anymore. Yuki also did a great recovery this weekend after a complicated Friday and would have deserved some good points too. We need to continue with our approach of small steps one after the other, in every single area. It is moving us race after race towards better positions, and everyone in Faenza and in Bicester is pushing extremely hard to bring some more performance to our car."
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber saw the chequered flag in a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix. In a race that went from wet to dry and then did it all again, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu - both starting from the pit lane after changing their cars' rear wings - kept their cool in difficult conditions and on a silppery track but could only make up ground enough to finish in 13th and 15th place.
The team will now return to Europe for regrouping and preparing for the next races - a testing triple-header in Spain, Austria and Great Britain.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Following yesterday's difficult qualifying session, we opted to change setup on both cars this morning, to try and maximise any opportunity in case of a wet race. We changed the rear wing, aiming for a high downforce level - a risk that we decided to take as we looked for opportunities to fight for points. Considering how the race developed, from a weather point of view, it was the correct decision, although our performance ultimately didn't allow us to fight closer to the top ten. With Valtteri, we decided to stay out during the first Safety Car period, as his intermediate tyres were in good condition. This allowed him to recover positions and place himself in thirteenth place; he then pitted for a new set of mediums but struggled more to bring the tyres to the right temperature, losing some ground and eventually not managing to stay close to those in front during the final part of the race. Zhou endured a much more difficult race, facing similar problems with tyre temperatures; he found himself alone for most of the race, finding it difficult to benefit from DRS and getting a proper reference. It's been an overall difficult weekend for him, especially after a tough Monaco: we will now work closely to examine everything that didn't work out and to help him to come back to Barcelona on a new page. Despite a lack of performance, and no points to our name after nine races, we are not giving up, and are determined to analyse our performance and identify all areas in which to improve. Both trackside and back home in Hinwil, we are keen on progressing together."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg 11th, and Kevin Magnussen 12th, at a wet/dry Canadian Grand Prix, Round 9 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Heavy rain during the build-up to the race soaked the circuit and both Magnussen and Hulkenberg took the start on Pirelli Cinturato Blue wet tires, Magnussen from P14, and Hulkenberg from P17. They were the only two drivers to start on the compound, rather than the Green intermediates, and consequently surged forwards through the extremely wet opening laps. Magnussen dazzled as he carved his way through the midfield to rise as high as fourth, with Hulkenberg also making up 10 spots to run in seventh position.
As the track conditions improved, the intermediate tires proved to be faster and Magnussen pitted on lap 7 for the compound, emerging in P14, before Hulkenberg came in on lap 13 to also make the change, dropping to the back of the field. Both drivers made another pit stop on lap 25, under a safety car period caused when Logan Sargeant crashed out, Magnussen holding P14 and Hulkenberg P17, with both drivers having taken on another set of intermediates. The circuit continued to dry and Magnussen came in for Pirelli P Zero Yellow mediums on lap 42, followed by Hulkenberg on lap 44, before another safety car period was triggered, caused when Ferrari's Carlos Sainz spun and tagged the Williams of Alex Albon.
Hulkenberg took the restart from P12, with Magnussen P14, and both drivers gained a spot when Yuki Tsunoda spun, while Magnussen worked his way past Valtteri Bottas in the closing stages. Hulkenberg and Magnussen chased the Alpine drivers to the finish line but had to settle for 11th and 12th respectively, just half a second outside of the points.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It was a pretty frustrating day unfortunately as I think we made the right choice putting both drivers on wet tires, that was good. Both Kevin and Nico did a good a very good job, made lots of positions up and we pitted at the right time for inters with Kevin, only for our pit stop issue to undo our gains, which is frustrating. In terms of pace, with Kevin we wanted to go on to the slicks early, but in hindsight, it was too early, and Nico's timing was absolutely perfect. On the last set of tires for Kevin, the pace came back, so again it's just frustrating that with certain parts we showed we had the speed and potential, but we just didn't put it together for the needs of our drivers. Finishing just outside of the top 10, we have to regroup and go again in Barcelona, but today it wasn't great operationally, so we need to review and make sure we improve as a race team."
Max Verstappen has won the Canadian Grand Prix and it was one of the Red Bull driver's best victories ever, coming at the end of a race that had three different leaders - George Russell, Lando Norris and Max of course - from three different teams, Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull. At some point in the race, Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) were also in the hunt, not just for a podium finish, but for the win itself, although they went on to finish fifth and fourth respectively.
This was Max's 60th Formula 1 win, his third in a row in Montreal and the sixth of the season. It is Red Bull's 119th win, the fifth at this Grand Prix.
On the podium, the three drivers and the Red Bull Racing team representative sported a special edition of the classic Pirelli Podium Cap, designed specifically for this edition of the Montreal race. The cap is all-white with the Pirelli logo in red, while on the visor, there's the typical Canadian Maple leaf, which of course is also part of the national flag seen on the sides of the cap. In fact, the current flag was first raised above the Canadian Parliament building in the capital Ottawa on 15 February 1965.
The race got underway on a wet track. 18 drivers opted to start on Intermediates, while the Haas pair went with extreme wets. Indeed, Magnussen and Hulkenberg provided the show in the early stages of the race, as the blue banded Pirelli Cinturato Full Wet offered excellent grip in these conditions, so that both drivers were able to charge up the order, with the Dane even making it as high as fourth place by lap 3, having started 14th. However, the track was drying out rather quickly and so the American team's two drivers were the first obliged to pit for Intermediates, as their lap times had slowed considerably.
Then, in the second part of the race, the green-banded Pirelli Cinturato Intermediate was the tyre to have, as conditions alternated between rain and sunshine with the track drying, especially on the racing line, before getting wet again following another shower. The majority of drivers made the most of the first Safety Car period, forty minutes into the race, to switch to a second set of Intermediates, while a trio made up of Ocon, Tsunoda and Bottas, gambled on their tyres lasting long enough to extend the stint until the track was fit for slicks. Sauber's Finn went to lap 42, while Alpine's Frenchman and Racing Bulls' Japanese driver waited a further two laps. These three were the only drivers to complete the seventy lap race with only the one pit stop.
When slicks were viable, the majority (14) of drivers chose the Medium, thus looking for a better warm-up phase, while five went with the Hard, thinking more about wear, armed with the knowledge that in free practice, the Medium had suffered with graining.
Given the weather over the weekend at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, it's no surprise that all tyres, the P Zero White hard, Yellow medium and Red soft, as well as the Cinturato Green Intermediate and the Cinturato Blue full wet, were put to good use. But they were not the only tyres in action, as the Ferrari Challenge P Zero and Ferrari Challenge were used by the cars in the Prancing Horse's eponymous one-make series, of which Pirelli has been the sole supplier, ever since it was established in 1993.
Mario Isola: "What a race! After the Monaco Grand Prix came in for criticism that, objectively, it was not exactly thrilling, Formula 1 answered its critics with an amazing show from the first to the last lap, with three drivers taking turns to lead and a further two also in with a chance of winning. Congratulations to Max for a great win, and also to all the other protagonists of this Canadian Grand Prix, because I reckon that everyone who loves this sport really enjoyed themselves.
"On the tyre front, we were able to see four of the five available types in action. Even the extreme wet, which usually is not used much, proved to be competitive on a low energy track with a lot of surface water. The Intermediate was also able to do very long stints, confirming its suitability for both very wet and almost dry conditions. As for the Hard and Medium, it's hard to say which worked best as the second Safety Car deprived us of being able to evaluate what might have been the price to pay in terms of degradation for those who had chosen the Medium to ensure more grip in the opening laps when the track was still damp."
