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Two weeks after the Spanish Grand Prix - in which Max Verstappen dominated lap after lap followed by the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell - the teams return to the Americas where the eighth round of the season, the Canadian Grand Prix, will be held at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. The circuit returned to the calendar in 2022 after an absence in the previous two seasons due to the pandemic. After the world championship was staged again in Europe with the second consecutive round of the season in the old continent, it will make the second overseas trip scheduled in the championship, after the Miami Grand Prix held in early May. In the note issued by the Federation before the start of free practice on the Montreal circuit, there is an article in which it is established that at Turn 9 and at Turn 14 any driver who passes to the left of the orange curb placed at the apex of the two curves must keep completely to the left of the orange indication positioned at the exit of both curves, and rejoin the track at the end of the asphalt escape route.
"Any driver who fails to negotiate with Turn 9 or Turn 14 and passes completely to the left of the orange apex kerb must keep completely to the left of the orange block/bollard on the exit of the corner and re-join the track at the far end of the asphalt run-off".
Article 17, comma 2, Race Director's Event Notes (PDF), fia.com, 15th june 2023. Instead, shortly before the race, another note issued by the FIA highlights that the race direction has established that any driver who does not go through Turn 1 correctly must rejoin the track at the end of the asphalt in the run-off area at the entrance to Turn 2. In the run-off area of Turn 1, the wall is shortened by one element.
"Any driver who fails to negotiate with Turn 1 should re-join the track at the far end of the asphalt run-off at the entry of Turn 2".
Article 17, comma 3, Race Director's Event Notes (PDF), fia.com, 18th june 2023. The Federation announces that at the end of the race of the previous Spanish Grand Prix, the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso - which had obtained seventh place in the home grand prix - was drawn among the top ten classified cars for technical checks. The inspections covered the steering system, including the steering wheel, all connected sensors, their routing to the chassis and connections to other units. Luckily for the British and Spanish teams, all the inspected components were found to comply with the technical regulations. Mercedes, after the excellent performance of Spain (second Lewis Hamilton and third George Russell), can feel more calm and reassured about their work. But Toto Wolff warns that the Spanish circuit is different from the Canadian one and one cannot be sure that the good performance will be confirmed here too:
"The result in Spain was a well-deserved reward for everyone's efforts at Brackley and Brixworth to bring our update package to the track. We were pleased with how it performed, and it will provide a new baseline for us to build from. But we must also manage our expectations. It was a circuit that suited our car, and we should expect our direct competitors to be stronger in the next races. The gap to Red Bull is large and it will take lots of hard work to close that down. Nevertheless, we're up for the challenge. Following the Grand Prix in Spain, Mick got his first opportunity to drive the W14. He settled in well during the Pirelli tyre test and enjoyed the experience. Mick has become a valuable member of the Team already and his work in the simulator has proved useful in finding lap time, as we saw in Barcelona. We now move on to Montreal. With its long straights and low-speed corners, it's not a track that we expect to suit our car as well as Barcelona did. No matter where the true pace of the car is this weekend, we will aim to maximise our result. The characteristics of the circuit will also provide further opportunity to learn about the W14 and feed into our development path".
The overwhelming power of Red Bull Racing this year is undisputed. The only question that arises is who will play for the second row, considering that the first seems to be firmly in the hands of the Verstappen-Perez duo so far. Max Verstappen, the calm leader of this championship, is confident in his car, having also won the previous year:
"It’s always nice to go back to Montreal, it’s a great city and the fans are great there. The track is very unique because you actually get to ride some old school kerbs and the scenery is pretty cool too. The car set up has to be a carful balance between straight line speed and being able to run on the kerbs well, we have to find a good trade off. Of course, last year's win is still in my mind so hopefully we can do something similar this weekend".
Despite driving the same car as Verstappen, Sergio Perez seems to struggle slightly in the race compared to his Dutch teammate. In fact, Barcelona was not a good match for him, on the contrary. He was overtaken by both Mercedes, thus ending up off the podium:
"I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend. I have been in Milton Keynes since the Spanish GP, working hard with my Team and we have put in a lot of good work and had some very constructive conversations. I know what I must do to get back to the form I am capable of and as a Team we know how to get the car into a window where I will perform best. Getting through moments like this, it’s more important than ever to work as a Team and we will all support each other to push for the win in Canada. I have a fantastic car and it’s always exciting to get behind the wheel, I must be massively consistent in Montreal and have a complete weekend".
After a dazzling start to the championship, and almost a shock for the entire circus, Aston Martin collected 32 points in two grands prix - Monaco and Barcelona -. In Barcelona, however, the duo from the English house stop in sixth (Stroll) and seventh (Alonso) position. Here in Canada, the British squad has pushed hard to bring a major package of updates to the Canadian GP. In particular, some of the most important areas for the car's performance have been modified. The bellies here have a new geometry. Now the slide area has a narrower inlet but is deeper to try to extract the maximum possible load from the rear area. The bottom is also new and has an additional bulkhead in the entrance area. Furthermore, the lateral part has also been modified with micro-aerodynamic solutions which seek to locally increase the pressure to avoid flow separations due to more marked excavation. Finally, the cooling has been revised with the openings on the bonnet moved so as to separate the hot and dirty flow from the clean one on the sides. Everything goes in search of greater aerodynamic efficiency, perhaps the most obvious weak point of the AMR23.
Lance Stroll is thrilled to be returning to Montreal, his home circuit. He can't wait to field the new changes to the car and verify that they are compatible with the characteristics of the circuit:
"I am really excited to return to Montréal for my home race; it's always special for me to see all the Canadian support at the city I grew up in. It is a circuit that also holds some good memories for me; climbing seven places to finish in the points last year was especially memorable. With how close the pecking order has been in recent races, it will be interesting to see what the characteristics of the circuit do to the competitiveness up and down the pit lane this weekend. The margins will be very tight so we'll be pushing hard to put on a good show for my home crowd".
Fernando Alonso is one of the veterans of the Canadian circuit. Fresh from a difficult home grand prix, even if the fans have hailed him as king, he is ready to get in the car for a challenging grand prix:
"We had a busy double header with Monaco and Spain and came away with 32 points as a team. The atmosphere in Spain was phenomenal, but we had a difficult Saturday and didn't quite have the pace on Sunday to put a show on for the fans. Next up is Montréal, which is a historic circuit in Formula One and I have fond memories racing here. Last year, for example, I started second on the grid after a chaotic and wet qualifying session. It might rain again this weekend, so we will be keeping one eye on the radar. The circuit is fun and while overtaking can be difficult it can also throw up surprising races, so we will be prepared for anything".
Scuderia Ferrari, on the other hand, continue to experience a gray period, with quick and fleeting flashes of rebirth, only to then fall into the same mistakes, often thanks to failed strategies. Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal, however does not give up and indeed, is confident of the updates brought to Spain, which show consistency and bode well. The previous year in Canada, Ferrari played an excellent race: it is hoped that 2023 will also give the same vibes:
"We come to Canada knowing that there is still room for improvement in terms of race pace with the SF-23. However, the upgrades introduced at the last round in Spain meant that the car behaved more consistently in the race in Barcelona. Last year in Montreal, both our drivers raced really well, with Carlos finishing second after putting the winner under pressure all the way to the flag, while Charles fought his way through the field from the back row of the grid to claim a fifth place finish. Ferrari has always enjoyed plenty of support in Canada and we hope to deliver a strong performance for our fans this weekend".
Carlos Sainz Jr. follows the words of his Team Principal, and feels calmer with the updates brought to Spain, which worked even if it didn't seem like much from abroad, not being a circuit on which the SF-23 fits well:
"Montreal is one of my favourite circuits, but it's not just because of the track, it’s the Who atmosphere of the place what has that special something. As son as I got here on tuesday, i went to eat a nice hamburger and then went running at Mont-royale, The hill overlooking the city, which is a Lovely Place and Perfect for a bit of training last year's race here at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit was a turn in My Season, Because i Finally Began to feel at one with the car and Things Changed. I Hope It Will Be The Same This Weekend. Worked, Even If it Might Not Have Been That Obvious From The Outside, As the Track Did Not Suit Our Sf-23 Particularly Well. We Picked Up A Lot of Data in Montmelò and I Expect to see That Pay Off Over the Coming Days On Track, As Well As Back in Maranello in Termins of Fine Tuning and Getting The Most. Out of the car. However, it will still be the usual very close fight Behind the red bulls and it will be important to make the mons I followed the race from where I was and it's a simply amazing result, after so many years away from the top sports car category. I congratulated Antonio Giovinazzi in our hospitality, as he is here as our Reserve Driver and he does so much work on the simulator to help us and I gave him a big hug. A win like this is something that can change your career and it is so richly deserved. I saw the interest that this win generated around the world and for myself and everyone who is part of Ferrari, it was a matter of great pride".
Charles Leclerc arrives in Canada without having collected any points in Spain (during qualifying in Barcelona, Leclerc's single-seater had serious problems that the driver himself was unable to explain and that not even the wall was able to decipher). Charles' always optimistic spirit, however, trusts in the great work done in Maranello, hoping for a better result in Canadian territory:
"I was very happy to have been in France to see this historic win, 58 years on from the last one and half a century since the previous appearance of an official entry in this race. I’d like to race there sooner or later, but for now, I’m looking forward to jumping into my SF-23 here in Canada. The people in Maranello did a great job to provide us in Spain with the aerodynamic upgrade package we were expecting. Over the Barcelona weekend, we began the process of understanding it and during the Pirelli tyre test following the Grand Prix, we gathered further data for analysis in Maranello. This weekend, the aim is to get all the potential out of the car in this new configuration and so we will just focus on ourselves. We know Red Bull is very quick, but I expect Aston Martin will also be very strong and Mercedes could also be a threat. As usual, it will be decided by thousandths of a second and it’s vital that we can push to the maximum".
On Friday, 16 June, the twenty protagonists of the 2023 Formula 1 season hit the track in this brief American parenthesis in the middle of the European tour of the circus, in the circuit of Montréal.
Many teams have brought upgrades and adjustments to their cars, so the main point of this day of free practice is to verify that these actually improve their performance and/or efficiency: Aston Martin has a wider bodywork with the upper deck remaining high for longer than the previous version and the local load on the floor is improved by redistributing the flow between the floor fences; Red Bull has a new front wing for extracting more load; Mercedes made a slight change to the new sidepods, improving flow to the rear of the car, whilst also reducing drag; Alpine changed its rear, hoping for more efficiency, as well as new rear suspension and revised drum inlet ducts on front brake drums, in order to improve brake cooling; McLaren has a new rear wing assembly, with a new flap and endplate, as well as a new beam wing assembly for a better load gain; Alfa Romeo has a new cooling outlet for rear brake ducts; Haas changes its rear wing, with a new geometry for mainplane and flap, as well as cooling louvres and floor edge; AlphaTauri brings a new front wing, with a new flap with reduced chord and camber wing sections, which generates less front wing load to give the desired car balance range for this choice of rear wing. Williams, finally, is the one bringing the highest number of upgrades, starting from the floor geometry, increasing the local load and improving the downstream flow, then a revised sidepod geometry with a more pronounced ramp and reprofiled engine cover exit, with an increase in load, minor changes to the mirror, revised HALO fairing, new external geometry for rear suspension, for the rear brake duct winglets and for the rear wing endplate. As of engine parts, Sainz and Leclerc will run with a new ICE, while Tsunoda and Albon will bring their third turbo, MGU-H and MGH-K. Anyway, they will not get a penalty since they are still in the window of allowed parts. To sum up, the main goal of all the teams is to improve brake cooling, since the Montréal track is particularly demanding with four crucial braking zones, but also to increase load for the track is mainly made of fast corners and chicanes, with two main straights, not too long, in sector 3. The weather forecast for this weekend is not particularly reassuring, with rain threatening both free practice and qualifying, so the test programs of the tests may undergo unexpected changes. Despite this, the first free practice starts on dry conditions, with Max Verstappen the first one to come out of the pits. Anyway, the session lasts only few minutes, for Pierre Gasly accuses an issue to his driveshaft and is forced to stop on the track.
In addition to this, a malfunctioning CCTV system forces the session to stop, for safety reasons. Also, before the start of FP1, the circuit had an electricity outage for 50 minutes, thus the work inside the boxes has been deeply affected. So, all plans for test sessions are postponed to FP2, which will last 30 minutes longer due to the almost non-existent previous session. For the record, the fastest time has been set by Valtteri Bottas on Alfa Romeo, with 1'18"728, on medium tyres, but the majority of the drivers did not set laps or only completed an out lap. The second free practice, therefore, will be fundamental for gathering data on the aerodynamic efficiency of the new upgrades and trying the race pace on different tyres. The extraordinarily 90-minute-long session starts on dry conditions, and at the start of the session, the race control states that the risk of rain is 40%. The majority of drivers starts on medium tyres, while some others immediately put on soft tyres, such Perez, Verstappen, Stroll, Alonso and Sargeant. Sainz is the first one to break the wall of 1'16"0, with a time of 1'15"859, but shortly after, his teammate Leclerc does 1'15"523. Verstappen, a minute later, with soft tyres, sets the best time at 1'15"333, but he complains on the team radio about downshifts. 15 minutes after the start, he sets 1'14"726, followed closely by Sainz and Gasly, who is third despite being on medium tyres. The Ferrari drivers continue to push by setting multiple fastest laps on a qualifying-like stint, while the Mercedes are running on higher fuel load and focus on race pace. At about one hour before the end, Hülkenberg’s car stops on track and causes a red flag, so all drivers must go back to the pits. A lot of smoke is coming out of the car; it might be an ICE failure, so the single-seater has to be brought to the pits by hand. When the session restarts, almost all drivers, except Hülkenberg, of course, and Hamilton, mount soft tyres. Right after Sainz sets the fastest lap with 1'13"8, Ocon encounters an issue and his teams asks him to stop the car, so the session is red-flagged again when about 45 minutes are left before the end of the practice. Five minutes later, when the session restarts, Mercedes are finally seen to fight for the fastest lap, since now Hamilton too has soft tyres. In addition to this, everyone needs to push as quickly as possible since the rain threatens the session again. The track has improved since the start of the session, so it might be the ideal moment for setting the fastest lap.
Eventually, the two Mercedes beat Sainz’s record, first with Russell with 1'13"745, then with Hamilton with 1'13"718. The Red Bull drivers, meanwhile, are the ones to run on medium tyres, trying different programs; probably, they are postponing the qualifying stint to FP3. No one else improves his own best time in the last few minutes, in which the track is hit by gusts of wind and pollen, and in the last ten minutes, the track is declared wet, even if it is not raining. Most drivers go out with intermediate tyres, just as a precaution. The rain effectively hits the circuit five minutes before the end, so the session is virtually over for everyone, except for some drivers trying the intermediate tyres at least for one lap and gathering data for an eventual wet qualifying or race. The Mercedes duo comes back on top after the double podium in the last race in Spain, and before the results of FP3 and qualifying, they really hope that they can repeat this result, or even fight for the win. It has been a positive session for Ferrari as well, with Sainz third and Leclerc fifth, while Aston Martin and Red Bull preferred to work on different programs, saving the best for last. Max Verstappen seems not completely satisfied and acknowledges that there is still some work to do:
"It wasn’t a straightforward day with basically no running in FP1, it was the same for everyone though. At least we could get in a decent amount of running in FP2. I think we still have quite a bit of work to do as the car isn’t fantastic at the moment over the bumps and kerbs. I mean it’s still not too bad, but we definitely need to fine tune a few things. I think it might be raining tomorrow which will throw a few surprises out there in qualifying, then perhaps dry on Sunday so that will also affect things. It was a tricky session but sometimes we have those days".
Even Sergio Perez states that there is room for improvement, but the pace is good:
"It was a real shame that we ended up losing FP1, we really needed it because the conditions weren’t ideal in FP2 towards the end. I think we’ve got good pace and just need to make sure we play a bit with the car now to get it in the right window because today has all been a bit of a hurry. There is plenty for us to understand tonight, we need to improve our ride and the other teams look strong too, so we will see tomorrow where everybody is. I think it should be an interesting weekend, it gets really dark here in this weather, the visibility becomes poor and the conditions become undriveable pretty quickly - if the rain comes for qualifying hopefully it’s not much".
In Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, scorer of the fastest time in FP2, shows his love for the Canadian circuit and specifies where his car can still improve:
"It was a strange day with the issues in FP1. I felt really bad for all the fans out there; we've had a great crowd out here since yesterday and the city's been pumping. I'm glad that we got out there eventually though and it was good to have a 90-minute session. We haven't had one of them in a long time. I love driving this track, it's mega! From the moment you leave the pitlane you just think yeah, this is wicked. It is probably the bumpiest circuit that we've been on for a long time, however. I think everyone is struggling with the bumps though. Overall, the car didn't feel bad, but we've definitely got some work to do. We've just got to improve our ride control and balance through corner, and I think we will be alright. The car overall is a step forward from earlier in the season and I do think I'm feeling the improvements that we saw in Monaco and Barcelona. I love the rain so let's try and have some fun tomorrow".
George Russell complains like others about the bumpy track and compares his Mercedes car with its direct competitors:
"It's been quite a strange day given what happened in FP1 and then the extension of FP2. It was a reasonably productive session, but I don't think we can read too much into the timings. We did our low fuel qualifying preparation towards the end of the session when the track was quicker. Barcelona and here are two totally different circuits, so it's hard to compare how the car is performing from one to another. Barcelona is a super smooth, high-speed track whilst here it is incredibly bumpy. I do think the upgrades we've brought have helped the limitations of the car though. Pace-wise, I think we're going to be on the tail end of Ferrari and Aston Martin in qualifying. We know it comes to us on a Sunday though and that's when it matters. It also looks like it's going to be wet tomorrow so let's see what that brings".
In Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso is disappointed by not having enough time to analyse the new upgrades and he hopes for a better opportunity on Saturday:
"It’s good to see all of the support here and be back racing in front of the Canadian fans. But it was a shame that we weren't able to run in FP1 due to the technical issues. We didn’t have a lot of time to fully understand the new upgrades on the car, so we will have to analyse everything overnight and learn more tomorrow. We will keep an eye on the weather radar again for tomorrow, as it could be another mixed day".
In Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jr. is happy for trying all the tyre compounds and different setups and for the overall result:
"With hardly any track time in FP1, it meant that FP2 was particularly busy but we managed to try all three dry weather compounds, as well as various set-ups on the car to improve performance. We made good progress over the course of the day. The result is quite positive, even if we still need to find a bit of pace and performance going into tomorrow".
Charles Leclerc is positive too, especially in terms of pace:
"It’s only Friday and there is still a long way to go, but overall, it has been a positive day. The feeling I had in the car was very good. We are bit further down the order as we couldn’t do a second run on the Softs because of the red flag. Our race pace felt good as well and we will keep working in the current direction".
On Saturday the temperatures are low and it seems that the session will be rainy. Not for nothing, when there is the green flag for the start of the third free practices, a little rain starts to wash the circuit, forcing everyone to stay in the box for some additional minutes. The first to go on track are the two Haas drivers, both on wet tyres, followed by Sargeant and Albon, Alonso and Stroll, Russell, Ocon and Tsunoda. The leadership is immediately taken by Alonso, when the two Haas sets the first times, in 1'32"217, giving 2 tenths to Magnussen and 1.2 tenths to Hulkenberg. Immediately after this first lap, Alonso finds an impeding on track with Yuki Tsunoda, so asks on the radio:
"Who is this blind guy who drives an AlphaTauri?"
At the same time, is always Alonso the first to go out again after a stop at the box to mount the intermediate tyres, together with Stroll, Sainz and Leclerc. This is not the right choice as Alonso goes straight at Turn 8 and also Oscar Piastri confirms that the track is still too wet for these tyres. Yuki Tsunoda goes headtail in the exit of Turn 5, but manages to do well the next lap and sets the first time in 1'30"685. A little after, anything changes, as Max Verstappen goes on tarck on wet tyres and laps in 1'29"190, while the track gets drier lap after lap. At 15v minutes to the end is Alonso the first in the ranking.the track conditions continue to change, so everyon emounts the intermediates and Carlos Sainz sets the best time in 1'27"245. Then, Nico Hulkenberg is ahead of everyone, with 1'26"431, while Max Verstappen complains about the gearbox. However, a little after, it is just Verstappen to set the fastest time, in 1'24"977. From now on, the pole is contended by Verstappen and Leclerc: first the Monegasque sets a time of 1'24"850, immediately passed by Verstappen with 1'24"480, before a red flag stops everyting. It is Carlos Sainz, who makes a mistakes at Turn 1 and hits the wall, ruining the front left suspension. Before the green flag the situation is: Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Russell, Ocon and Bottas. The session restarts and the first on track are the two Mercedes and Gasly, all on used intermediates: Lewis Hamilton goes bada t Turn 1 but manages to go back on track without problems. Albon does the same thing.
Meanwhile, Verstappen sets first 1'24"192, then 1'23"779, being also the first to go down 1'24"0 and at the end sets 1'23"154. Leclerc manages to get the second position just before the heavy rain starts, forcing everyone to go back to the boxes. The rain gets heavier, so the third free practice session ends with all the drivers in the boxes, with Max Verstappen first, followed by Leclerc, Alonso, Magnussen, Sainz, Gasly, Stroll, Tsunoda, Bottas, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Piastri, Norris, Albon, Russell, De Vries, Perez, Zhou, Ocon and Sargeant. The Canadian Saturday continues with qualifying, also with unstble weather and rain forecast. In addition, the start of Q1 is preceeded by an intense action in the boxes, especially in that of Carlos Sainz, whose car has been repared after the damages made during FP3, and in the race control booth, where it is discussed wheter to give or not a penalty to Sainz himself; in two occasions, in fact, during FP3, he made impeding to Alexander Albon. At the end nothing is done to Sainz, so he can start Q1 on intermediates tyres like everyone. When the cars goes on track, Zhou Guanyu experiments an engine issue so goes a lot slower than expected and is then forced to stop his car at Turn 7, triggering a red flag but managig to return to the box by himself. When the session is restarted, there are higher chances of rain: at the green light, the RedBull pair is on track. Max Verstappen immediately takes the leadership of the ranking just when the rain starts to fall, sest a 1'24"106, which is immediately passed by the 1'23"581 of Fernando Alonso. A few minutes to the end of Q1 Verstappen s still in the lead, with 1'21"988, followed by Alonso, Leclerc and Sainz while the drivers excluded are De Vries, Piastri, Tsunoda, Sargeant and Zhou (who managed to continue) . the team ask to Verstappen if it is the moment to mount other tyres but he denies. At the end of Q1, after Verstappen laps in 1'21"739, Fernando Alonso takes the lead in 1'21"583, while Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Nyck De Vries, Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou are out. Q2 starts and everyone is on the same tyres, except for Albon, who is the only one on softs.
The first fastest time is that of Max Verstappen (1'20"135), while other drivers have difficulties: Leclerc asks the team to mount the slicks but they answer that he has to end a lap with the current tyres before changing; Lance Stroll loses the car’s control and hits the wall at Turn 5, losing the front wing but still managing to restart. Russell sets a time of 1'20"098, but he is immediately passed by Albon on slicks (1'19"471). After Albon’s attempt, quite everyone is convinced about mounting the slicks, even if it started again to rain. Only Albon (1'18"725) manages to improve, as nobody has put the tyres on the right temperature and the track has mixed conditions: at Turn 10 it rains while in other parts conditions are better and there is a trajectory which the drivers can do on their current tyres. Few minutes to the end and the Ferrari team calls Leclerc to mount again the intermediates but he doesn’t manage to improve. Q2 ends with an headtail by Leclerc at Turn 6, caused by the tyres, and the drivers excluded are: Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas. There is no time to wait and everyone is ready for Q3, the last chance to determine the startig grid of the race. everyone is on intermediates: the first to set a good time is Max Verstappen (1'27"059), followed by Alonso, Hamilton and Russell. Suddenly there is a red flag: Oscar Piastri has made a mistake at Turn 7, he lost the control of Mclaren and hit the wall. Am little before this accident, however, Verstappen and Hulkenberg managed to set a good time, so the Dutchman is in first position with 1'25"858, followe dby the Haas. At the restart, the conditions are worse, so Hamilton and Sainz go straight at Turn 1, and the other drivers change their tyres to full wets. The session ends with Verstappen on pole, followed by Hulkenberg, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Ocon, Norris, Sainz, Piastri and Albon, but some thing may change as Carlos Sainz is still under investigation for impeding. The McLaren team is not the only one to admit their difficulties: also in Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso, despite being happy about the final result, says to be a little unlucky because of the red flags’ times:
"We will take third place on the grid after a very complex Qualifying session. We were a little bit unlucky with the red flags during Q1 and Q3 just before we could complete a faster lap that might have put us on the front row. There is an opportunity tomorrow and hopefully we can recover second place early in the race and put pressure on Max in front. It's always a challenging circuit with very low grip in the dry and wet conditions and the weather is always unpredictable. The new AMR23 upgrades seem to be working well and delivering what we were expecting, but we will keep evaluating them and try to optimise our setup around this new package".
On the contrary, in Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton is very satisfied, nodespite the bad conditions:
"That was a good result for us today. The conditions were very difficult out there as we tried to get temperature into the tyres. It was very tricky keeping it on track and delivering when it counted. I think P4 was probably the best we could have done though so overall, I'm really happy with it. We will take it and hopefully we can move forward tomorrow. I hope we can compete with Fernando (Alonso) and if so, I think a podium is on the cards. It would be good to have a battle with him. Our race pace is often better than our single lap pace and hopefully that's the case tomorrow".
George Russell is of the same advice:
"We did a great job to get both cars into Q3 today. I enjoyed the session as the track was changing every lap and you were driving on instincts. We didn't quite get it together in Q3 but P5 has exceeded our expectations coming into qualifying. As a team, we were performing better as the track was drying and when the rain came in Q3, we struggled again. That's the challenge of these conditions though, it makes it exciting, and I'm pleased we kept it on the circuit. I believe we can fight for a podium from P5 tomorrow. We saw what we did from P12 in Barcelona, so we are satisfied with today; it's our best qualifying result since Australia. Fernando is going to be our main target and we're looking forward to the race".
Alexander Albon is very happy, as he managed to reach Q3:
"I'm happy. Firstly, we had good pace. In Q1 we were P6 and feeling good. In Q2, we didn't need to take the risk with the slick tyres, but we made the call. I was actually quite surprised when I saw everyone roll out on Inters! But it was great to get through and to top the times. Q3 was a tricky one because it suddenly got much wetter and it became much harder to get the tyres in the window. I struggled a bit with that as it felt like the tyres were cooling down quite a lot on the straights when the rain picked up. I made a mistake when I lost tyre temperature going into the last corner, which I'm disappointed about and that was it really. Mixed emotions but looking at the weekend so far it's a great qualifying result and shows as a team that we are getting there".
The poleman Max Verstappen is pretty satisfied, taking into consideratiion the excellent result:
"We made the right calls at the right time today. It was very important to get the communication right with the Team, to really keep on top of things as the weather was changing by the minute, we were clear with what we wanted to do. It was good that I could really push the car, despite the conditions on track. I like this track and in the wet it’s even more challenging. It’s difficult to say what’s going to happen tomorrow, I felt quite good on the long runs this morning so hopefully we will have good pace. It’s a long race, a lot of things can happen so we just need to be on top of things".
Things are different for Sergio Perez, out in Q2 and in a worse position than his teammate:
"Getting the tyres in the right window was the main issue today. It was looking well until we got caught out with the conditions, it was raining and then when it started drying up we went onto the slick tyre, probably about half a lap too late. We couldn’t get track position and then once the temperature was in the tyres it started raining harder and it was just too late. Once we were on the inter it was just too wet to get the lap time. Yesterday was a positive day and today in the wet we had figured out a lot going into qualifying, which was really encouraging. We could have been a lot higher but in these conditions, it was a bit of a lottery with tyres and it was tricky out there. The aim tomorrow, of course, will be to come through the field and get a strong result. Anything can happen in the race, we will keep our heads down, work hard overnight and try to minimise the damage".
Carlos Sainz Jr. will try his best tomorrow, as his session didn’t go as expected and his starting position is not ideal:
"It was a very tough qualifying. After the incident in FP3 the guys did an amazing job to rebuild the car and I managed to get my confidence back bit by bit in Q1 and Q2, putting some decent laps together. I was looking forward to pushing hard in Q3, but unfortunately the red flag and later the heavy rain meant we couldn’t improve our time and missed out on a better result. My starting position is not ideal but tomorrow we’ll try our best to make up some places".
Charles Leclerc will try to recover a lot of position at the race, as he didn’t manage to get into Q3:
"I was frustrated after qualifying because I love my team and felt we could all have done a better job today. We have been working so hard and made a good step with the car for this weekend, so it was disappointing not to go through to Q3. We will pull together and work as a team to improve. I will give everything in the race to make up as many positions as possible and bring home a solid result for us".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, admits that qualifying didn’t go as expected due to the lot of variables at play:
"Even if the conditions were the same for everyone, for various reasons, qualifying really didn’t go our way today. In Q2, there wasn’t much time to decide on tyre choice and we opted to establish a time on Intermediates before switching to Softs. On the slicks, there was time for just one run before the rain returned and only Carlos managed to improve. In Q3, once again, Carlos could only do one flying lap before the red flag and after that the heavy rain meant it was impossible to improve. From what we saw Friday in free practice and given how evenly matched everyone is, I am confident that, in the race, we can move up the order and bring home a good result".
On Sunday 18th June, 2023, everyone is ready at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the main event of the week, the Canadian Grand Prix. The track is dry so nobody is going to use intermediates or wet tyres for the race, as, on the other hand, happened during the qualifying session on Saturday. The majority of the drivers has selected medium starting rubber, while Perez, Magnussen and Bottas are on hards and only Gasly goes for softs. Nico Hulkenberg, who made an excellent P2, will not start from the front row as due to a penalty for a red flag violation, he is now P5. Among the other changes there is Sainz who will start 11th, Stroll 16th and Tsunoda 19th for separate instances of impeding across Q1 and Q2. Light go out and the 9th Grand Prix of the season starts. Great stint from Max Verstappen, who manage to maintain his position, while Hamilton overtakes Alonso to get the second place. Ocon passes Hulkenberg for the fifth place, followed by the McLaren duo Piastri and Norris, while Leclerc and Albon are in the final top 10 positions and Sainz and Perez almost clash at the Turn 8/9 chicane. A few corners later, Sainz fights back against Perez down the back straight and into the final chicane. Alonso thumps the wall at the exit of Turn 4, but manages to hold P3 between the Mercedes cars.
"I think the tyres are more vulnerable than FP2".
Verstappen reports over the radio, due to the track conditions after the rainfall. At the same time, Tsunoda pits to swap his medium tyres for hards. On lap 7, the Williams pit wall tells Sargeant to stop his car due to a problem and a Virtual Safety Car is triggered. When the VSC ends, Verstappen’s advantage over Hamilton is of three seconds; they are followed by Alonso, Russell, Ocon and Hulkenberg. On lap 13, a Safety Car is provided after Russell touched the barriers. Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso pit for hards. A lot of drivers pit too, while Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Magnussen and Bottas stay out.
"It’s a bit bent, but it’s OK".
Says Russell over the radio, after the mechanics have repared his damage in the pit lane; on lap 17, the race continues, with Verstappen still in the lead. Behind him, Hamilton, Alonso, Leclerc and Sainz, who has gained a lot of positions after a not so good qualifying session. Norris makes a move on team mate Piastri into the hairpin, but the stewards issue another note to confirm that the former is being investigated for an unsafe release of his own. Verstappen has a lead of three seconds, while Alonso passes Hamilton down the back straight and completes the move at the final chicane.
"I have no grip on this tyre".
Tells Verstappen, before reporting that the grip is getting better a few laps later, while Sainz wants to continue on his original set of mediums. The Ferraris make their only pitstop on lap 39 for Sainz and 40 for Leclerc. On lap 35, Nyck the Vries and Kevin Magnussen bang wheels again at Turn 2 and go out into the gravel. On lap 41 and 42 Hamilton and Verstappen do their second and last pitstop of the race, maintaining their positions, while Alonso takes on another set of hards. Leclerc is given the message:
"Sainz will not attack you".
Albon keeps his Williams in front of Russell’s Mercedes, and Ocon, Bottas and Norris close in to it. Russell has to retire on lap 55 for the problems caused by his first incident on lap 13. At this point, there is a scare for Verstappen.
"I almost knocked myself out on that kerb".
He laughs over the radio with five laps to go, but he still manage to get his victory, 10 seconds aheas of the second place. He has now reached Ayrton Senna's GP wins, while the Red Bull reaches the 100th Grand Prix win. Leclerc and Sainz are in fourth and fifth place, Perez is sixth, followed by Albon, Ocon, Stroll and Bottas, the last driver that get a point this weekend. Sergio Perez has an additional point for the fastest lap. The only drivers who have retired are Logan Sargeant and George Russell. It's the first win in Canada for Max Verstappen and he is proud of having reached Ayrton Senna''s race wins:
"I’m of course very happy to win here in Canada. It wasn’t an easy or straightforward race though, it was quite difficult to switch on the tyres and get them to the right temperature. This is our 100th win and it’s an incredible moment for the Team, the hard work doesn’t stop here though, the new target is 200 now! Right from when I was a young kid karting, I was always dreaming about being a Formula One driver and I would have never imagined to actually win so many races, so to tie with Ayrton Senna is incredible and I feel really proud of that. Hopefully we will have plenty more wins in the future, I don’t want to stop now".
On his sixth place and his race, Sergio Perez says:
"Today was a bit of a surprise, we just didn’t have the pace. It was looking good on the hard tyre initially but once the safety car came in I couldn’t recover the grip on that tyre and we didn’t have the pace on the medium. It is important we take time to understand the weekend because this race, in particular, has been poor in pace and we need to get on top of it. I have the confidence in myself and know what I can do but today we were not good".
So he adds:
"Right now, I am more concerned about my drop in performance than my place in the Championship because the pace is just not there. You never have no pressure on you, it has been a difficult period but I am here to perform and I need to do that in the next few races. On a positive note, we achieved 100 wins today and it is really great for the Team, I am very happy for everyone, Max has done a tremendous job, not just today but throughout the whole season. I took out the sentence about our side of the garage".
Christian Horner, Red Bull's CEO and Team Principal, talks about Red Bull's 100th win and his team performance:
"It’s a landmark day today and one for our history books, 100 victories for the team, 200 for Adrian and Max’s 41st putting him up there with Senna. An amazing result for the whole team, not just the people here, but everyone back at the factory who works so hard, ensuring we continue to perform at such a high level. I remember our first victory in China in 2009 and being happy that we’d won just one race, and here we are with 99 more. To get a century of victories is an incredible achievement, competing in 100 races is a feat in itself, but winning 27% of all races we have entered is something truly to be proud of. It’s been an amazing journey in a relatively short space of time and it’s down to our incredible people, our spirit and our culture. Max has obviously been a big part of the journey with 41 of those wins, he’s driving so incredibly well and it’s a privilege to witness the level that he’s delivering at. It was a tricky race for him because the tyre temperatures were not in a happy window but he made the most of it and secured the win. Checo equally had a fairly tough race. I know he is hungry for more and will already be looking at ways to improve on his performance. Tomorrow, we’ll celebrate as a team back in the factory, but of course we’re still in the middle of a championship and have a lot of races to go, so after tomorrow the attention is on our home race in Austria in two weeks".
Incredible second place for Fernando Alonso, who says:
"It was a great result for Aston Martin today and another podium for the team. I think it was our most competitive race yet and the upgrades on the car are working well. I lost the position to Lewis [Hamilton] at the start, but we had some good pace and after a close battle we retook second. It was then like a qualifying session as Lewis was pushing at the end and we had to keep him there and not make any mistakes. We hope to put more pressure on Max in Austria".
Great weekend also for Lewis Hamilton, who has finished in third place. However, he says there's more to do:
"It's been a great weekend. To have this consistency and to be up on the podium once again here is fantastic. It's quite an honour to be up on the podium with two other world champions. We didn't quite have the pace today to challenge for more. We knew this wouldn't be our strongest circuit though as we struggle in the low-speed corners in particular. We've still got a lot of work to do to add more performance and efficiency. We are slowly chipping away at those ahead though. I do believe we will get there at some stage and we are going in the right direction".
On the other hand, George Russell's race was very different:
"Apologies to the Team. We've put so much hard work and effort into this weekend and a small mistake has had massive consequences. I was doing everything I could to put Fernando under pressure. I then ran a little bit wide and hit the kerb; next thing I knew I was in the wall".
So he adds:
"That's at least 12 points that we've left on the table today. We did a good job after that to get back into the mix. Sadly we had an issue with the brakes which forced us to retire the car. They felt OK from my side, but the Team can see the data and could see that we couldn't continue. I'm disappointed with the race today but there are positives we can take away. The car was quick on a circuit that we weren't expecting to be that competitive and we took the fight to those around us. The Team is doing a great job and the future is exciting. Let's see what the upcoming races bring".
Toto Wolff agrees with Hamilton and talks about Russell being unlucky:
"Today's race was an encouraging one for the Team. We knew that Canada was going to be one of the more difficult circuits for us, so to come away with a podium is a solid result. We were also not too far away from Max (Verstappen), much closer than we would have expected at the beginning of the season. The margin is still large, so we have lots more work to do. We are on a positive trajectory though and the update package clearly works well. George was unlucky today. He hit a large kerb and tried to keep it cornering and ended up in the wall. He was pushing hard, and this car is still a little bit difficult at times. He ultimately retired with brake wear issues".
Good race for the two Ferrari drivers, who started in the middle of the grid. Charles Leclerc has finished P4, but he says they need to continue improving:
"It was a solid race that confirmed the good feeling I had in the car on Friday. We stayed out during the Safety Car phase to be able to run in free air, because we knew that it would be key for us and our strategy proved to be the right one. We couldn’t have done better than P4 today considering where we started. We must not forget that this is quite an unusual track, so we will keep pushing to reconfirm these positive steps in Austria".
Carlos Sainz Jr. has finished P5 and is happy with his performance and the car:
"Today was a positive race. We were able to push continuously and recover after a challenging qualifying. We made the right strategy calls and we had a strong pace, especially with the Medium tyre. The car felt good and we could push a bit more, also extending the first stint quite a lot, so I’m happy with that. We’re making progress in the right direction and we need to keep up the good work".
Frédéric Vasseur thinks that the team is working well and they will keep improving:
"It was a good race for us, confirming that we are working in the right direction. After a poor qualifying yesterday, we rediscovered the race pace we had seen on Friday, helped in this by a good strategy that took us out of traffic, so that Charles and Carlos had the confidence to push throughout the race. It was notable that in the second half our drivers were matching the lap times of the top three. We are progressing race by race. We will continue to focus on working solidly on the course we have set ourselves, while going into every small detail to ensure we can have a perfect weekend from Friday through to Sunday".
Incredible weekend for Alex Albon, who after a very good qualifying session has finished P7:
"It's been a very strong weekend and I have to thank the team first and foremost because we had the upgrade on the car, and I think it shows that we made a good step and the circuit suited us. The work that has gone on at the factory to get this upgrade ready has been monumental and everyone has been working so hard. We also fitted a new PU, so we threw everything at this weekend. We had a great qualifying yesterday and now the race today was great. To get these points on the board and move up to ninth in the Championship is a nice place to be and it's great to be able to say thank you to the team and have this reward for everything that everyone has done".