The no-grip, brake-destroying, close-walled pinball machine that is the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve made a welcome return to the Formula One calendar and, as always, lived up to it’s reputation as the home of never-a-dull-moment racing. The Canadian Grand Prix was an absolute humdinger…
After Red Bull Racing dominated the form guides in the early part of the year, the weekend started with McLaren installed as favourites.
This is a circuit that should suit our car very well with the long straights. The Red Bulls have very good aero on their car, which means they do very well in high-speed corners – which we don’t have in Montreal. They’re still going to be very strong but I think – and hope – they won’t have the advantage. I think we’ve closed in on them, and if we’re up there fighting in qualifying, we should also be able to have a good race.”
Jenson Button, McLaren
Montreal is a fast, fast track with danger lurking in all sorts of places. Naturally the drivers love it.
“I like it when the walls are close and the margin for mistakes is tiny. It’s always more challenging and it’s more fun to drive – at least it is for me. [Circuit Gilles Villeneuve] is a mixture between Monaco and Monza – high speed, heavy braking and walls.”
Robert Kubica, Renault.
“It’s a circuit that’s 99 per cent racing flat out and one per cent looking after your brakes. That one per cent is important though.”
Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Toro Rosso had two drivers making their Montreal debut.
“It’s difficult to know what to expect! I’ve never driven here but from walking around, it seems that there are a few corners where you exit close to the wall and it could feel a bit like Monaco. But I like a circuit where you have to be on the edge.”
Sébastien Buemi, Scuderia Toro Rosso
“I’ve driven it on the simulator, and even there it isn’t an easy track to learn. I think it’s a place where we have to be on the limit, but those walls are very close! It’s very, very impressive: blind corners; low grip; smooth tarmac… first practice is going to be tricky.”
Jaime Alguersuari, Scuderia Toro Rosso
Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
In one of the season’s most exciting qualifying sessions, Lewis Hamilton took pole position from Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in third.
“It has been a great day and a great start to the weekend. It is just a bit overwhelming really for me. So many memories came back when they told me on the radio just now that I had pole position. It just reminded me of my first grand prix win here and my first pole position here back in 2007.”
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
“It was a pretty entertaining! To be honest I didn’t get a lap in until the very end. The lap was not very clean, so I am still happy that I even made it third, so it is good.”
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing
Lewis didn’t get back to the pits, he ran out of fuel
“Coasting to a halt on the slow-down lap was really enjoyable. I got to wave to all the fans.”
Lewis Hamilton
[Then the FIA then fined him $10,000 which was probably less enjoyable.]
Red Bull were on the harder tyres, their main rivals were not
“We thought the Red Bulls had taken a gamble, not us – but it depends how you look at it, I suppose,”
Jenson Button
“We thought we could still do a pretty good job in qualifying on the harder tyre and that turned out to be the case. There are many different ways the race could unfold. But we have stuck to our guns and the guys have done a great job all weekend and here we are with both Seb and I in the top three again.”
Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing
Tyre wear would be a deciding factor in the race, but nobody was entirely sure what the tyres were going to do…
“The super-soft tyres have more grip, but they are more difficult to use with the car, especially on the rear end, which is quite light. You feel more grip, but it’s difficult to go quicker because the car is moving a lot; you don’t have the confidence to lean on the tyres. It makes it difficult. There are a lot of things to think about.”
Sébastien Buemi
“The big issue is going to be whether people do the race on one stop. From the tyres yesterday that looked unlikely, but maybe now the track is getting warmer and rubbering-in it might be possible. If people can’t do the race on one stop then do you get rid of the good tyre at the beginning or pop it on at the end and hope you’re OK then? I think there are strong arguments for both cases and I expect it will be fascinating tomorrow.”
Ross Brawn, team principal, Mercedes
With Webber demoted to seventh on the grid, after needing to change his gearbox, Hamilton led from the start. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were both in the mix, but Red Bull took over, when the others pitted to get rid of their soft tyres – but the expected hard-tyre advantage didn’t materialise for the RB6
“We thought they would go 25 laps at the start but they started to fall away after 12 or 13, so the advantage we expected to see was not significant enough to make the strategy work.”
Christian Horner, team boss, Red Bull Racing
At one point Sébastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso led the race
“Being first was something special! I felt really good – even if it was for only one lap!”
Sébastien Buemi
Once order was restored Webber led for a long stint before pitting and dropping back to fifth in the closing stages
“We didn’t want to do a huge amount of laps on the option tyre, so you either do a short amount in the middle of the race or a short amount at the end. We had to leave [Mark] relatively long in the middle stint. We were hoping there might be a few more tyre issues [among the front runners]. It was an interesting race strategically, and obviously tyres played a part in that. I think it was right to have a go on the hard tyre because option for option we would not have been able to beat McLaren. We had to try something different.”
Christian Horner
But Buemi put a beautiful pass in on Schumacher to ensure he finished eighth for Toro Rosso
“We are really happy! I’m delighted with the race today and I think we could not have achieved anything better than we had. The team did a good strategy and a fantastic pitstop and I’m just so happy for them because they really, really deserve it. Regarding Schumacher, we decided to put on the option tyre quite early, Schumacher did the same a few laps before me. Both of us were seeing a lot of degradation on the tyre and I was able to overtake him. I was really happy with it. It was good, no problems.”
Sébastien Buemi
Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
Getty Images for Red Bull Racing
Lewis led the field home, just in front of Jenson and Fernando Alonso, Vettel was fourth and Webber fifth.
“It was an incredibly challenging afternoon, especially in the last 20 laps, when I was trying to look after my tyres while also keeping Jenson and Fernando behind me. It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that! This track is unique – you can never be too confident. We had a really good battle, I was able to pull out a small gap and then maintain it. It was such a sensational feeling to cross the line.”
Lewis Hamilton
Webber has struggled with the strategy
“Tyres played a huge role in the race today, and in the end we did the best we could. I had a good few laps early in the race but it took its toll on the tyres and I had to pit earlier than I would have liked… In the second stint I tried to keep my pace consistent but the tyres didn’t want to do that… I wanted to get some champagne here, it didn’t happen, but we’ll be back.”
Mark Webber
Vettel had struggled with a gearbox issue
“It cost him a lot, especially in the second half of the race. We needed to manage his revs and gearshifts, just to ensure the car got to the finish. He was running reasonably close to Jenson, whether he would have been able to pass, I don’t know.” Christian Horner
Nevertheless Red Bull left Montreal fairly satisfied
“I think we have to come out of this event reasonably satisfied that we collected valuable points somewhere we always knew was McLaren territory.”
Christian Horner
There is no reason to panic from our side, we have a very good car and we’re looking ahead to Valencia.”
Sebastian Vettel
Hamilton and McLaren now lead both championships
“You can see how tight this championship is; the field is so close and the best drivers are in the top teams and they’re all very, very competitive, so it’s the ultimate challenge. There are so many of us up here, pushing right to the wire and I think inevitably that means that the championship will remain close. In term of pure pace I still think the Red Bull is a little bit faster than ours, but as a whole I think our package is now stronger. I’m sure there will be lots of ups and downs.”
Lewis Hamilton
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