Lewis Hamilton
I don’t know what happened at the start. My practice start before the formation lap was perfect and I thought
“this is going to be a breeze, getting off the line”. But when it came around for real it felt like I was going
nowhere, so I need to figure out what happened there. I then got massive understeer into Turn One with cars
attacking from all sides and had an unfortunate tap with Nico. After that it was just about trying to hunt down
Sebastian. He was lightning on the first lap and we both had good pace from there. Other than one small
lockup into Turn 10 I didn’t make any mistakes all race, so I was really happy with that. It was very much
about managing tyres today and the team were spot on with the strategy call. I really enjoyed the race –
everything went unbelievably smoothly. Every time Sebastian closed up I just had enough to keep the gap. I
was just so in the groove. Over the last 10-15 laps all I could think of was Muhammad Ali – float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee – because it really felt like I was floating. For me, and everyone I’m sure, he was
such an inspirational figure, so that one was for him. I won my first ever race here in 2007 and this feels just
as great. It's such a blessing. Thanks to everyone who came out today. We come here every year and have
the best week.
Nico Rosberg
Today’s race was really tough. Starting at the beginning, Lewis had a bad start, mine was decent and
Sebastian got a super start. So, I was alongside Lewis and tried around the outside. I had to try the move or
accept I’d be behind him. In Barcelona it worked but this time it didn’t. It was a hard maneuver from him but
that’s racing and I need to do a better job next time. I lost a lot of places going down the escape road and that
cost me a shot at the race. From there I did my best to fight back and I there was a chance of a podium – but
then I got the puncture and had to pit again – dammit! I was pushing hard after that to regain the positions but
it was a massive mission managing the car with brake warnings coming on and running low on fuel. It was a
good battle with Max – again, on the limit but good racing. I tried everything to get past him and had a
massive spin at the end. On that final lap I just about managed to drag it round for P5 ahead of Kimi, so a
disappointing result as our car was awesome today but that’s how it goes sometimes. I’ve got two days at
home now to get ready and go for it again in Baku.
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
That was a fantastic, action-packed race like we expect in Montreal – and a sensational drive from Lewis to
take the win. As we went into today’s race, it wasn’t clear whether one stop or two stops would be the way to
go in the cold conditions and depending on how the tyres warmed up. But when Sebastian stopped behind
the VSC, then it was clear that making just one stop was our best chance of winning – and then it was up to
Lewis to keep the tyres alive, stretch the stints and do the pace we needed. He did a brilliant job of that and,
when we could see from other cars on older soft tyres that they were holding on well, it was clear that the win
was really on. As for Nico, his day was defined by Turn One and the fight-back from there. Lewis reported on
the radio that he had understeer and cold front tyres going into the corner – and there was some risk for Nico
to be running on the outside line. It was a hard move and clearly you don’t want or expect to come out of Turn
2 with cars in 2nd and 9th positions when you start from the front row; but to be honest, these discussions
after each race give me a feeling a little bit of deja vu. After that, Nico got his head down and did a fantastic
job; he was on course for the podium before he suffered a slow puncture, which meant we brought him in for a
second stop, then he was managing the car and also marginal on fuel, so he couldn’t attack every lap. He
had a great battle with Verstappen, who was defending very well, then lost the car under braking into the final
chicane, fighting hard for every point. From the team’s perspective, a number of factors meant we didn’t take a
double podium, though we did score the most points of any team today. But the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull
showed that the competition is right there with us – and we need to get everything right in order to maintain
our position at the front.
Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)
An eventful and entertaining race from start to finish. It was far from the perfect start, of course. We knew it
was going to be tricky with such cold conditions, as it’s difficult enough to warm the tyres up at this circuit
even on a hot day. Sebastian, however, had an outstanding start, coming straight past both of our drivers well
before they ran out of road at turn two. From there, it was very much a recovery drive for us. We opted to put
both cars on a one stop strategy once both Ferraris appeared to have committed very early to a two stop.
This worked well and played a big part in the victory for Lewis. For Nico, however, a late puncture forced a
second stop. It looks like he also collected some debris in one of his radiators, as he had overheating
throughout the race. While this may not necessarily have affected his performance, it would have been quite a
big distraction to manage. A podium was a possibility for him today – but unfortunately it didn’t work out. Our
congratulations to Lewis for yet another Canadian grand prix victory – and also to the team in the garage and
on the pit wall, who were flawless in their pit stops and strategy calls.
Maurizio Arrivabene
“Today, Sebastian had a stunning start and a great race, showing that this cars has muscle. Kimi suffered
perhaps a bit too much when he was on fuel saving mode, losing temperature in his tires in the process and
struggling to recover. As far as race strategies are concerned, we tried to take advantage of the Virtual Safety
car period, which lasted way less than expected. It could have proved a very good move, taking into account
the predicted rate of degradation on the Ultrasoft tires: but this degradation did not materialize in the end.
Nevertheless, I am happy for Seb’s second place in the race, mostly on account of the committment from the
whole team after Monaco. Now we must keep working with humility but even more determination, and finally
aim for wins.”
Kimi Raikkonen
“It hasn’t been an easy weekend, we tried to make the maximum out of that, but obviously we cannot be
satisfied with the result. The behavior of the car was pretty ok in certain parts of the track, but in some others,
with the cool conditions, I was struggling with the tires. When I was free to push it felt good, but then when I
had to slow down for fuel saving the tires were losing temperature, they were cooling down and it was difficult
to make them work again, and this went on for most of the race. Now I don’t know what to expect for the next
weekend, I’ve only seen the layout of the Baku track in the simulator but I’m sure it will be a tricky circuit, it’s
nice to go to a new place.”
Sebastian Vettel
“Today it was a great race, I enjoyed every single lap and it’s just a shame that the trophy is not as big as it
could have been. There’s no reason to give the team any criticism for the strategy: when I pitted for the first
time we thought it would be quicker, so I was happy to come in. We expected obviously the tires to last a
little bit less, but they didn’t. The good news is the car is working, we had a normal Saturday, which allowed
us to have a great race. I had a perfect start, I reacted well to the light going off, I did not look at the others
and only focused on myself and was able to fly past and by turn 1 it was done. I was very happy to be in the
lead and push properly and then probably in the last corner I pushed a bit too much. Of course I would have
loved to hit more than 1 or 2 tenths per lap, maybe 3, maybe 7 tenths for lap, but I think it was a great race
and you should not get overexcited with strategy. In my point of view, I know that we have the best people in
terms of strategy. I know that this car is a step forward, we know also that there’s still potential, and we’re not
yet where we want to be. I also think we put ourselves under enormous pressure because we want to win. As
a team, we came here and did our best, this weekend we were very close and hopefully next week we’ll be
there.”
|
