Formula 1 2018 Heineken Canada Grand Prix

Canadian Grand Prix – Montreal 10 June

Posted: 10.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Maurizio Arrivabene: ”Without a doubt, today’s win is down to a very good car and a great drive from Seb. The team, both at the track and back in Maranello, has worked hard and methodically, preparing the car, which right from Saturday’s qualifying proved to be very quick. The tyres responded very well to the strategies we devised. It’s a shame that Kimi’s mistake in qualifying affected his whole race. There is still a long way to go in the championship and we have to continue giving it our all. I take this opportunity to thank our fans and customers who never fail to show us their support and our sponsors and technical partners, especially Shell, for their support in our development programme.”

Sebastian Vettel: ”This win is very important for our tifosi and for our team, today is a special day. 40 years ago Gilles won here, then 14 years ago it was Michael and I was thinking of that today. At the start I tried to build up a margin, I was happy with my first lap and then the safety car came out and I had to start over again. During my last 10 laps I prayed that my car would not develop a problem until the end! Points are always important but today this win means a lot and not just in terms of Championship. The season is still so long and there are many races ahead. The main thing is that our car is strong and stays like that, so that we can fight.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “Yesterday’s mistake in qualifying did not put ourselves in a good position for the race. Overtaking was very difficult here; I tried to get ahead of Hamilton after my pit stop, but it did not work out. Then It was even difficult to get close enough to him to open the DRS. It was a surprise, because on this track you would expect to see overtaking and fights, instead it was a similar story to two weeks ago in Monaco. The race was boring and not much happened. We decided to stay out a little bit longer on our first set of tyres and I don’t think that cost us any position: it was our only option to try something different.”

Canadian Grand Prix – “Great job, great!”

Posted: 10.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb takes third win and is back leading the championship. Kimi sixth.

Montreal, 10 June –Scuderia Ferrari won the Canadian GP to end a 14 year drought at this track. Seb Vettel is now back in the lead of the championship, while Kimi Raikkonen brought home 8 points for sixth place. A weekend that started with a few difficulties was turned around thanks to team work, a fact Seb was quick to underline.

Seb got away well from pole, while Kimi had Hamilton in his sights, but had to lift off and lost a place. The opening lap saw a collision between Hartley and Stroll, which brought out the Safety Car, which is a classic Montreal feature. Four laps later the race was on again and the number 5 Ferrari pulled out a bit of a lead to ward off the threat of an undercut. At this point, Seb was the only one lapping under the 1’16” barrier and all he had to say on the radio was that the tyres were fine.

The strategy was based on a single stop to take on the hardest compound available here, the Supersoft and then run to the flag. So Kimi also upped his pace a bit. Seb locked his front wheels and lost a second and then had some traffic to deal with. But once he’d cleared the backmarkers, he banged in a super third sector to set the fastest lap on lap 29.

Kimi also upped his pace prior to his pit stop in the hope of attacking Hamilton. He came in on lap 33 and had his rival in his sights, but lost time lapping Sirotkin.

Out in front, Sebastian led by around 6 seconds. Raikkonen set the fastest lap and was back in the hunt. On lap 37, Bottas pitted and that was the sign for the Scuderia to also bring in Vettel and the mechanics did a good job on his car.

After that it was a race run at arms length, with Seb managing his lead, the tyres and fuel consumption and paying particular attention to the backmarkers. Behind Seb, Bottas had to fend off a hard charging Verstappen.

“Tell them not to wave the chequered flag, it’s not over yet,” said Seb on the radio. He was right, as there was still a lap to go, the best one of the whole weekend.

Canadian Grand Prix – “This pole means a lot to us”

Posted: 09.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb over the moon after Qualifying, Kimi unsure about what happened

Montreal, June 9 – Every metre counts on this 4.361 Km long circuit where half a tenth of a second can make a lot of difference. Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel got the best out of it today and his effort resulted in pole number 217 for the team, the 4^th in the season so far. Conversely, a small mistake on his very last run, cost Kimi Raikkonen dear and he had to settle for fifth place when a much better result had looked on the cards. However,  the substantial performance improvement that the SF71H has shown since the first day of practice means there’s a lot of potential to be explored in tomorrow’s race.

“Pole position is always important”, said Seb “and for Scuderia Ferrari this track and this country means a lot, as this is the place where Gilles Villeneuve came from. That’s why I am very happy to have qualified on pole. It’s a great result for all the team, but I think I could have been even faster. I was quite happy with my first run in Q3 but I knew there was something more in the car for the first part of the lap. So I tried it all but I wasn’t sure until the end if it was enough. We have  definitely improved since yesterday, I was very happy with the car today . Choosing the Ultrasofts for the start of the race was a pretty straightforward decision for us, now we have to do our best on Sunday!”

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was obviously less happy: “On my last try in Q3, I suddenly had a lot of understeer  entering Turn 2, I  struggled to turn the car round. At that point I had no choice but  to try and get out of it as quickly as possible , but obviously I was off the line and my lap finished there. What happened was a bit odd,  my car had been working well all day. I’m sure there was more to come today, and the end result is not what we were looking for. Tomorrow is a different day though, we’ll see what happens. For sure it will be tricky, with different tires on different cars in the front. It’s difficult to have a clear picture of how it will pan out, but we believe  we made the right choice for the start of the race”.

Canadian Grand Prix – Scuderia Ferrari on pole

Posted: 09.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb heads the field, with Kimi on third row

Montreal, 9 June – Sebastian Vettel drove his Ferrari SF71H to pole position this afternoon at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Canada. On the way, he set a new track record of 1’10”764. It is Seb’s 54th career pole, the ninth with the Scuderia and it is number 217 for the team. Kimi Raikkonen made a mistake on his final run and that meant he could do no better than fifth fastest in 1’11”095. Both Scuderia Ferrari drivers ran the Hypersoft and Ultrasoft tyres and having used the latter in Q2, these are the tyres on which they will start the race, which gets underway at 14h10 (20h10 CET.)

Canadian Grand Prix – Final free practice completed in Canada

Posted: 09.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb second and Kimi third

Montreal, 9 June – By the end of the final free practice session, Sebastian Vettel set the second fastest time of 1’11”648, followed by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who posted a lap in 1’11”650. Both drivers ran Hypersoft tyres for the entire session, doing long runs towards the end of the hour. Qualifying starts at 14:00 (20:00 CET.)

Canadian Grand Prix – “We didn’t get all the answers”

Posted: 08.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Seb and Kimi predict further improvement for tomorrow

Montreal, June 8 – A very mixed picture emerged from the first day of practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where Kimi Raikkonen was in second place on the timesheets and Seb Vettel managed fifth best after losing some time in the garage and then being hampered by a red flag and traffic on his fast runs. The Canadian circuit is notorious for featuring strong track evolution as the weekend progresses, so it is not easy to predict what the future holds.

“We’re not far off,” was Seb’s comment, “although I am not entirely happy yet and there’s still some work to do. In the end I didn’t do many laps today and I think we were running a bit late. It is difficult to get to know all the answers, I think we need some more time to get everything together and then we’ll see what happens. We tried various things, but there’s still something we have to work on. I didn’t get into the rhythm, but tried to go through as much of the programme as we could. In the end, we need more time to get a better picture of the situation. Hopefully, putting everything together can help us tomorrow. Now we’ll stay focused on the work to do”.

“This track is not the easiest to get things where you want them,” added Kimi. “It’s not straightforward and we expected that. It’s very bumpy, not just with all the bumps, but also with the kerbs to ride over. The combination of low downforce and low grip can make it very difficult. As for the Hypersoft tyres, at least we have a better idea of how they work. They’re good on one lap and then last quite a few more. We’ve been improving during the day and that proves that we’re going in the right direction. For sure we have some work ahead of us, but I was a bit happier at the end of the session”.

Canadian Grand Prix – Friday practice completed

Posted: 08.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Kimi 2^nd, Seb 5^th

Montreal, 8 June – Come the end of the second free practice session at the Ile Notre Dame track, the Scuderia Ferrari drivers were in second and fifth places with Kimi Raikkonen (1’12”328) and Sebastian Vettel (1’12”985) respectively.

Following a crash for Renault driver Carlos Sainz at the exit to turn 7, the session was red flagged so that debris could be removed from the track. The Finn ran Ultrasoft and Hypersoft tyres, while the German used all three compounds, the Supersoft, Ultrasoft and Hypersoft.

The final free practice session takes place tomorrow at 11h00, 17h00 CET.

Canadian Grand Prix – P1, updates on the SF71H

Posted: 08.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Session given over to testing: Seb 4th and Kimi 6th fastest

Montreal, 8 June –Sunny and windy conditions greeted the drivers for the first free practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix at the circuit named after Gilles Villeneuve. The two SF71Hs took to the track with various new parts, both aerodynamic to suit this low downforce track and also some mechanical changes to elements of the Power Unit. The 90 minute session was red flagged at one point as the Ferrari drivers focused on various types of test and, come the end, Sebastian was fourth fastest in 1’13”574 and Kimi was sixth in 1’13”727, both times set on the Hypersoft tyre. The second session gets underway at 20h00 CET.

Canadian Grand Prix – “This is quite a special place”

Posted: 07.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Kimi and Seb reflect on the ‘superfast’ challenge ahead

Montreal, June 7 – Scuderia Ferrari drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel arrived at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this morning – in the case of Seb, riding a bike – and now, they are all set for the challenge on one of the few remaining ‘superfast’ tracks on the calendar.

“This is quite a special place”, says Kimi “where you need a good top speed, but the most important thing is to have a good ride over the kerbs; it’s about compromising the top speed through the slowest part and the braking. It’s the first track of the year that is quite different from the others. Compared to Monaco, here you have less chances to go off track and hit the wall, but there are places you can easily lose the car and end up in the barrier, because the kerbs are quite rough here and the chicanes are taken at quite high speed. Obviously you don’t want to waste time going off the track and missing part of a session, but it’s part of the game. You want to push as much as you feel it’s ok for that moment, especially in qualifying and the race. The rest is just about figuring things out and trying, making sure that you have the right feeling to go as fast as you can. It will be interesting to see how the Hypersoft tyres will behave at this track; I tried them for a couple of runs in the winter test , but obviously the conditions are different now. I’m sure over one lap they will be very good, but how long they will last will depend on many things. It’s been very close between everybody in the past races, so I don’t expect the situation to be completely different all of a sudden. It’s impossible to know now what will happen over the weekend; tomorrow we’ll start driving and get the first feelings and then will go from there. Hopefully we’ll be there in the fight”.

Seb’s comments reflect his teammate’s point of view: “Compared to last year, we have another car and the approach is, of course, also different. It is hard to make any prediction about this weekend. A lot can depend on what the other teams can do here and on the weather as well, as it might be raining. The track is a little bit different from any other, but we think the engine can play a role here. So, let’s see where we are. We have brought some updates here, which I am sure everyone does at some point along the season: so far, we’ve had a good and efficient car on the straights and this should help. There are a couple of tricky points, but I like this track. Unlike Monaco, which is not the best place for overtaking, I think it should be different here. However, tires play a bigger role this year. We’ve done a good job so far, but there’s still a long way to go”.

Canadian Grand Prix – 40 years on

Posted: 05.06.2018
Source: Ferrari

Montreal and memories of Gilles Villeneuve

There are several unusual elements to an old photo from 40 years ago. For starters, the winner is wearing a heavy jacket over his race suit and instead of champagne, a magnum of beer features in the celebration. It was a weekend of rain and arctic cold and it might have been even more strange, as the original idea for this Canadian Grand Prix, the first staged in Montreal, was that it was originally meant to be held on the following Monday, Thanksgiving day. But even back in 1978, TV was all-important and the race ran on Sunday.

But maybe, the strangest thing about this short, oval shaped track, with its layout cut by chicanes and built alongside the Olympic Rowing basin among the greenery of the Ile Notre Dame, skirting the Saint Lawrence River, was that apparently, the drivers didn’t like it. There were mutterings that it was built specifically to suit the local man, the daredevil Gilles Villeneuve. True or not, he won the race on Sunday, his first F1 win, at the wheel of the Scuderia Ferrari T3. He drove like a demon to catch Jones and future team-mate Scheckter, before inheriting the lead after Jarier retired.

Gilles has gone, but the truth is, the likes of him always stay with us a little bit. And the track, the one no liked at first, is now considered one of the classics on the championship calendar. And of course, it bears his name: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.