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2008 Grand Prix du Canada
Team Quotes - Sunday 8 June
Stefano Domenicali: There is much for us to regret about the outcome of this race. We saw one of our drivers retire because he was hit when stopped at the exit of the pit lane in front of the red light. It was a serious mistake from Hamilton and I think the penalty imposed by the FIA is in line with it, even if it does not restore what was a lost opportunity for us. In fact, Kimi was in an excellent position to fight for the win, partly thanks to a car which showed it was running at a great pace. Felipe drove an exceptional race. Unfortunately, we had a problem with the refueling rig when he made a pit stop during the safety car period – a joint in the fuel line broke and no fuel went in – and we had to call him in next time round for a further stop that dropped him to the back of the field. Felipe did not lose heart and produced a great climb up the order which ended up with him finishing fifth. These are very important points which today allow us to maintain our lead in the Constructors' Championship. I spoke earlier of regret, but I would add that it is today's disappointment that actually strengthens our desire to fight back. We know there is still a long season ahead of us up against very strong opponents and so we say congratulations to BMW and Kubica for their first victory, but we are also aware of our own strengths that are a match for anyone.
Luca Baldisserri: I don't want to comment on the collision that involved Kimi: I would just say that, through no fault of our own, we lost a great chance of winning. I would prefer to pay a great compliment to Felipe, who drove a fantastic race after the problem we had at his first refueling stop. Dropped to the back of the pack, he managed to climb his way up the order to finish fifth, pulling off some very nice passing moves and showing what he is made of and what the F2008 can do. Kimi also, after an early waiting phase brought on by a bit of graining on his tyres, had begun to lap at a great pace, which saw him set the fastest race lap. Compared to how these last two races went last year, we have definitely made a real step forward in performance terms, but for various reasons, we have not picked up the results that were within our grasp. Now we must immediately turn this bad sequence around and get back to our usual standards.
It is done! Non-stop celebrations for the BMW Sauber F1 Team: The maiden win for the young team turned out to be a double victory when Robert Kubica crossed the line ahead of his team mate, Nick Heidfeld, at the Canadian Grand Prix. Kubica now leads the drivers' championship. In the constructors' standings the BMW Sauber F1 Team is second, three points behind Ferrari.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It is fantastic, I am overwhelmed. It is difficult to find the right words. Today just everything worked well. We hoped for another podium here in Montreal, but would not have dreamed to get a one-two victory. Congratulations to Robert and Nick and to the entire team at home in Munich and Hinwil. Today we achieved a milestone. Both drivers worked with no errors and the strategies paid off. I think we will have to celebrate a lot today.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): What a day! I just can't put my feelings into words after that race. Both drivers and the entire crew did a perfect job today. Robert had lost time when he was stuck behind slower cars after the Safety Car period, but in a fantastic sprint he made up for it and secured himself the race win. For Nick today was ideal. We shouldn't forget he started eighth. At certain times in the race he was the fastest man on track. When we switched him to a one-stop strategy we took pretty much of a risk, especially with regards to the tyres because Nick had to drive with the softer option for a very long time. Today everything paid off – decisions on the day as well as all the work done over the last two and half years.
It was a disappointing afternoon for the ING Renault F1 Team as Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet both retired from an eventful Canadian Grand Prix.
Fernando and Nelson lined up in 4th and 15th places respectively on the grid and the team was hopeful of fighting for a strong points finish, although the team knew that the poor track conditions would make for an especially tricky afternoon.
An early safety car period on lap 16 reshuffled the pack and both Fernando and Nelson headed for the pits. But as the race resumed Nelson encountered brake trouble, which led to his retirement soon after half distance.
Fernando continued to race competitively at the front of the field and remained in the hunt for a podium until contact with the wall brought a premature end to what had been a promising afternoon.
The team will now regroup and head to Barcelona for a test session next week to begin its preparations for the French Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Flavio Briatore, Managing Director ING Renault F1 Team: After a good performance in qualifying we had other hopes for the race this afternoon. The arrival of the safety car at the start of the race meant that we had to review our strategy and that penalised us, especially with Fernando. He was then stuck behind the BMW before he retired.
Pat Symonds, Executive Director of Engineering: Nelson retired due to a problem with the brakes, which caused abnormal wear, but we don't know why yet and we are still investigating exactly what happened. With Fernando we adopted the same strategy as Kubica at the pit stop, but unfortunately we got trapped by Heidfeld, which made our race difficult and ultimately we didn't finish.
Despite showing strong pace throughout the race weekend again, the AT&T Williams team was unable to convert its potential in the Canadian Grand Prix with both Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima caught up amid a variety of incidents during the race. Nico Rosberg survived both a nose change after a collision with Lewis Hamilton in the pitlane as well as a puncture to finish the race, albeit outside of the points, but Kazuki Nakajima's accident at two-thirds distance resulted in his retirement. Congratulations to Robert Kubica and BMW Sauber for their first victory.
Sam Michael, Technical Director: Obviously it was not a good result for us, although we had good first laps and a good strategy, but Nico then had a crash at the end of the pitlane, that put him back, and then had a puncture and it was difficult to recover from that. Kazuki had a crash later in the race at the hairpin. There were points for the taking as the car has been fast enough to be at the front of the midfield for the 2nd race in a row, but we simply haven't capitalised on it.
Christian Horner: A fantastic result for the team today and particularly for David after such a tough start to the year. He kept his head down, had very good pace and the strategy worked out perfectly for a comfortable third place. For Mark, following his accident yesterday the pace car came at exactly the wrong point for him, and he was badly compromised by Barrichello and Nakajima in the first part of the race. He therefore couldn't exploit the pace advantage that he had and spent all afternoon in traffic. But, for the team, a podium result here in Montreal is an excellent result.
Fabrice Lom, Renault Principal Engineer, Track Support: I'm very, very happy for the team. The relationship we have with Red Bull Racing is so good and this is such a big reward for us. We are so happy for David. He's had a difficult beginning to the season, but now he has a podium result. I hope it isn't the last we get this year! You need a good engine on this track and we've proved that we have that, we're on the podium and the reliability and performance is there.
Tadashi Yamashina - Team Principal: "This is a wonderful day for everyone involved with the team - from the race team to the test team to everyone working at the factory. I hope they can all enjoy this kind of moment. Before this race we opted for a very long one-stop strategy because we knew the likelihood of safety cars was very high here. That gave us the opportunity to be flexible when such problems arrived. The drivers and the pit crew all followed that strategy to the letter. With these very challenging track conditions the most important thing was for the two drivers to stay on the road. They both did that and more. On the last lap Timo drove very hard and managed to hold off Massa. That was a very valuable drive and a very valuable performance by him. This is an important haul of points and we are so happy. We will now do our best to keep up this momentum at the next race."
Franz Tost: Vettel did a really fantastic job to start from the pit lane and pick up a point for eighth place, his second consecutive points finish. He might have finished higher if it wasn't for a problem with the refuelling rig during his pit stop. He drove a very mature race, at one point managing to fight off Kubica and Alonso who were behind him and later, also keeping Kovalainen in a much faster car at bay. It was a very good well judged drive. Well done also to the team who worked brilliantly to build up a car with a new monocoque after Sebastian's crash yesterday. As for Bourdais, he struggled all the weekend. Let's just say this was not his weekend.
The Honda Racing F1 Team picked up two more World Championship points this afternoon when Rubens Barrichello finished seventh in a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix. Jenson Button, who started the 70-lap race from the pitlane, came home in 11th place.
Rubens drove a tenacious race from start-to-finish. After starting ninth, his track position was helped on lap 17 by the deployment of the safety car, which resulted in the front-runners pitting and then crashing into each other at the exit of the pitlane. Rubens stayed out and ran second to Heidfeld, before leading the race for seven laps ahead of his only pitstop of the race on lap 36.
Once the race had settled down, Rubens was running fourth when battling with a lack of grip which caused him to run wide going into turn 4 on lap 59. This enabled Glock and Trulli to squeeze through, dropping him to sixth. Rubens battled hard to defend his position in the remaining 11 laps and whilst Massa got by, he managed to keep Vettel at bay to cross the line in seventh position.
Jenson, meanwhile, faced an uphill struggle from the pitlane. He ended the opening lap in 20th place, before battling his way up to seventh position prior to making his final pitstop on lap 53. He rejoined in 11th place where he remained for the duration of the race.
Today's Canadian Grand Prix produced mixed results for the two drivers, however two more points for the team and Rubens. Tell us about the race.
Ross Brawn, Team Principal: "Rubens was fuelled long on a fairly typical strategy. The early safety car was deployed at the ideal moment for him, forcing the two stopping cars in front of him to pit. The incident in the pit lane also served to take out three of the faster cars and open up the points paying positions further. At the restart Rubens was able to pull out a little gap, although losing a place to Coulthard was inevitable. Rubens had done a great job in qualifying and we knew the race would be defensive, especially fuelled heavily on the option tyre in the second half of the race. Sadly his one small mistake, due to a lack of grip, cost him two positions. He then had to succumb to the advancing Massa and he dropped to seventh. With Jenson, we swapped the tyres in the safety car period, so he did not need to run on the weaker option later. For him the safety car just did not open the race enough to enable him to get into the points."
How will you be preparing for your return to Europe?
RB: "We always knew this was going to be a tough race for us but we made the best of the opportunities and came away with more points. That is the approach we need to maintain. We are heading to Barcelona next week ahead of the French Grand Prix in Magny Cours, where the higher downforce characteristics of this track and potentially high temperatures will suit our car better."
The Force India Formula One Team's Canadian Grand Prix ended in a disappointing double retirement today at a scorchingly hot Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Adrian Sutil's race ended on lap 13 with a gearbox issue, while Giancarlo Fisichella's was halted on lap 51 with a spin and anti-stall problem.
The duo nevertheless demonstrated a strong performance and were once again able to keep pace with the field. Before his first stop, Giancarlo was into eighth position following the first safety car period, however a stall in his pit stop due to low fuel pressure on lap 30 dropped him to 17th and the rear of the field. The Italian however put in a series of quick laps to close the gap to 16th, but his race came to a premature end under 20 laps from the flag fall.
The team will now focus on an improved showing in Magny-Cours, France, for the eighth event of the year in just two weeks' time.
Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer: A frustrating race for Force India and very disappointing not to get two cars to the flag. From our starting positions of 16th and 17th we had a good race pace. It was a shame that Adrian stopped with a gearbox problem so early on as he was very competitive with the group in front. We've yet to identify the reasons exactly. Giancarlo's pace in the first stint was also very good and we made a call to leave him out during the first safety car period, mainly to get track position. On his pit stop we decided to leave the fronts on and only change the rears, but as he pulled away he had an engine stall, which was very strange as we haven't seen it before, and it compromised his race. The decision on tyres turned out to be right though as his pace on the second stint was actually very, very good. We made a call to bring him in again when Alonso spun on lap 44, hoping that a safety car would come out, but it didn't materialise and we couldn't pick up any positions. Sadly a spin then ended his race. We will just have to move onto Magny-Cours now and hope for better there.
Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and managing director: Sadly another disappointing weekend. Unfortunately we had two mechanical issues that ended both Adrian and Giancarlo's races, but we will analyse why and move on. We have to keep these things in mind but look forward to the next race in France and not let this disappointment get us down. I do think there are however many positives we can take over to France; Giancarlo was very competitive in his last stint and overall we have been very close to the midfield all weekend. After his fine performance in Monaco, Adrian also had a good weekend here in Canada too as he kept pace with Giancarlo throughout. It was just a shame that we could not translate this performance into a result here today.
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Heikki Kovalainen finished the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in ninth place. After 70 laps (305.270km), Heikki took the chequered flag 54.4sec behind winner Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber). His team-mate Lewis Hamilton retired on lap 20 after his pit stop during the Safety Car period (9.9sec), when he hit Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari at the pit lane exit after Kimi had stopped. Heikki was on a two-stop strategy and pitted on laps 19 (10.0sec) and 53 (6.4sec). After the seventh of 18 Grands Prix, Lewis lies second in the drivers' rankings, tied with Felipe Massa (Ferrari) on 38 points; Kubica leads with 42 points. Heikki is sixth overall with 15 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is third with 53 points; Ferrari leads with 73 points.
Ron Dennis: "Obviously, for a team that exists to win, today was a very disappointing day. But the fact is that we had the pace and therefore the capability to win, which is of course encouraging. The collision that eliminated Lewis was just one of those things. No racing driver would deliberately put himself out of a Grand Prix, and the plain fact is that Lewis didn't realise that the cars in front of him were coming to a halt until too late. It's difficult for a driver to decide whether to focus on the lights or on the cars ahead in situations like that. Having said that, we accept the stewards' decision. Heikki had a difficult weekend, too. But, together as a team, we'll build on the disappointment of Canada 2008."
Norbert Haug: "A race to quickly forget. Lewis held a comfortable lead and controlled the field until the 20th lap and had the best chance of winning, when his accident at the pit lane exit destroyed them. We now concentrate on the next race, Lewis is just four points behind the leader in the World Championship. Congratulations to BMW on their 1-2 victory - well done!"
Robert Kubica has achieved his first ever Grand Prix victory after using a soft - soft - super soft Bridgestone Potenza tyre strategy in the seventh round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Canadian Grand Prix.
Kubica started from the front row and maintained his second position in the early stages of the race. He gained an advantage when early race leader Lewis Hamilton made a mistake and drove into the back of Kimi Raikkonen, who had stopped at a red light at the pit exit. Both drivers retired from the race.
Kubica faced a battle for the race win with team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who used a different tyre strategy of soft – super soft, making just one pit stop to Kubica's two. Kubica prevailed and led his team-mate across the line by 16.4seconds at the chequered flag.
David Coulthard finished in third place, making his first podium appearance since the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006. Timo Glock scored his first points since his Formula One race debut, in Canada in 2004. Felipe Massa made three pit stops on his way to fifth position, whilst Jarno Trulli finished sixth. Rubens Barrichello finished seventh, and Sebastian Vettel scored the final championship point.
Drivers faced a challenging afternoon, and an eventful race. After track surface problems on Saturday, sections of the circuit were resurfaced that evening. However, there were continuing issues in the race, with the track breaking up. Despite this, tyre performance from the soft and super soft compound Bridgestone Potenzas was strong. The race's fastest lap, a 1min 17.387secs, was set by Kimi Raikkonen on lap 14, using the super soft compound.
Leaving Montreal, Kubica leads the drivers' championship with 42 points, ahead of Hamilton in second on 38 points, with Massa in third on the same points tally. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro continue to lead the constructors' championship with 73 points, ahead of the BMW Sauber F1 Team on 70. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes are in third place on 53. Formula One will next be in action on June 20- 22 with the Grand Prix du France at Magny Cours, where Bridgestone's medium and soft compound Potenza tyres will be used.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development: Congratulations to Robert Kubica and BMW Sauber on their first win. Bridgestone have a big factory in Poland, and Robert's win today was a very good present for our employees there. It was a fantastic drive, especially at the track where he had such a big accident last year. For BMW Sauber, achieving the win and second place was a perfect result. Despite the difficult track conditions, tyre performance was good and we did not see any of the issues we experienced here last year. The track breaking-up made matters difficult for drivers, and at turn 10 in particular, we saw a number of mistakes because of this.
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