Christian Horner: "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' time. For now, though we can reflect on a job well down here in Canada and celebrate our 100 wins. Great work Team!"
Scuderia Ferrari leaves Canada having shown clear signs it has made significant progress. For the first time, the SF-23 performed consistently throughout the race, so that Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were able to run at a strong pace while doing a good job of managing the tyres, to the extent that both drivers made one less stop than their closest rivals. Alongside this progress on the technical front, the strategy calls from the pit wall were effective, especially the decision to leave both cars out on track during the one Safety Car period. It allowed the drivers to clear a train of slower cars which otherwise would have been very difficult to overtake because of the very significant DRS effect at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
After not having much luck in Saturday's qualifying, Charles and Carlos lined up tenth and eleventh on the grid and then were stuck in traffic up until lap 12, when the Safety Car came out after George Russell hit the barriers. Charles and Carlos both stayed out on the Medium tyres, moving up to fourth and fifth places, so they were then able to push harder, going longer than any of the others. They were thus able to build up enough of a gap to pit for Hard tyres without losing position and then match the pace of those ahead, not losing ground to the eventual top three finishers, Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. There is still room for improvement, but today's race produced clear evidence that the team has made a step forward.
The World Championship is back in action in two weekends' time, with the ninth round of the season, the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: 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.
Lewis Hamilton finished third whilst George Russell was forced to retire from the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix. Starting from the second row, both drivers made strong starts. Lewis vaulted ahead of Alonso off the line to take second, with George putting the Spaniard under pressure but remaining fourth.
The Safety Car was deployed on lap 12 after George hit the wall at turn nine. He continued but dropped to the back of the field; both drivers pitting for the hard tyre.
Lewis was forced to relinquish P2 on lap 22 with Alonso passing. He kept touch with the Aston Martin and stopped on lap 40 for the medium tyre. Re-joining in third with a deficit of over five seconds, he began closing the gap but ultimately had to settle for the final spot on the podium. George meanwhile battled gainfully following the earlier incident and was running in P8 when the Team opted to retire his car with a front brake wear issue.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: 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.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We knew this track would be more difficult for us than Barcelona, so it's encouraging to see that we were very close on pace to Aston Martin and Ferrari. Lewis did a great job to get on the podium today. We didn't quite have the pace we needed to get second but when we look at the tracks that lie ahead of us, we should have a car that can regularly fight for the top-three. We've clearly got a bit of pace to find before we'll be worrying Max, but the Team is working well to bring performance and very motivated to close that gap.
George meanwhile is clearly disappointed with his mistake but we're second in the championship because both drivers have delivered so consistently over the season. His race came ended due to a front brake wear issue; that was not as a direct result of the incident but because of the traffic he faced as he battled back through the field. We know he will come back strongly in Austria, as the Team continues to push forward.
BWT Alpine F1 Team extended its points scoring streak to four races as Esteban Ocon finished eighth in the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal. Team-mate Pierre Gasly finished narrowly outside of the points in twelfth place after starting from fifteenth on the grid.
The race began favourably for the team with Esteban rising from sixth to fifth by the end of the opening lap and Pierre climbing two places from fifteenth to thirteenth. Pierre pitted early after finding himself stuck in traffic before a Safety Car two laps later prevented any hopes of leapfrogging cars ahead.
Esteban pitted under the Safety Car from fourth place, which benefitted the one-stop runners, notably both Ferraris and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull. From there, both drivers held position - Pierre pitting on lap 34 and Esteban lap 37 for Hards. Esteban was unable to pass Williams' Alex Albon who was on a bold one-stop with Pierre narrowly short of the points at the chequered flag after pressuring a number of cars in front.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal: "It's not been a straightforward afternoon with Esteban in the points and Pierre unfortunately missing out. I think we have many things to learn from the race as we saw both Ferraris, Sergio [Perez] and Alex [Albon] make the one-stop strategy work, whereas we planned a one-stop but converted to a two-stop on both cars, which probably was not the optimal approach given the final outcome. That's something we'll review to see what we can do better going forward. Esteban did a good job, especially at the start of the race where he was running as high as fourth behind the leading pack. It was a much more difficult afternoon for Pierre who was unfortunate with the timing of the first Safety Car as he pitted early to try and jump the traffic ahead. Again, like in Spain, it highlights the importance of Qualifying and benefitting from track position. His weekend was compounded by yesterday's impeding incident and it meant he was always going to play catch-up in the race. Looking forward, we've made it four consecutive races in the points and we must capitalise on our stronger race pace by converting that performance level into bigger points. Next up is the Austrian Sprint weekend where we must come away with a better outcome from both races."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "It's a shame to leave Canada with no points at the end of a race where we were keenly competitive in the midfield. Lando crossed the line P9 but was penalised five seconds and demoted to P13, which is unfortunate. The positive that we're taking away from Montréal is that the car had good race pace today in some parts of the race, but again we struggled, especially in the second stint, when tyres get too hot. We're looking forward to the future now and to upgrading the MCL60, with a view to strengthening our pace and getting into the points consistently in the future."
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake brought back one important point from the Canadian Grand Prix, as Valtteri Bottas made up four positions to finish within the top ten at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The Finn executed a solid race, supported by a good reverse strategy that saw him move up the rankings, eventually missing out on tenth place on the road to Lance Stroll in the final metres of the race. His P10 was immediately restored as Lando Norris, ahead, received a five-second penalty that relegated him behind Valtteri.
It was a more challenging race for Zhou Guanyu, who endured a more difficult race, starting from the back of the grid. The Chinese driver still managed to extract good speed from his C43 and was involved in several battles for position, making up four places and finishing P16.
The point scored today brings Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake's total to seven, allowing the team to overtake Haas in the standings, into seventh place in the Constructors' Championship.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "We must be happy with the one point we scored today with Valtteri, even though it's always a bit bitter to lose one position [to Lance Stroll] with just metres to go. Still, one point can make a fundamental difference at the end of the season, and we have now scored in two races in a row. I want to thank all the team for their hard work towards this result, which was not a foregone conclusion after yesterday's qualifying session. We know Saturdays are where we need to focus our attention: a better qualifying position can allow us to a fight for higher places and, ultimately, more points. In terms of race pace, our cars seem to be better, so we know the C43 as an overall package can be competitive. It was a more difficult weekend for Zhou; starting from P20, we had to try something different so we tried an alternative strategy with him to recover some ground. Nevertheless, we take this point and we get back to work to continue our streak in Spielberg in two weeks. We will race on permanent circuits until the summer break, and we are confident they can better suit our qualifying performances. We have seen, once again, how tight the battle is: one single metre could cost a position, just like one single tenth in qualifying can make the difference between Q2 and Q3: we will need to keep on working as hard as possible, both at the track and at the factory, to constantly improve."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "Congratulations to Fernando, Lance and the entire team on another great result. It was a very well-executed race with strong pace, clean pitstops, and important overtakes. There was not a moment to relax as Fernando stayed close to Max and kept a gap to Lewis to finish second. We also had to play it safe with some lift and coast to manage a fuel system issue. It was good to see Lance make a great comeback and score valuable points too. He was heavily disadvantaged by the Safety Car. It came out a lap after his first pitstop, which cost him several positions and undid much of his hard work in the opening laps. He kept his head down and recovered well to take ninth place on the final lap. We leave Montréal, our second home race, with 20 important points for the Constructors' Championship."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen finished 15th and 17th respectively at the Canadian Grand Prix, Round 9 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal.
Hulkenberg started from fifth place on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and ran towards the upper end of the midfield through the first stint of the race. The German pitted on lap 11, switching to White hard tires, but just one lap later the safety car was deployed when George Russell hit the wall. As others pitted under the safety car the minimized time loss proved beneficial with Hulkenberg subsequently shuffled down the order. He pitted again on lap 31, taking on another set of hard rubber, and preserved the set through to the checkered flag, finishing 15th.
Magnussen took the start from 13th on hard tires and had to take to the run-off at the end of the opening lap to avoid the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, dropping to 15th. The Dane stayed out behind the early safety car, climbing into the top 10, but was taken wide by AlphaTauri's Nyck de Vries at turn 3 on lap 36 when batting for position. Magnussen had to utilize the escape road before returning to the track, losing over half a minute of race time, and dropping towards the rear of the field. Magnussen boxed at the end of the lap, taking on mediums, and made a second stop on lap 54 for the same compound - eventually finishing the race 17th.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team sits eighth overall in the Constructors' Championship on eight points.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It's pretty clear now, obviously the result is not what we should be doing and it's very disappointing. I think we know where to look, the issue is as soon as we get into traffic and behind cars, our degradation is immense - we cannot get the tire performance back and we just slip back. We can clearly see it, as soon as we get away from free air and start to fight, we just degrade. We know really what we need to look for, and we'll be looking for it. We need to put our heads together and try to find a solution to this and not hide behind good qualifying results."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "Yesterday's qualifying positions made today's race more difficult than it needed to be. This, combined with Yuki's three-place penalty, forced us into trying something different and unfortunately, it didn't work out. We made a very early stop with Yuki to use the free air to recover race time. The strategy was working quite well and Yuki got back into the pack, however, losing a bit of time behind Magnussen on older tyres, the decision was made to convert to a two-stop. This cost a bit more track position than expected due to a slow stop so ultimately, we couldn't get back to the pack led by Albon. Nyck's race was mainly in traffic and unfortunately, his first stop was made the lap before the safety car, meaning he wasn't able to take advantage of the undercut. Subsequent contact with Magnussen later in the race cost him more time, along with a raft of blue flags. We need to review Yuki's race to determine if sticking with the one-stop strategy could have potentially provided a better result. In terms of pace, had we managed to qualify further up the grid and been able to utilise a more conventional strategy, I believe we could've scored points today. Qualifying was the key aspect of the weekend, and we need to be executing better going forwards, so we're better placed to start scoring and recovering from our current situation where we are dropping points, and letting our closest competitors move away from us in the Constructors' championship."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: There were mixed fortunes for the two sides of our garage today. We were forced to retire Logan's car after we spotted an oil leak, which was starting to affect his power unit. We need to inspect the car tonight and find out exactly where the leak is coming from. It was a shame for Logan as he had a good opportunity for some close racing and a good result.
With Alex, we benefited from a well-timed safety car but were also able to put together a very strong 1-stop race. We have seen in the past that Alex is exceptionally good at managing a race and defending against a group of cars. Today, he was able to overtake on track and then couple all of his past experience with the strengths of the updated FW45 to pull off a very good result. His drive was outstanding and the help he received from the team was equally impressive.
We suspected that the circuit in Montreal would suit the car quite well and this has been enhanced by the upgrade package, which delivered well today. The whole team in Grove has worked tirelessly to deliver this upgrade and they can be suitably proud of their achievement. We still have a lot to learn about the revised FW45 and this work will continue in Austria in a couple of weeks.
Max Verstappen won the Pirelli Grand Prix du Canada. It was his 41st victory, which puts him level with Ayrton Senna in fifth place on the all-time winners list which is headed by Lewis Hamilton on 103.
This was Red Bull's 100th win from 355 Grand Prix starts. Its first dates back to 19 April 2009 when Sebastian Vettel won in China. Red Bull is the fifth team to have reached a century of wins in a category headed by Ferrari (242), followed by McLaren (183), Mercedes (125) and Williams (114).
Of the top ten finishers, six drivers stopped twice with only four making just the one stop. However, it is worth noting that Perez's second pit stop, just two laps from the end was carried out purely to allow him to pick up the extra point for setting the fastest race lap.
16 drivers opted to start on the Mediums: three of the remaining four - Perez, Bottas and Magnussen - chose the Hard tyre, while only Gasly preferred to start on the Softs.
As expected, the C5 was the least used compound in the race, completing just 12 laps: ten of those were in Gasly's first stint and two with Perez at the end of the race.
The most used compound was the C3 (70.4% of all laps completed) but a significant number of laps (28.7%) were run on the C4.
In terms of stint length, the standout performance came from Albon, who is no stranger to this feat, running 58 laps on a set of Hards. He finished in an impressive seventh place. Leclerc drove the longest stint on Medium tyres doing 39 laps.
Mario Isola: "It was a very interesting race, the most closely balanced so far this season, as can be seen from the results sheet, with four drivers from four different teams all finishing in the space of under 20 seconds. Yesterday's prediction that a two-stop strategy was the best option was confirmed as the top three all went down this route, even if they each managed it in different ways. However, the one stop proved to be a valid alternative, as demonstrated by the two Ferrari drivers: Leclerc and Sainz went to over half-distance on the Mediums without any significant degradation in terms of tyre performance, a sign that their car is making progress on the set-up front.
Temperatures were lower today than on Friday and that contributed to reducing the risk of overheating the tyres. Another factor that played an important role in tyre management was the fact the track rubbered-in very quickly during the race, even though it was initially very dirty after it had rained for almost all of Saturday.
Personally, it was an honour for me, on behalf of Pirelli, the race's Title Sponsor, to hand over the winning constructors' trophy to Adrian Newey, someone who has contributed so much to the history of this team and of our sport and indeed, who continues to do so, on the very day when Red Bull celebrated its 100th win."
