Canada: Qualifications Seen from the Stands

Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – Pole position

Lewis Hamilton – 2nd

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): « Another tight qualifying session between Nico and Lewis. They were pushing each other in each of the three sessions, but in the end, Nico put together better laps in Q3 and took pole by just 8 hundredths. It was great to achieve another 100% Mercedes front row and have both drivers at such a high level. Looking forward to [Sunday], we hope for a dry race and expect a tough competition. Tires, brakes, and fuel management will be the big challenges. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 3rd

Daniel Ricciardo – 6th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: If you had told me before the weekend that we would be third and sixth in qualifying, I think I would have signed up straight away! An excellent final lap from Sebastian, he extracted the maximum from the car to place 3rd and Daniel is right there also in 6th position. All things considered, it was a good qualifying session.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Williams

Valtteri Bottas – 4th

Felipe Massa – 5th

Rob Smedley, Performance Director: « I am happy. The guys did a really good job in warming up the tires and ensuring the drivers will be comfortable in the first sector. I am pleased with the settings and the balance, the engineers and drivers did a great job. The only downside is that we are not 3rd and 4th, but that’s just my competitive spirit. It was a good job by the team and the drivers and now we need to convert that into points. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 7th

Kimi Räikkönen – 10th

Pat Fry, Chassis Technical Director: « Today, we knew we were going to have a tough qualifying session, but to be honest, we expected a little better. We also knew that on this circuit, we wouldn’t be competing with Red Bull, but with other teams that, thanks to the few corners and long straights here, would give us a hard time, and that was the case. The session started with high temperatures, almost 20 degrees more than Friday, and we struggled more than our rivals to find grip with our two cars. From a technical standpoint, Red Bull, thanks to their high level of downforce, and Williams, with better handling of the Mercedes engine, were able to get more out of their tires, which means they were more competitive than us. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Toro Rosso

Jean-Eric Vergne – 8th

Daniil Kvyat – 15th

Ricardo Penteado, Track Support Chief at Renault Sport F1: « It was a good day, with data from FP3 helping us optimize qualifying. We used the power unit to the maximum and JEV did an excellent job to get into the top 10. It’s a shame we couldn’t give Daniil more track time today as it would have helped him, but it doesn’t take away from Toro Rosso-Renault’s solid performance. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

McLaren

Jenson Button – 9th

Kevin Magnussen – 12th

Éric Boullier, Sporting Director: Qualification is not as important here as in other places, so there is still a lot to do in what will almost certainly be an extremely difficult, demanding, and unpredictable race.

Kevin was very unlucky in qualifying: he really gave it his all throughout the weekend, and I think he could have joined Jenson in the top 10 if he hadn’t been caught in traffic during the installation lap of his last stint in Q2. This caused a drop in temperature in his tires, which made him lose two or three tenths in the first sector.

It’s a shame, but it’s part of learning. He did a fantastic job and worked very well with his engineers. It’s a temporary setback, and, as I say, qualifying is less important here than on other tracks, so he will be able to race aggressively.

Jenson also did an extremely good job all weekend. As a team, we know our car doesn’t have the downforce needed to compete with the top six or seven, so ninth is quite representative of the car’s pace. Even so, Jenson does a superb job of getting the most out of his machine.

It will be a long and eventful race, with track temperatures expected to be the hottest of the weekend. There will be plenty of opportunities to gain positions, so we will do our best to manage this race on all fronts.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Force India

Nico Hülkenberg – 11th

Sergio Pérez – 13th

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: « It was a tight qualifying session today. Starting 11th and 13th means we’re not in great shape, but some teams around us seemed to have the advantage today and we only just missed out on Q3. In terms of car performance, both drivers are comfortable and the setup changes have gone in the right direction, giving us every reason to be optimistic. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 14th

Pastor Maldonado – 17th

Alan Permane, Track Operations Director: « It has not been a good day for us. Pastor had a problem with the turbo intake on his car during the first part of qualifying, a problem we are analyzing. Romain missed the opportunity to set a faster lap than 14th because he crossed the line one second too late to do an additional lap. We will analyze what happened as we expected better positions. »

– Read the drivers’ statements

Sauber

Adrian Sutil – 16th

Esteban Gutierrez – Non-starter [will start from the pits]

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: « Obviously, it’s disappointing to start qualifying with only one car. Regarding Esteban’s accident, the engineers are still analyzing the data. Esteban will be forced to start from the pit lane, which makes things more difficult. On the other hand, it’s an advantage because he will be allowed to adjust his car’s setup and fully focus on the race. Adrian didn’t have an easy task either. However, regarding the long stints, there is still hope. So we expect him to perform better in the race. »

-Lire les déclarations des pilotes

Marussia

Max Chilton – 18th

Jules Bianchi – 19th

John Booth, Team Principal: « The qualifying sessions went well for Max on his first run. Despite a shortened second run due to the red flag, where there was room for improvement, he can be pleased with his overall performance here, missing out on Q2 by a very narrow margin. Jules wasn’t happy with his first run, but this is clearly due to the lack of track time with low fuel and the softest tires this weekend.

Unfortunately, he missed his second stint due to an issue with his engine, however, as with Max, the red flag put an end to his hopes of improving. It has been a difficult weekend in the garage, with a lot of work to do to keep the cars on the track. It seems we also have a few small issues to address on Jules’ car before the race. We are looking forward to what should be a promising race.

– Read the drivers’ statements

Caterham

Kamui Kobayashi – 20th [21st on the grid]

Marcus Ericsson – 21st [20th on the grid]

Cedrik Staudohar, Logistics Manager of Renault Sport F1: « We pushed the power unit to its maximum here and on our side, we are thrilled with how it performed. We maintained enough flexibility in the management of the energy recovery system to try different strategies, but with the gap between us and our closest rivals, there was little to do to really improve. We will do our best because the race here can be unpredictable. »

– Read the drivers’ statements