Canada: The Race Seen from the Pits

McLaren

Lewis Hamilton – Victory

**Jenson Button** – 16th

Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal: « A triple win at the Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren [victory in 2010, 2011, and 2012, editor’s note]! Five wins out of the last seven Canadian Grand Prix! Thirteenth Canadian Grand Prix won in our history – more than any other team! Third Canadian Grand Prix won by Lewis! And Lewis is now the leader of the drivers’ championship! And all of this during the 300th Grand Prix of the McLaren-Mobil 1-Mercedes-Enkei partnership!

So yes, today was a very good day. Lewis drove brilliantly. He overshadowed Seb during the first stint, reducing the gap between them as the first pit window approached. When Seb put on fresh tires on lap 16, Lewis was on the offensive, made his stop on lap 17, and came back out just ahead of Seb. Then, when Fernando made his stop and came out just in front of Lewis, he showed his innate driving instinct by quickly passing him and continuing to push. It was a majestic performance by a master at the peak of his craft.

For Jenson, on the other hand, it was another day where we, his team, were unable to provide him with the tools to do the brilliant work he is capable of doing, and which he had superbly performed last year. He lost track time on Friday, which was not his fault, and was unable to qualify as well as he could have if he hadn’t lost track time, and may have been troubled by suspension setup issues, different from Lewis’s, which led to excessive rear tire degradation. We need to look into it.

Finally, I would like to thank Akebono [brake manufacturer, ed.] whose brake calipers passed with flying colors, with some margin, the circuit that pushes the brakes to their limits the most during the season.

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Lotus

Romain Grosjean – 2nd

Kimi Räikkönen – 8th

Eric Boullier, Team Director: « Today’s result owes a lot to very good teamwork and everyone’s concentration on their task. The E20 was very well set up for the race, our strategy worked and allowed both cars to finish much higher than their starting positions, and the drivers drove superbly. Romain had an excellent race and his second place is great for the team, especially for those at Enstone who continue tirelessly to push the development of the car in all areas. We know that if we can do better in qualifying, we will be able to achieve even better results in the race. That is our next task. »

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Sauber

Sergio Pérez – 3rd

Kamui Kobayashi – 9th

Peter Sauber, Team Principal: « What an exceptional race! It’s quite incredible that a driver starting fifteenth was able to finish on the podium in a race that took place without any particular incident. Today, Sergio delivered his masterpiece! Kamui was less fortunate with his strategy, but he was also able to score points. Lately, we hadn’t been able to exploit our full potential, but today we proved that we are a great team. A big thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this possible. »

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Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel – 4th

Mark Webber – 7th

Christian Horner, Team Principal: It was a tricky race. Being in the lead at the start, it quickly became obvious that we were too hard on the tires, which forced Sebastian to pit earlier than we wanted. That allowed Hamilton and Alonso to get ahead. Then there was a dilemma about whether to do one or two stops. We were good with the tires and at that point, our best option seemed to be to make only one stop. But then the tires really started to drop in performance, so we made a late decision to switch to the Super Softs, which allowed us to climb back to fourth place, behind Grosjean and Pérez who only stopped once.

With Mark too, we were doing well at the beginning. There were a few hesitations with the engine during the first laps, but he found a good rhythm again. Once again, we were hard on the tires towards the end of the stint, and it quickly became clear that Mark would have to stop twice, but unfortunately, the one-stop drivers got ahead of him.

So, it was a tactical race, a tricky race but nevertheless we managed to save some good points today.

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Ferrari

Fernando Alonso – 5th

Felipe Massa – 10th

Stefano Domenicali, team principal: « There is some disappointment this afternoon and there’s no point in hiding it. It’s the first weekend where we didn’t give everything we had, but it’s also because the level of expectation was higher due to the progress we have made. Let’s not forget that yesterday we were fighting for pole and today, we were in the battle for victory until the end: in Bahrain, a month and a half ago, not a year ago, we only had one driver in Q3 and we finished the race a minute behind the winner.

Today, we made two mistakes: we didn’t follow Vettel when he stopped the second time, and Felipe’s spin at the very start of the race. All things considered, the first mistake cost us relatively little, while the price to pay for the second was higher because Felipe, who still had another good weekend after Monaco, had the pace to stay in the leading group.

After this preliminary analysis, we must look at the weekend from the championship’s perspective. Fernando is only 2 points behind the leader, and the F2012 is once again at a level sufficient to compete with the best. However, it was important for us to score points on a circuit that, upon arrival, was not going to suit us at all: knowing that we can rely on a driver like Fernando, who is capable of finishing all the races of the season in the points, and this is a factor that plays its part when thinking about the title race. We must continue to push the development to reduce the gap that separates us from pole position: and it is only when we have accomplished that that we can claim to have reached our first objective. Another theme we must observe is tire degradation, which proves to be more than ever the key to the season.

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Mercedes

Nico Rosberg – 6th

Michael Schumacher – Retirement (DRS)

Ross Brawn, Team Principal: « We had a very fast car today, as Nico’s performance proved, but with a combination of issues during qualifying and a race full of twists and turns, it cost us a few places at the finish. We asked both our drivers to be cautious with the super softs in the first five laps to ensure they didn’t wear out too much, but when we gave them the opportunity to push, it was clear that Nico – who had no one ahead – was extremely fast and one of the quickest on track.

Michael was caught in a train of cars in the second half of the top 10, and even though we tried something different by stopping earlier, it didn’t work for us. He then experienced a hydraulic problem that left the DRS open, and it was not possible to fix this under race conditions. I can only apologize to Michael for this latest technical issue.

Regarding Nico, his race went according to plan and he was catching up to the leaders when he came across Massa, who had worn tires and who defended his position vigorously before his last stop. This cost Nico a few positions and the time proved crucial in the final laps. But in the end, that’s racing, but the real lesson today is that being at our level in qualifying, and having problem-free races, is vital to achieving good results.

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Force India

Paul di Resta – 11th

Nico Hülkenberg – 12th

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Director: « A very intense afternoon of work but unfortunately we do not go home with the expected results. The car showed a good pace all weekend but for multiple reasons, we couldn’t find the best strategy today. It’s a shame because in the early stints, we were well placed and Paul [di Resta] was in 5th position before his first tire change. We couldn’t make the softer tires last longer, and our pace with the harder tires was not as good. We leave Canada with the feeling of not having shown all our potential, but we will learn from our mistakes before arriving in Valencia. »

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Williams

Pastor Maldonado – 13th

Bruno Senna – 17th

Mark Gillan, Chief Operations Engineer: « It was a tough race today for both our cars, and we didn’t have the expected pace nor the one we saw during the long runs on Friday. Both our drivers did a great job managing their tires with their one-stop strategies. We now need to learn from this change in pace over the course of a weekend to better understand how to optimize the car, and especially the tires, with changing track conditions.»

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Toro Rosso

Daniel Ricciardo – 14th

Jean-Eric Vergne – 15th

Franz Tost, Team Principal: « We lacked pace this weekend, which was already evident in qualifying and we observed it again this afternoon. We started both cars on the Super Soft tires, and the plan was to execute two different strategies: Ricciardo on two stops and Vergne on one. However, we changed that after 15 laps, as Jean-Eric informed us over the radio that he was losing grip. Consequently, we brought him in earlier than planned and from there, he was on a more conventional strategy. Nonetheless, his speeding penalty complicated his race further. Daniel had a good start but lost places at turn 2. As a result, from there, the gap to the Force Indias was insurmountable. His pace wasn’t bad, as shown by his fourth-fastest lap in the race. We return home to prepare for some busy months in Europe and we need to push the development of the car, as we are not where we want to be at the moment. »

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Caterham

**Heikki Kovalainen** – 18th

Vitaly Petrov – 19th

Mark Smith, Technical Director: « Today we witnessed a solid race from our two drivers and good work during the pit stops which went off without a hitch. Our finishing positions are what we expected to achieve on this type of circuit at this point in the season, so I am happy that we had another decent Sunday and continue to have calm Sundays as we get a little closer to the pack. »

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Marussia

Charles Pic – 20th

Timo Glock – Retirement (brakes)

John Booth, Team Director: « Our car and the Montreal circuit didn’t get along well this weekend, and it’s even more frustrating that we couldn’t do anything to improve that during the race. Nevertheless, we learned a lot about the aero package today, and we now need to focus our efforts on catching up with our competitors. We are pleased to have Charles [Pic] finish the race after a difficult period for him, but unfortunately, luck also turned for Timo [Glock], who therefore didn’t finish the race due to braking issues… We are now focusing on the next race, hoping that the second part of the European season will be better than the first, especially since we have some home races coming up for Timo and the team… [Editor’s note: England for the team and Germany for Glock] »

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HRT

Pedro de la Rosa – Retirement (brakes)

Narain Narthikeyan – Abandon (brakes)

Luis Perez-Sala, Team Principal: I cannot deny that I am disappointed because this is the first race where none of our cars finished. It’s a shame because we were doing well, but we had a brake temperature issue with both of our cars, which prevented us from finishing. We knew it would be one of our weak points on this circuit, given the heavy braking, and unfortunately, it was confirmed. On the other hand, I am happy with the races that Pedro and Narain were having. Now, we need to solve the identified problems and think about Valencia. What better place to turn things around than at home.

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