Fahrerstimmen – Tag 3

”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.”

Wir haben alles versucht, aber ich glaube nicht, dass wir heute eine echte Chance hatten, um den Sieg mitzukämpfen. Ich hatte einen aufregenden Start in das Rennen, als ich meinen zweiten Platz so hart wie möglich verteidigen musste. Ich war in Kurve eins außen und versuchte, viel Geschwindigkeit mitzunehmen, um dann in Kurve zwei die innere Linie fahren zu können. Ich war Rad an Rad gegen Max und wir kämpften hart, aber alles blieb fair. Ich war froh, dass ich vor ihm bleiben konnte. Danach versuchte ich, Sebastian unter Druck zu setzen, aber ich hatte nicht die Pace dafür. Der Ferrari-Fahrer kontrollierte das Rennen. Wir waren heute einfach nicht schnell genug. Gegen Rennende nahm ich etwas Gas raus, um Benzin zu sparen - deshalb kam mir Max so nahe. Wir waren das einzige Top-Team, das bei diesem Rennen keinen neuen Motor eingesetzt hat. Alle anderen hatten eine verbesserte Power Unit. Hoffentlich hilft uns der Einsatz unseres neuen Motors in Frankreich bei unserem Kampf gegen Ferrari und Red Bull.

“The whole weekend we were very competitive and in the race, with the tyres we had, I think we maximised our strategy and we were very happy with the result. Every single weekend you go in you try to win and here practice has been good, Qualifying has been positive and the race went well too. Of course we’re very pleased with that and to come away with a podium and challenging for second at the end at this track, which is not ideal for us, is really positive. When you feel confident with the car then you can do a good job, and during the race I think we managed the car in the best way possible on the hypersoft tyres. In this kind of race you have to manage a lot, fuel first of all, then also the tyres, you have the pressure from behind, you don’t want to let them into your DRS but at one point I could see that I was pulling away quite comfortably so then I was challenging Valtteri at the end. So the race was in one way maybe a little bit boring but on the other hand you needed full focus on doing a good job. Seb was very fast today and I could quickly feel that we were just lacking top speed. The tyres were holding on really well at the end when I was challenging Valtteri because he was fuel saving which shows our car was working well and for sure we have a very competitive car at the moment. I don’t think we can challenge for victories on every track, it just depends on how long the straights are but for now I am looking forward to the upcoming races.”

“It was actually a pretty good day and I don’t think I could have done much more. I know it’s fourth but I’m actually happy. Starting sixth I didn’t know how much to expect on this track as the reality is that it’s not that easy to overtake around here anymore. I’m really happy with what I did and what the team did. We went for the hypersoft knowing it was more aggressive and we knew we had to maximise the tyre at the beginning of the race which is what we did. We got Kimi on the start and then a nice overcut on Lewis, so I think we did everything we could. It wasn’t the smoothest weekend on my side of the garage, we had the upgraded engine but we had a few issues trying to get it calibrated, I think that’s the right word, even during the race it wasn’t that easy at times to manage tyres and wheel slip, so for that I think we did the best we could. The good thing is that Max’s engine seemed to be running well, so we have that as a reference moving to France. It’s probably the first time in a while that we have gained really good team points so it’s a good weekend from that perspective and also good for Max. I’m looking at the positives (laughs) we also took two points from Lewis so we’re still in the championship, we’re still there. Last thing, It’s my mum’s Birthday, so Happy Birthday Mum.”

Das war ein harter Tag, aber ich bin sehr dankbar, dass ich das heutige Rennen überhaupt beendet und ein paar Punkte mitgenommen habe. Mir fehlte von Beginn an Leistung und mein Motor überhitzte. Ich konnte die Temperaturen nicht senken, weshalb ich glaubte, dass ich ausfallen würde. Auf jeder Runde wartete ich darauf, dass die Leistung abfallen und ausbleiben würde, aber ich fuhr immer weiter. Ich hätte heute noch viel mehr Punkte verlieren können. Platz fünf ist nicht gerade das stärkste Ergebnis, aber es hätte noch viel schlimmer kommen können. Ferrari hat etwas bessere Arbeit abgeliefert als wir und ein besseres Paket hierher mitgebracht. Aber wir liegen sehr nah zusammen. Die Jungs arbeiten sehr hart, aber jeder Einzelne von uns kann sich immer noch weiter steigern. Wir krempeln jetzt die Ärmel hoch, arbeiten weiter mit Volldampf und denken positiv.

“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.”

“We executed the race well today and it was a good effort from everyone. Ten points in the Constructors’ Championship is positive for us and we’ve extended our lead in fourth ahead of our rivals. It was a close battle today, I lost a position at the start, but I managed to get the overcut on Ocon by going two laps longer, as he was holding me up a little bit on that first stint. From then, it was about managing the tyres, which was quite tough as degradation was kicking in towards the end.”

“It was a good day for the team and ten points for the Constructors’ Championship. It’s another step forward and we had a good race pace compared to the rest of the midfield. We wanted to bring both cars home in the points and we’ll certainly enjoy the result even though it was a largely quiet race for us! The team did a solid job yesterday and again today to jump the Force India. We thought we were going to have a lot more degradation and in the end we came back with good tyre management.”

“It’s good to pick up more points, but we had the potential to score even more today. I had a fantastic first lap and got ahead of Hulkenberg, which was the target, and I was running well in seventh place. Then we had a small issue at the pit stop, which cost us a couple of seconds, and it dropped me down behind both of the Renaults. From there I tried my best to fight back and I came close to catching Sainz in the final few laps, but it wasn’t possible to overtake, especially after he cut the track and gained some time on the final lap when I was about to overtake him. It’s a shame because the strategy should have worked really well. I will focus on the positives because it’s been a strong performance by the team this weekend. We can be satisfied with what we have done here. The pace has been competitive, but we need to keep pushing.”

„Es war ein gutes Rennen. Ich bin mit dem Resultat sehr zufrieden. Seit vier Rennen leisten wir eine gute Arbeit und haben uns mit jedem Wochenende in unserer Leistung verbessert. Ich bin stolz auf das Team und der Arbeit die wir gemeinsam leisten. Es war aufregend die Strecke hier in Montreal kennenzulernen, und ich habe es sehr genossen hier zu fahren. Nun müssen wir auf unseren Erkenntnissen von diesem Wochenende aufbauen und uns während der kommenden Rennwochenenden weiter steigern.“

"Overall, I think it was a really good race for me. We managed to make up many positions after starting from the back row, but it's always tough when you finish so close to the points! I was pretty close to Charles a couple of times, then I damaged my front tyres so in the end it became difficult to pass. The new power unit seems to work well... we overtook multiple cars on the straight, so it looks promising for the upcoming races. Honda worked very hard to bring the upgrade to Canada and they did a fantastic job! Now we need to put everything together and find some consistency, because the next race is my home Grand Prix in Le Castellet - I'm really excited to go racing there!"

“We didn’t really know quite how long we could go. We had been planning to go long, but not as long as that. The tires were holding quite nicely. There was only a bit of front degradation. I was happy with the pace. I was easily managing keeping up with the Renault in front and the Force India behind. If qualifying had been as I was expecting with a P7, it would’ve been a P7 today, for sure. Anyway, we tried to come back, but our strategy didn’t quite work. When we came out of the pit we had a lot of blue flags and so on. I couldn’t really come back through the field. We did our best. The car is fast and I enjoyed driving it.”

“Not a brilliant weekend for us. We were thinking that P11 in qualifying was a good result. We thought that would be an advantage for the race – being on a different tire from the top-10. It didn’t really turn out to be that way. I didn’t get a great first lap. I was overtaken by one of the Saubers. They had a really good start, and then a couple of laps after I had a Force India that spun and I couldn’t get on the inside, so I was on the outside and got done by Fernando (Alonso) on the inside. Things just didn’t go our way today. It’s a shame. I think the car was pretty good, especially on the supersoft, the pace was good. I think we just didn’t get it right today.”

“I am very disappointed to come away from this race with no points. The start was good, although I didn’t make up any places, but the restart after the Safety Car was even better and I managed to pass Carlos [Sainz]. I was very surprised when he hit me because I gave him more than enough room and I was ahead: that wasn’t good enough and that’s why I asked for a penalty on the radio. I was able to save the car [from crashing] but by then my race was compromised. We tried something different with the strategy – going for a two-stopper – but it wasn’t enough to get back in the points. Overtaking was impossible, with these cars you can’t follow another car and pass them unless you have a big advantage. It’s a shame because I feel we had the pace to be mixing with the Renaults and we should have scored some good points.”

„Es war ein recht schwieriges Rennen für mich. In der ersten Hälfte habe ich einiges an Zeit hinter anderen Autos verloren. Die zweite Hälfte war relativ ok. Wir haben eine gute Arbeit im Reifenmanagement geleistet – das ist positiv. Das Resultat ist enttäuschend, und wir müssen uns im Qualifying noch verbessern. Hier sehe ich für mich das grösste Verbesserungspotential. Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass wir das schaffen werden, und freue mich auf die kommenden Rennen.“

“I think we were extremely unlucky from the start today. We had a good launch off the grid, but with the accident that happened there was so much debris to find our way through into Turn Five, and it was impossible to avoid it. We had a front-right puncture, and we basically ran out of tyres already before we even really started the race, so it was a difficult day. A big piece of debris went under the car so we were forced to pit on the first lap and then lost a lot of time in the pit-stop as well. Before we even got into the race it was already over. “On a personal note, on my side it’s been very positive in terms of the progression we’ve made over the past couple of races. The disappointing thing here was our qualifying performance for the team as a whole. We knew that before coming here and unfortunately it got confirmed. We’ve got a lot of work ahead. “It’s hard to tell how the next few races will be for us. We don’t want to make any predictions, and if you look at last year there were some races that we thought would be difficult but turned out to be alright. We have to wait and see. Paul Ricard will be a new track for everyone, and then Austria and Silverstone, so a busy couple of weeks ahead but I’m looking forward to that and hopefully we’ll have some better luck.”

It was a difficult race. The start was particularly tough in the beginning with the prime tyres compared to the much softer compounds of everybody else. Still, I was able to gain some positions at the start. However, with the safety car and an extremely poor warm up with the harder compound of tyre, it was impossible to keep up with the pace. We were the slowest car of the day and we have done our best to finish the race despite the issues we’ve had. That’s where we are and we have to be honest with that.

"I'm really disappointed for Toro Rosso and Honda, because we've been quite strong all weekend with a good update from the power unit. I think we definitely had the pace to challenge for points today. I had a good start, similar to the drivers around me, but I got left a bit on the outside of Turn 2 which lost me a position. I got a good run on Lance out of Turn 4 on the outside, but he lost the car which put us both into the wall. It's very disappointing as there was room to make the overtake, and I was looking forward to a strong race. It's a frustrating way to end the Canadian Grand Prix as I've been really happy with my performance all weekend. I was delayed getting back to the circuit because I was flown to the hospital for precautionary checks. However, I'm definitely fit, healthy, and ready for the next race."

“The race was fun at the beginning, especially after the restart, when we overtook three cars in two corners. Sergio [Perez] was on the grass sideways and came back onto the track, so it was difficult to anticipate what line he would have taken. Then halfway through the race, I felt a loss of power and was told to retire. “It’s sad, frustrating and I’m disappointed with this result. We weren’t competitive this weekend. We need to find more performance in the car and a way to become competitive. Reliability is also important, as we saw at the beginning of the year how many points we scored and how many we’ve lost now in the last two races, by retiring today and retiring in Monaco when we were running in seventh position. “There are a few areas of the car that we need to keep working on and improving, and we’ll see what happens in the next couple of months. “I’m flying tonight to France, as tomorrow I need to be in Le Mans. It will be a busy Monday and a new experience, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

First of all I am really disappointed for the fans. I have had a great welcome here for my home race and I wanted to put on a good show for them. I had a good start, gained a few positions and got both McLarens, but I had some contact when I overtook them. Then I was side by side with Brendon going into turn five. The car got loose on me, I corrected it but there was not much room for both of us, and by the time I had corrected it we had touched. It is not ideal, but that is racing, things like that happen on the first lap as we are close and side by side, so that is how it goes sometimes.