Formula 1 News: 2024 Canadian GP Post-Race Quotes

The ten Formula 1 teams plus tire supplier Pirelli provided quotes after Sunday’s 2024 Canadian GP

Red Bull

Max Verstappen, 1st

“It was a really rewarding victory today, these kind of races are a lot of fun as you don’t know what is going to be thrown at you and I enjoyed racing today. With the weather so bad it was so easy to make a mistake; we had to be really focused as one tiny move off the racing line could result in us going off the track into the wall. The Team made all the right calls at the right time and remained really calm. If you look at the last few weekends that we have had in these conditions, we have typically always done well, so that gave me a lot of confidence going into today. We also got quite lucky with the safety car, sometimes it can work for you and sometimes against you but that is racing! Once we were on the slick tires at the end, the car had pretty decent pace and we managed to keep it going until the end. It was a tough weekend but I am really proud to bring home my 60th win.”

Sergio Perez, DNF

“I have lost a lot of momentum recently and I will be working hard in the next couple of weeks to get back to form. I picked up some damage to my front wing on the first lap when Gasly and I touched, which compromised my first stint and lost us some momentum. There was only one dry line for most of the race and it was so difficult to pass at times. Later the dry line started to open up and as it did my inters were a little bit too used, then when I went onto the new inter and changed front wing I had good pace but it was still tricky to get by. The incident was on me, I touched the wet part into turn six and I couldn’t stop the car, I couldn’t touch the brakes. It has been a very tough couple of weekends, we will regroup, keep our heads down and learn from the weekend. We identified a couple of issues after qualifying and they meant we would have qualified a lot higher. Hopefully we can be back to our form in Spain and get back to the level we were at earlier in the season. I am confident in that, there are good tracks coming for us.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal

“In a race like today with those variable conditions, so many things can go wrong but we made the right calls at the right times. McLaren were fast on the inters at the beginning of the race, but getting the crossover onto the slick tire was really crucial, and once we gave away track position, we had some heat in the tires and could really push. Max was incredible today. In those conditions you’re driving with your senses, but everything must work in unison and the Team lifted itself to the adverse conditions and delivered in every area. There are so many things you can get wrong on a day like today, but happily we got them right. It was however a horrible weekend for Checo, but thankfully Ferrari didn’t score with either of their cars and we were able to mitigate the damage. We’ll assess the car once we get back to Europe and Checo will put this weekend behind him. We know that he’s incredibly resilient and will dust himself off and come back fighting in Barcelona.”

McLaren

Lando Norris, 2nd

“That was eventful! To be honest, I felt like I drove a good race from start to finish. The conditions were so stressful inside the car but very enjoyable at the same time. The first two stints were very strong, but we were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car. Well done to Max Verstappen who drove a good race and didn’t make any mistakes. I’m happy with second. It was good fun out there and we’ve scored good points for the team. The car’s been great all weekend, so thanks to everyone at McLaren. It’s nice to be so close and on the podium again. We’ll keep fighting to get back onto the top step.”

Oscar Piastri, 5th

“P5. It’s obviously not quite the result we wanted on my side of the garage, but we’ve got a good haul of points for the team and we’ve made more progress in the Constructors’ Championship. The pace that the Mercedes had on the fresh tires for the final stint was better than we anticipated, but the race had the potential to be chaos so I think we can be pleased with what we’ve done. We will now get our heads down into the triple header and I look forward to seeing what we can do.”

 

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“As expected, we had an entertaining and exciting Canadian Grand Prix. The field has compressed, and the competition is very tight. With the variable weather today, it meant several drivers were favorites for the win at different stages of the race and it’s important that Lando was one of those. This is the key message we take away from Montréal: McLaren is competitive, able to take podiums and compete for victory in different conditions.

“The timing of the Safety Car was a little unfortunate for Lando, because it came when his pace was very strong and he was in the lead, opening a large gap, but this is racing and we won’t dwell on it. He drove a very good race. Oscar was very strong also. It’s great to see him in his second season fighting for podiums.

“Our focus has to be on improving the car and improving our operations so that we can consistently be at the front like we were here in Canada. We take home a big haul of points, once again more than our rivals, and consider this a positive outcome. My thanks to the team for another big effort this weekend, and on we go to Spain.”

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, 4th

“We scored some good points for the team today. We’re also looking like we’ve made a step closer to the front this weekend which is really encouraging. Thank you so much to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth who has worked so hard to deliver our recent updates. It has moved us in the right direction, and we will continue to put the effort in to continue that progress.

“On my side, it wasn’t the best weekend. We had the pace to be fighting higher up but we ultimately ended up with P4. I’ll go away and work out what I need to do to come back stronger. I made too many mistakes overall but the positive I will take away is the performance of the car.”

George Russell, 3rd

“I’m disappointed with myself today. I made too many errors that set us back and cost us a chance of victory. I was really pushing the limits out there. That said, it feels great to be disappointed with P3. We’ve made small steps over the past few races and to come to Canada, get pole position and a podium is really encouraging. We’ve been one of the fastest cars on track all weekend, so we’ve definitely made progress. There are many positives to take away from here.

“The conditions were incredibly challenging out there. Put a wheel even one millimeter offline and you would be in trouble. Unfortunately, the errors I made came with consequences as it let other cars past. Other drivers made errors too, but they didn’t come at the same cost. We were still able to battle back to the podium though with the pace we had. We will continue to work hard, develop the car, and I’m looking forward to heading to Barcelona.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“It has been an encouraging weekend. We have taken the right steps recently and brought updates that are working well. Directionally, we seem to be adding performance every Grand Prix. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth continues to work incredibly hard and it’s great to see their efforts rewarded with our first podium of the year. I hope that we can continue this positive trajectory. Looking ahead to Barcelona, it’s a circuit that really tests a car. We are excited to go there and truly understand where we are performance wise.

“Today’s race was a challenging one. When you finish P3 and P4, given where we have finished in recent races, then of course it is positive. Both drivers know that we could have achieved more though. We certainly could have taken one or two more positions and then maybe have fought for victory. It is a little bittersweet therefore but ultimately, if you had said to us before the weekend that we would be third and fourth, then we would have taken it.”

Ferrari

Charles Leclerc, DNF

“The bottom line today is that the engine issue is what compromised our race. We were losing substantial lap time compared to the other cars, so we tried to go on slicks, knowing that it was our only chance to try to finish in the points. There was nothing to lose and I’ve got no regrets on that.

“This one hurts and it’s a big loss of points for the team with both of us unable to finish. We will look into the issue we had to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Carlos Sainz, DNF

“A race to forget for the team. We knew today was going to be difficult because we have been struggling all weekend with grip and car handling. The entire race was on the edge, and when I tried to push in the DRS train to overtake I made a mistake on the curb and for that I want to say sorry to the team and to Alex (Albon).

“We have work to do ahead of Spain to understand what has happened this weekend and make sure we don’t find ourselves again in this situation in the upcoming races. We move on.”

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

“This has been a very tough weekend for us. On one side of the garage with Charles we had an issue on the engine which meant we lost around 80 horsepower for about 15 laps. We were hoping for a red flag to be able to do a reset and restart. There was no red flag, so we had to pit which cost us a lap and effectively that was the end of Charles’ race as he was lapped.

“With Carlos, he did not get a very good start and so he was in the pack and at one point there was contact in which he damaged the rear wing and also the floor, so it was impossible for him to continue.

“For sure, it’s not been a good weekend right from the very beginning. I hope it means we have had all our troubles in the one Grand Prix and that we will be back in Spain in much better shape. We will debrief and look at what we could have done differently. We didn’t expect this weekend to be so difficult especially as our long run pace was good on Friday. It’s a long season, so we will have ups and downs but I hope we don’t have too many ‘downs’ like this.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso, 6th

“It was a good race for the team and finishing in sixth and seventh positions in an extremely challenging race weekend is a good result. I think we can be more optimistic heading into Barcelona. It ended up being a lonely race for me despite the mixed weather conditions. There wasn’t much we could do with the top five cars ahead as they were a little bit too fast today and there were not too many threats behind us. It was stressful with the changeable conditions, and you had to avoid making a mistake and also switch the tires at the right time. Most importantly, we brought both cars home and scored double points for the team.”

Lance Stroll, 7th

“I’m super happy with our performance today. It was a tricky race – one of the trickiest I can remember – and the changing conditions kept us on our toes, but we handled it well. The first stint was really about managing tires, especially as the track began to dry, and then we were able to pit for another set of Intermediates under the Safety Car for the second round of rain. We judged the switch to the Hard compound well and kept it on track while others struggled. The characteristics of this circuit definitely suited our car, but we did a good job to stay focused and make the most of the opportunities that came our way.”

Mike Krack, Team Principal

“A busy home race in Montréal – we made good strategic calls at the right time and the team carried out solid pit stops including a double stack when we went to dry tires. Lance and Fernando drove faultlessly in difficult conditions and we were rewarded with having both cars finishing in the points in P6 and P7. I’m pleased Lance was able to get a solid result in front of the Canadian fans. It has been a better weekend for us as we learn more about recent upgrades and extract more performance from the AMR24. Our focus now shifts to Barcelona and Fernando’s home Grand Prix but we need to keep unlocking more pace to challenge our closest competitors.”

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Daniel Ricciardo, 8th

“It was a good weekend from the start, considering all conditions, and with a crazy race like that, I’m happy to finish it with some points in the bag. I got a penalty for a jump start, but I was a bit confused because I knew that I didn’t jump the lights but then I remembered that during the start I felt that maybe the car was moving. We had a bit of an issue with the car, and we’ll have a look at it, but obviously, this was a back step for our race. When we pitted for the Inters, we lost a few positions to the cars that stayed out and weren’t really able to get much more out of the new tires. We jumped out of the point-scoring positions, and the race was kind of getting away from us, but as the track dried towards the end and we were on mediums, I was able to pick my way through a few cars back into the top 10 which was a little bit of a relief. I’m happy it was a fairly smooth weekend for us, and obviously for increasing the gap to the midfield behind us.”

Yuki Tsunoda, 14th

“Today was my mistake, a stupid move, and I’m sorry to the team. They definitely made the right decision about strategy and did a good job; it wasn’t easy on the old Inters but I was feeling okay. Also, the call when to change to dry tires was good. At least I turned it around from Free Practice to qualifying and that’s good, but today’s disappointing and not the way I should’ve finished the race. It was just about bringing it home.”

Guillaume Dezoteux, Head of Vehicle Performance

“Overall, it was a positive race and another four points in the fight for the constructor championship. Daniel started by getting a penalty as he slightly moved on the starting grid before the lights went off. He did follow the procedure correctly, so it looks like it’s on the car side, likely some slight clutch drag pushing the car forward a few centimeters. The first stint on Intermediate tires was difficult with very low grip and bad visibility. We decided to serve the penalty during the Safety Car period. After the second rain shower, the track dried up quickly and we reacted at the right time to switch to medium tires. From there, Daniel drove consistently and managed to overtake Ocon for eighth behind both Aston Martin cars. Yuki had an eventful race too. During the Safety Car period, we decided to leave him out as our Intermediate tires were looking good and he gained three positions. Towards the middle of the race, he was P7 matching Alonso’s pace in front of him. Unfortunately, in the last part of the race after the second Safety Car period, Yuki had some moments and finished outside the points. It was a difficult race for everyone today but overall, a positive weekend for the team.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“The Canadian Grand Prix is always one of the toughest events of the year, even without the added pitfalls thrown up by the rain and so to score a few points here is an achievement, even if, based on our grid positions and where we were on track until just a few laps from the end, we could have hoped for more. The penalty for Daniel at the start, due to some very slight clutch dragging, and a couple of moments on track for Yuki cost us a few points but there are a lot of positives from this weekend: The drivers and the team are really working well together as a solid unit at the track, while back in the factory the efforts of our staff have been equally rewarding and indeed rewarded with both cars in Q3 yet again and points today. Daniel spoke about the fact that Saturday was the tenth anniversary to the exact day of his very first F1 win which came at this track and it seems that he likes the place, as seen by his spectacular fifth place in quali and P8 in the race! Also on Saturday, we announced that Yuki is staying with us for another year. It is well-deserved and it is also very good for him and us to know so early in the season that this matter is not something we have to think about anymore. Yuki also did a great recovery this weekend after a complicated Friday and would have deserved some good points too. We need to continue with our approach of small steps one after the other, in every single area. It is moving us race after race towards better positions, and everyone in Faenza and in Bicester is pushing extremely hard to bring some more performance to our car.”

Alpine

Esteban Ocon, 10th

“I am happy for the team that we were able to score points with both cars today. We did a mega race starting from the back of the grid to make it into the points, and that is amazing for the team. The team had to fix the car on the grid before the race start and I am very grateful for the hard work they did. The energy management was difficult towards the end of the race, meaning I could not really get the battery to full potential. I had the instruction to let Pierre pass two laps to the end to catch Daniel who was ahead. I let Pierre past me and lost a place on the second to last lap. I did what was best for the team and respected the instruction I was given.”

Pierre Gasly, 9th

“We can be very pleased as a team with our result today, with both cars finishing in the points for the first time this year. I had contact with Sergio at the start of the race after Turn 2 and lost a few positions. After that, we focused on fighting our way back. We made some good and opportunistic calls today, pitting early for Hards when the rest of the grid was still on Intermediates. In hindsight, we should have waited another lap, but it worked out well in the end, allowing for decent pace and gaining back positions we lost at the start. We tried to gain the maximum for the team today and wanted to attack Daniel for P8 at the end of the race by swapping positions. We can be very pleased with the points we scored and great teamwork by everyone today.”

Bruno Famin, Team Principal

“Overall, a positive team result today with a double points finish − the first of the season, so well done to the team for a very well executed race. It is pleasing to be able to bounce back after a difficult day in Qualifying yesterday and make the most of the mixed conditions. We knew going into the race it would be crucial to make the right calls at the right time and the team executed well operationally today, both on strategy and pit-stops. We managed to secure three important points for the team and moving up one position in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Haas

Nico Hulkenberg, 11th

“With Tsunoda’s spin, I tried to react, stop it, and somehow avoid him, but it must’ve been by a few millimeters – I was braced for impact. The first 10 laps went really well but then the track dried out, so all the work came undone again, but we knew about that scenario. I think it was a clean race, no mistakes, but I think we got a little bit unlucky with one of the safety cars, I feel like we missed out. At the end, it was good to wait a little bit later for the slicks because it was difficult in the first sector to keep it on the track. I gained a few positions there but then I was running in a train with others. I was running high downforce so on the straights I was a sitting duck, and without DRS I was going pretty slow.”

Kevin Magnussen, 12th

“It didn’t feel like we got the best out of it today with all the opportunity that race offered, we didn’t seem to capitalize on that, so that’s disappointing. We’ll review and try to understand it as right now it’s all a bit blurred, but there was lots of opportunity, that’s for sure, and we didn’t get any points. We had one very slow pit stop and one medium slow pit stop, and I also think we pitted for inters off from the full wets too early. It felt like something was coming at the beginning of the race but there’s nothing to show for it.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It was a pretty frustrating day unfortunately as I think we made the right choice putting both drivers on wet tires, that was good. Both Kevin and Nico did a good a very good job, made lots of positions up and we pitted at the right time for inters with Kevin, only for our pit stop issue to undo our gains, which is frustrating. In terms of pace, with Kevin we wanted to go on to the slicks early, but in hindsight, it was too early, and Nico’s timing was absolutely perfect. On the last set of tires for Kevin, the pace came back, so again it’s just frustrating that with certain parts we showed we had the speed and potential, but we just didn’t put it together for the needs of our drivers. Finishing just outside of the top 10, we have to regroup and go again in Barcelona, but today it wasn’t great operationally, so we need to review and make sure we improve as a race team.”

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Valtteri Bottas, 13th

“Today hasn’t been the easiest day in the office. We went for a set-up change to make the car more suitable to these weather conditions, and I think it was the right thing to do – as always, it was good to give it a try, as it allowed us to unlock a bit more downforce. Staying out while on intermediate tires was the correct move; we tried to be aggressive later with the slicks, but we possibly went a lap too early. We eventually didn’t make it into the top ten today, and I don’t feel like we could have achieved much more than this with our pace – our on-track progress was more due to other cars making mistakes or retiring. Looking ahead, we need to keep working on bringing updates to make our car faster; we do have bigger upgrades lined up, and I’m positive that’s the key to progress. Barcelona will be close as well, and we know we have work to do ahead of it: getting back into Q2 will be the first step, and then we’ll work up from there.”

Zhou Guanyu, 15th

“Today has proven to be another tough race for us, on top of what has overall been a challenging weekend. While there was quite a lot going on during the race, it’s been a lonely race for me, especially in the second half. Similarly to Monaco, I didn’t feel too confident with the car, especially in terms of braking and cornering. Coming out of a weekend like this, we’ll need to sit down and investigate our issues, to address them ahead of Barcelona.”

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative

“Following yesterday’s difficult qualifying session, we opted to change setup on both cars this morning, to try and maximize any opportunity in case of a wet race. We changed the rear wing, aiming for a high downforce level – a risk that we decided to take as we looked for opportunities to fight for points. Considering how the race developed, from a weather point of view, it was the correct decision, although our performance ultimately didn’t allow us to fight closer to the top ten. With Valtteri, we decided to stay out during the first Safety Car period, as his intermediate tires were in good condition. This allowed him to recover positions and place himself in thirteenth place; he then pitted for a new set of mediums but struggled more to bring the tires to the right temperature, losing some ground and eventually not managing to stay close to those in front during the final part of the race. Zhou endured a much more difficult race, facing similar problems with tire temperatures; he found himself alone for most of the race, finding it difficult to benefit from DRS and getting a proper reference. It’s been an overall difficult weekend for him, especially after a tough Monaco: we will now work closely to examine everything that didn’t work out and to help him to come back to Barcelona on a new page. Despite a lack of performance, and no points to our name after nine races, we are not giving up, and are determined to analyze our performance and identify all areas in which to improve. Both trackside and back home in Hinwil, we are keen on progressing together.”

Williams

Alex Albon, DNF

“A disappointing end to our race today. Points were definitely on the table and the car felt good on all compounds in the changing conditions. We didn’t take any unnecessary risks and the race plan was well-executed by the team. It was a battle of survival, which was always going to be the case considering the weather, and we ended up getting caught in other people’s errors. That’s racing and I don’t think I could’ve done anything differently.”

Logan Sargeant, DNF

“The track conditions were difficult especially at the start of the race with the amount of standing water. There was quite a lot of aquaplaning going on, so I was trying to manage that. I made too many mistakes today and two punishing ones. I lost the rear extremely quickly and couldn’t save it. I’m disappointed with myself after feeling like I was driving great this weekend. We had good pace when we were able to put together clean laps. We’ll move on and look ahead.”

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director

“The race started well on a wet track for both cars. We were able to hold positions in those first very tricky laps. Getting the Inters up to temperature was going to be key. Alex had good pace on the first set of Inters in those tricky conditions. When Logan made a mistake and the Safety Car came out, we decided to pit Alex for a fresh set of Inters as a second rain zone was arriving.

“We struggled a bit with pace on that second set and Ocon managed to get past us just before everybody started to pit for slicks. We pitted for a set of Mediums and knew it was then going to be a fight all the way to the end with several cars for P8.

“Unfortunately, Sainz made a mistake just in front of Alex. As there was no room for Alex to avoid the Ferrari, it meant we had to retire. Not the result we wanted today but we were happy to see that we again could fight for points this weekend. All our focus will now turn to the triple header ahead and Barcelona in particular.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“What a race! After the Monaco Grand Prix came in for criticism that, objectively, it was not exactly thrilling, Formula 1 answered its critics with an amazing show from the first to the last lap, with three drivers taking turns to lead and a further two also in with a chance of winning. Congratulations to Max for a great win, and also to all the other protagonists of this Canadian Grand Prix, because I reckon that everyone who loves this sport really enjoyed themselves.

“On the tire front, we were able to see four of the five available types in action. Even the extreme wet, which usually is not used much, proved to be competitive on a low energy track with a lot of surface water. The Intermediate was also able to do very long stints, confirming its suitability for both very wet and almost dry conditions. As for the Hard and Medium, it’s hard to say which worked best as the second Safety Car deprived us of being able to evaluate what might have been the price to pay in terms of degradation for those who had chosen the Medium to ensure more grip in the opening laps when the track was still damp.”