Here we are fellow F1 fanatics for another F1 Newsbites! News making the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Let’s dive right into this qualifying edition.

 

 

Vettel scores 54th career pole in Montreal

 

Sebastian Vettel has taken pole position for today’s Canadian Grand Prix with Championship leader and title-rival Lewis Hamilton fourth.

 

Vettel set the benchmark in his SF71-H racer throughout the top 10 shootout, planting a 1:10.776 on his first flyer to hold top spot.

 

The German then improved a further 0.012 in his final run on the pink-walled hypersofts to clinch his 54th-career pole position.

 

 

“Yesterday I wasn’t really in charge, more of a passenger. A bit compromised for pace. Today was a lot more natural.”

 

“The car was incredible in qualifying, it just kept getting quicker. On my final lap, I had a small mistake. There was a little bit more, but I’m still happy.”

 

The German has not won since Bahrain but is hopeful of a solid race on Sunday.

 

“I was a lot happier with the car today and I think we can carry that into the race,” Vettel continued. “I think we start on the right tyre, but it’s a long race. This year, it’s been very close between the three cars. We’ll see. For sure if you start on pole you want to win.” Vettel concluded.

 

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was second fastest, but could not improve on his first hot lap after losing time in the first two sectors.

 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who has had a great weekend so far, grabbed third place on the grid from Lewis Hamilton on his final timed run.

 

The other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was provisionally third after the first running in Q3, but a mistake running wide onto the grass exiting turn two on his second run and a fresh set of hypersofts forced the Finn to abort the lap and was relegated to fifth.

 

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo took sixth spot on the grid and was only two hundredth’s off of Raikkonen’s time.

 

Both Ferrari’s and Mercedes will start on the purple-branded ultrasoft compounds whilst the Red Bull’s and the rest of the top 10 runners will be using the faster hypersoft rubber.

 

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh fastest and ahead of Force India’s Esteban Ocon who was eighth.

 

It was the same Renault-Force India sequence on the fifth row with Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez starting behind them in ninth and tenth respectively.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen will start the the Canadian Grand Prix outside the top ten in 11th place, after posting his time two tenths slower than Perez.

 

Brendon Hartley put his upgraded Honda-powered Toro Rosso in twelfth place on the grid but the Kiwi complained of losing time at the final chicane on his last flying lap.

 

Sauber’s Charles Leclerc was 13th quickest and will start in-front of McLaren pairing Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne who will occupy 14th and 15th on the grid respectively.

 

The two MCL33’s were never a threat to hop into Q3 and were separated by just 0.009 seconds.

 

Alonso was unhappy with the drivability out of the hairpin on his last hop lap, but Vandoorne explained over the radio that his pace was representative of what McLaren could do this weekend.

 

All five drivers were in the elimination spots after their first flyers in Q2, but despite improving on their times on their fresh set of hypers, none could make the top ten shootout.

 

The other Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly was knocked out of Q1 after an engine change to an older Honda power-train due to a problem in final practice and improvements from McLaren duo Alonso and Vandoorne.

 

The Frenchman was unable to improve on his time having been provisionally at 11th place, meaning he fell down the order in the last minutes and dropped to 16th.

 

Both Williams FW41 racers of Canadian hometown hero Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin will start a low 17th and 18th respectively.

 

The other Sauber of Marcus Ericsson will start in 19th after the Swede hit the wall at the exit of turns eight and nine and almost colliding with a Red Bull on his first timed lap.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean’s horror run continued and was unable to run at all after suffering an engine failure as the Frenchman headed towards the pit-lane exit with plumes of smoke flowing from the back of his VF-18 racer. He will start at the rear.

 

Formula 1 Grand Prix Heineken Du Canada 2018 Qualifying Results Classification

POSITION	DRIVER	CAR	TIME	GAP
1	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	1m10.764s	–
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	1m10.857s	0.093s
3	Max Verstappen	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1m10.937s	0.173s
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport	1m10.996s	0.232s
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	1m11.095s	0.331s
6	Daniel Ricciardo	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	1m11.116s	0.352s
7	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault Sport F1 Team	1m11.973s	1.209s
8	Esteban Ocon	Sahara Force India F1 Team	1m12.084s	1.320s
9	Carlos Sainz	Renault Sport F1 Team	1m12.168s	1.404s
10	Sergio Perez	Sahara Force India F1 Team	1m12.671s	1.907s
11	Kevin Magnussen	Haas F1 Team	1m12.606s	–
12	Brendon Hartley	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1m12.635s	–
13	Charles Leclerc	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	1m12.661s	–
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	1m12.856s	–
15	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault F1 Team	1m12.865s	–
16	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda	1m13.047s	–
17	Lance Stroll	Williams Martini Racing	1m13.590s	–
18	Sergey Sirotkin	Williams Martini Racing	1m13.643s	–
19	Marcus Ericsson	Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team	1m14.593s	–
20	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	–	–

 

Ricciardo: “Red Bull victory possible”

 

 

Monaco Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo believes that a second consecutive victory could be on the cards for today’s Canadian Grand Prix despite both Red Bulls not making the front row.

 

Ricciardo’s team-mate Max Verstappen dominated all three practice sessions at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve after a difficult weekend in Monaco, as the Red Bull rose to become contenders.

 

In Qualifying as expected, rivals Ferrari and Mercedes turned the wick up as they’ve done due to their powerful engine modes with Verstappen taking third place and was the best-positioned Red Bull.

 

But Ricciardo who will start in sixth place, believes Red Bull can battle for the victory, which would be their third out of seven in the 2018 season.

 

“I did it in ‘14,” explained Ricciardo, reflecting on his first-career victory in 2014 when starting from the same position. “I’ve started sixth here as well since and didn’t win. We’ll see.”

 

“The first few laps will dictate a lot of the race, but also if we can really manage to go well in the first stint with the hypers, if we could pull it off, then it sets us up later in the race.”

 

While Ferrari and Mercedes qualified on the ultras in Q2, Red Bull opted for the hypers, which means Ricciardo and Verstappen have the upper hand of more gripper and faster rubber than their rivals in the early stages of the race.

 

“We thought the chance of having cars to overtake at the beginning would be likely. And just giving us an extra start performance on the hypersoft for us felt like a risk worth taking,” Ricciardo continued. “Also we feel that we can be better on the tyres than the others. If we did the same as them, we were thinking, ‘How can we beat them?’ It is a tough track to overtake, so we are going to try and capitalise with some track position in the first few laps.”

 

“If the others are sliding around in dirty air or whatever, we should be able to get a bit more out of them. So it sets us up to be aggressive in attack, so should hopefully make for some good TV as well.” Ricciardo concluded.

 

Ricciardo stated that Red Bull’s plan is a one stopper, but will heavily rely on making the pink-walled hypersofts last as long as possible.

 

Alonso: “We knew Canada would be difficult for us”

 

 

Celebrating his 300th Grand Prix start this weekend in Montreal, Fernando Alonso went into qualifying full of confidence after back-to-back Q3 appearances in Barcelona and Monte Carlo but the Spaniard was knew it would be difficult after his McLaren qualified 14th, his worst result of the season.

 

The Spaniard showed promising signs in practice yesterday, taking seventh and tenth in both morning and afternoon sessions. However, the form did not continue into qualifying and encountered challenges on the power-reliant Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

 

“I think we knew this could be a difficult circuit for us,” explained Alonso. “Yesterday we felt quite competitive – the car was feeling bright and we were fast – but unfortunately today we were uncompetitive.”

 

“We felt it in FP3 and we confirmed it in qualifying. We will see tomorrow, (there’s) nothing we can change now. Hopefully with the (right) strategy, the points are still possible – that is the clear target for tomorrow.”

 

Renault introduced it’s upgraded power-unit package for all it’s customers in Montreal but it’s unclear what potential advantage it will give McLaren after a tough qualifying session for both Alonso and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne who qualified 15th.

 

“It’s difficult to explain,” Alonso continued. “I think the performance has been up and down for everybody (Renault and Red Bull), not only for us. We try to analyse as much as we can, it’s sometimes difficult to get a clear answer.”

 

“We know our weaknesses and that we have to improve. Today is disappointing but the race is tomorrow and the points are available so let’s attack.” Alonso concluded.

 

Alonso currently sits sixth in the Driver’s Championship on 32 points, and a top ten finish will propel the Woking-based outfits hopes of taking fourth in the Constructors Championship as they are just four points behind works-team and power-unit supplier Renault.

 

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team: “Looking confident ahead of the race”

 

 

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team’s qualifying session finished with Charles Leclerc taking 13th place in Q2 and was the fourth time the Monegasque youngster has advanced to the second stage of qualifying.

 

The team kept the same configuration for both C37 racers as they fully prepared for qualifying and the team believed that Q2 was possible for both drivers.

 

Both Ericsson and Leclerc put on a solid start to qualifying but Ericsson hit the wall and damaged the front right of his car forcing him to abort the session and will start at the rear.

 

Leclerc however, pushed his Ferrari-powered C37 into Q2 as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve continued to evolve.

 

The Monegasque driver will start a high 13th place ahead of both McLaren MCL33’s of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne.

 

“It was a good day overall,” explained Leclerc. “We made some good steps from FP3 to qualifying, and I am pleased to have finished in Q2 again. The track was new to me when I arrived in Montreal this weekend. After the last two days, I definitely feel comfortable driving here, and the car also feels good. Starting in P13 tomorrow is a positive, and I look forward to seeing what we will be able to do during the race to get a good result.”

 

On the other side of the garage despite hitting the wall in Q1 and starting 19th, Ericsson is positive that they have the pace to fight back.

 

A difficult weekend in Montreal for Williams

 

 

It has been another horrific weekend so far for the Grove-based outfit after both Mercedes-powered FW41’s failed to make it out of Q1.

 

Hometown hero Lance Stroll and Russian Sergey Sirotkin will start a low 17th and 18th on the grid as both Williams drivers struggled to have competitive pace.

 

“I thought there was a bit more in it,” explained Stroll. “I locked up in the last chicane on my best lap and that lost something like two and a half tenths. However, it would not have been enough to get into Q2, and not enough to get another position as we were six tenths off Gasly in P16.”

 

“Unfortunately, we are not as competitive as we should be, but I am still happy with my first run and my performance. In the race it is a whole other story and I hope the race pace will be better, as last time I started 17th here I finished 9th, so anything is possible. This weekend will be very special as it is my home race, I love the energy and I have a lot of butterflies in a good way.” Stroll concluded.

 

Team-mate Sirotkin struggled to make the tyres work in the hot conditions faced in both practice session on Friday and in Qualifying.

 

“It’s been a very difficult session,” said Sirotkin. “This is crucial as you can play around with the car balance a lot but we missed the peak of the tyre completely. I really tried to be positive going into the session as we have been working on improvements and felt we had a better understanding of the car. However, I am quite disappointed we couldn’t fight.”

 

Hamilton: “Poor qualifying not related to older engine spec”

 

 

Reigning Champion Lewis Hamilton has denied that Mercedes’ lack of engine upgrade to Montreal was behind his tough qualifying performance.

 

The six time Canadian Grand Prix winner will start in fourth place, behind pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel, team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

 

Bottas put his Silver Arrows on the front row, just 0.039 seconds behind Vettel with his upgraded Ferrari engine.

 

“It was a difficult qualifying,” explained Hamilton. “My laps weren’t good and it just didn’t quite come together for me. In practice things looked good and I think I could have been quickest in FP3, but in qualifying I couldn’t quite hit the potential we had shown.”

 

While Ferrari, Honda and Renault all brought upgrades to Canada, Mercedes delayed theirs due to a “quality issue”.

 

Hamilton however, said this was not to blame for the deficit to his rivals. “I don’t think today’s performance has got anything to do with the older engine. Sebastian simply did a better job when it counted in Q3.” The Briton concluded.

 

Can Hamilton bounce back and become a seven-time Canadian Grand Prix winner?

 

Marquez test drives F1 car

 

 

The story of the week was seeing Repsol Honda Team MotoGP rider Marc Marquez get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car for the first time.

 

The Spaniard test drove a Toro Rosso liveried Red Bull Racing RB8 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria on Tuesday to promote the upcoming Austrian Formula 1 and MotoGP races coming up.

 

Marquez was coached by former Red Bull Racing driver and nine-time Grand Prix Mark Webber and also watched by Red Bull boos Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, Honda Motorsport boss Masashi Yamamoto and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.

 

Marquez’ best time was reportedly 1:14.900 seconds and was ten seconds slower than Valtteri Bottas’ pole lap last year but the Spaniard drove the team’s 2012 show car on hard Pirelli demonstration rubber with it’s 2.4L normally aspirated V8 engine and no DRS and KERS available.

 

“Today, a full smile, all day! It was a great experience,” explained Marquez. “It was incredible to drive a Formula 1 car, because it’s my first experience with a car at a track – I [have] never driven before. I drove a Formula 3 car, but only two laps at Motegi.”

 

“Yesterday I was very, very nervous, this morning too – difficult to sleep, even more than in a race weekend. But step by step I just tried to find a way, to enjoy it, and it was really good.”

 

“They tell me [I was] not bad [to begin with], but I was so far [away from the pace], but then step by step I understand the things, and around these legends everything is easier.”

 

“It is a day that will always be in my mind.” Marquez concluded.