(Jean Michel Le Meur DPPI for Renault Sport F1)
Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo took a sensational maiden Formula One victory in a chaotic Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The Australian took the lead right at the end of the race taking the lead from pole sitter and championship leader Mercedes Nico Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton, who started the race from second on the grid suffered a rear brake failure due to overheating in the pit-stops which resulted in the 2008 champion retiring from the race.
Ricciardo commented after the race saying:
'I’m a grand prix winner! I think it still seems a bit surreal to be honest, just because it all happened so quickly at the end. I was third for a while and then it all happened in a really exciting fashion. Once I got past Perez I knew I just had to drive clean and get in Rosberg’s DRS zone and, from then on, it was just awesome. Finishing under the safety car made it a bit weird, but I wanted to make sure the two drivers who were in the accident were okay before I started celebrating. We achieved a great result today with first and third – so let’s enjoy it – but we will still have some work to do also. This will motivate the guys to work even harder and find even more, so I’m sure it will keep coming even better for us at the next few races.'
Ricciardo commented after the race saying:
'I’m a grand prix winner! I think it still seems a bit surreal to be honest, just because it all happened so quickly at the end. I was third for a while and then it all happened in a really exciting fashion. Once I got past Perez I knew I just had to drive clean and get in Rosberg’s DRS zone and, from then on, it was just awesome. Finishing under the safety car made it a bit weird, but I wanted to make sure the two drivers who were in the accident were okay before I started celebrating. We achieved a great result today with first and third – so let’s enjoy it – but we will still have some work to do also. This will motivate the guys to work even harder and find even more, so I’m sure it will keep coming even better for us at the next few races.'
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished the Grand Prix in third place just ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button who did a fantastic job for McLaren Mercedes as he finished the race in fourth place having started the race from 9th on the grid. The result means that McLaren move ahead of Williams Martini Racing in the Constructors Championship.
Vettel said after the race:
'Congratulations to Daniel for his first win, which is very, very special, so I’m happy for him and happy for the team, especially after such a horrible winter. It’s nice to be able to finally break through to get a win this year and capitalise on Mercedes having a problem. I think we could have taken more risk with the strategy today – but it’s hard to know exactly what was going on around me when I’m not sitting on the pit wall. We have developed the car a lot this year, so we are going in the right direction, but we need to develop it even more for the straights, so there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We are here to keep pushing and to keep doing our best.
Vettel said after the race:
'Congratulations to Daniel for his first win, which is very, very special, so I’m happy for him and happy for the team, especially after such a horrible winter. It’s nice to be able to finally break through to get a win this year and capitalise on Mercedes having a problem. I think we could have taken more risk with the strategy today – but it’s hard to know exactly what was going on around me when I’m not sitting on the pit wall. We have developed the car a lot this year, so we are going in the right direction, but we need to develop it even more for the straights, so there is still a lot of work ahead of us. We are here to keep pushing and to keep doing our best.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said:
'An amazing race today and what an amazing race for Daniel to win his first Grand Prix. He’s been phenomenal since he joined the team and I think today he fully deserved the victory. We benefitted from the misfortune of Mercedes, but nonetheless he still had to be there and his pass on Perez was the deciding moment in the last ten laps. He was then able to make an easy pass on Nico with a couple of laps to go and to win in Montreal, against all expectation, was a phenomenal result. The added bonus of having Sebastian up there on the podium as well tops off a perfect day. After a good start, Seb unfortunately just got locked behind the Force India and no matter what we tried we couldn’t manage to pass – it was one of those frustrating races for Seb who in the end was fortunate not to be collected by the Williams and Force India. Thankfully both of those drivers escaped unhurt. Well done to everyone in the team today and at Renault for the first win of the season – it’s a great result and a great motivation for the forthcoming races.'
Nico Hulkenberg put in another sensational drive for the Sahara Force India Formula One Team finishing the race in fifth place to strengthen the team's position in the Constructors championship, the German finished the race just ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Speaking after the race The Hulk said:
'It has been a very busy race for me today, so to come away with ten points and a fifth place is a good result. I gained some positions at the end due to the crash between Sergio and Massa but lost one to Jenson [Button] when I was in a battle with Alonso, but we were always going to finish in the points regardless. The safety car at the start didn't help me as it allowed those on supersoft tyres to stretch their stints. Being on a different strategy from everyone else meant I always had someone pushing close behind me: it was fun, but also very challenging, especially towards the end of the race as I had quite a long stint on the supersoft tyres. Stopping only once I had a bigger challenge managing the tyres compared to the two-stoppers, but I think we got the right reward for it. I think it was the fastest strategy for us today and to be the only two cars to manage a one-stopper is definitely a positive.'
'It has been a very busy race for me today, so to come away with ten points and a fifth place is a good result. I gained some positions at the end due to the crash between Sergio and Massa but lost one to Jenson [Button] when I was in a battle with Alonso, but we were always going to finish in the points regardless. The safety car at the start didn't help me as it allowed those on supersoft tyres to stretch their stints. Being on a different strategy from everyone else meant I always had someone pushing close behind me: it was fun, but also very challenging, especially towards the end of the race as I had quite a long stint on the supersoft tyres. Stopping only once I had a bigger challenge managing the tyres compared to the two-stoppers, but I think we got the right reward for it. I think it was the fastest strategy for us today and to be the only two cars to manage a one-stopper is definitely a positive.'
Sergio Perez put in some incredible laps for Force India however the Mexican was involved in a massive accident with Williams Felipe Massa which resulted in the pair retiring from the race fortunately neither driver was hurt. Following the race and his medical checks Perez said:
'On the final lap I was defending my position going into turn one when I suddenly got hit from behind. It was a big impact, but I am okay. I’m really sad for the team because we had an amazing race today and the one-stop strategy was working perfectly. It was not easy in the final laps and I was pushing hard to try and get ahead of Nico [Rosberg] for the lead. Daniel [Ricciardo] managed to get ahead of me when I had an electrical issue with my car, but I managed to reset the system for the final couple of laps. The podium was possible today and I’m just very disappointed for the points we have lost.'
Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley had this to say:
'The most important thing today is that Checo is okay after that very heavy impact on the final lap. He had done a fantastic race, challenging for the lead for a large part of the afternoon and holding on to what was shaping up to be a very strong result. Unfortunately, this was not to be, but we will focus on the positives and build on the performance we showed today at the coming races. Nico delivered another very solid performance, making the most of an alternative one-stop strategy. He drove smartly to resist incredible pressure towards the end of the race and was able to bring home another good haul of points. As in previous rounds, our pace looked really strong in the race and we are confident we will be translating it into another good performance in Austria.'
Valtteri Bottas did a good job for Williams Martini Racing as he finished the race in 7th place just ahead of the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne. Kevin Magnussen finished the race in 9th place while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his 200th Grand Prix by finishing the race in 10th place to collect one point.
'On the final lap I was defending my position going into turn one when I suddenly got hit from behind. It was a big impact, but I am okay. I’m really sad for the team because we had an amazing race today and the one-stop strategy was working perfectly. It was not easy in the final laps and I was pushing hard to try and get ahead of Nico [Rosberg] for the lead. Daniel [Ricciardo] managed to get ahead of me when I had an electrical issue with my car, but I managed to reset the system for the final couple of laps. The podium was possible today and I’m just very disappointed for the points we have lost.'
Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley had this to say:
'The most important thing today is that Checo is okay after that very heavy impact on the final lap. He had done a fantastic race, challenging for the lead for a large part of the afternoon and holding on to what was shaping up to be a very strong result. Unfortunately, this was not to be, but we will focus on the positives and build on the performance we showed today at the coming races. Nico delivered another very solid performance, making the most of an alternative one-stop strategy. He drove smartly to resist incredible pressure towards the end of the race and was able to bring home another good haul of points. As in previous rounds, our pace looked really strong in the race and we are confident we will be translating it into another good performance in Austria.'
Valtteri Bottas did a good job for Williams Martini Racing as he finished the race in 7th place just ahead of the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne. Kevin Magnussen finished the race in 9th place while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his 200th Grand Prix by finishing the race in 10th place to collect one point.
The race was eventful from the start of the race as the Jules Bianchi who stared in Monaco for the Marussia F1 Team as he secured point's last time out in Monaco failed to finish the race following a collision with team mate Max Chilton which resulted in both driver's retiring from the Grand Prix.
It was another disappointing Grand Prix for the Sauber F1 Team as Esteban Gutierrez failed to finish the race while Adrian Sutil could only manage to finish the Grand Prix in 13th.
Gutierrez said following the race:
'It was a very challenging race! Especially in the beginning, I was struggling so much with the tires. It was hard to manage them and to drive consistently. I fought with some cars, but it was extremely difficult to keep them behind. When I pitted, I got a fresh set of soft tires, which I drove until the end. With this second set of soft tires, the car felt much better, I even enjoyed driving. But then we lost power, and I had to retire.'
Sauber team mate Adrian Sutil commented:
'It was a long race with many incidents. We were able to keep out of all the trouble from start to finish. Hence, it was a good team performance, which I am very pleased of. I am also satisfied with my own performance. However, all this only led to a 13th position, which we have to accept at this point in time. At least we gave everything today.'
Gutierrez said following the race:
'It was a very challenging race! Especially in the beginning, I was struggling so much with the tires. It was hard to manage them and to drive consistently. I fought with some cars, but it was extremely difficult to keep them behind. When I pitted, I got a fresh set of soft tires, which I drove until the end. With this second set of soft tires, the car felt much better, I even enjoyed driving. But then we lost power, and I had to retire.'
Sauber team mate Adrian Sutil commented:
'It was a long race with many incidents. We were able to keep out of all the trouble from start to finish. Hence, it was a good team performance, which I am very pleased of. I am also satisfied with my own performance. However, all this only led to a 13th position, which we have to accept at this point in time. At least we gave everything today.'
So as Formula One heads to Austria for the first time since 2003, Nico Rosberg has extended his lead in the championship to 22 point's over team mate Lewis Hamilton. Meanwhile Mercedes have increased their gap over Red Bull Racing.
Drivers Championship Standing's
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG F1 Team 140 points
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG F1 Team 118
3 Daniel Ricciardo Infiniti Red Bull Racing 79
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 69
5 Sebastian Vettel Infiniti Red Bull Racing 60
6 Nico Hulkenberg Sahara Force India F1 Team 57
7 Jenson Button McLaren Mercedes 43
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams Martini Racing 40
9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren Mercedes 23
10 Sergio Perez Sahara Force India F1 Team 20
11 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing 18
12 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 18
13 Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team 8
14 Jean Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 8
15 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 4
16 Jule Binachi Marussia F1 Team 2
Constructors Championship
1 Mercedes AMG F1 Team 258 points
2 Infiniti Red Bull Racing 139
3 Ferrari 87
4 Sahara Force India Formula One Team 77
5 McLaren Mercedes 66
6 Williams Martini Racing 58
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 12
8 Lotus F1 Team 8
9 Marussia F1 Team 2
UPDATE:
Driver of car 4 (Max Chilton, Marussia) given a three place grid penalty for the next event in Austria
UPDATE:
Driver of car 4 (Max Chilton, Marussia) given a three place grid penalty for the next event in Austria
© Ben Johnston 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment