09 | 06 | 2019 GP Canada | Such a disappointing podium

 Scuderia Ferrari finished second and third in the 50th Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix, after Sebastian Vettel was given a five second penalty which dropped him behind Lewis Hamilton, even though the German was first across the finish line. Sebastian produced a masterly performance following on from yesterday’s pole. He led from start to finish, keeping the reigning world champion behind him. Charles Leclerc took the second podium of his career, following on from his third place finish in Bahrain.

Start. Sebastian maintained his pole advantage at the start over Hamilton, while Charles got alongside the Englishman in Turn 1, but he had to give best to avoid a probable collision. From lap 2 onwards, it was a close fight between the German Ferrari driver and the Englishman’s Mercedes and it went all the way to the chequered flag.

Pit stop. Sebastian pitted on lap 26, switching from the medium to the hard tyres, rejoining third. Two laps later, Hamilton came in, rejoining behind Charles and Sebastian who was back in the lead at this point. The team tried to lengthen the stint at this point to try and make the most of any Safety Car situation that might arise, as it often does in Montreal, which would have allowed him to close up the ten second gap, meaning he could again fight for the win. On lap 33, Charles stopped to go from mediums to hards, coming out behind Max Verstappen, who had started on the hard tyres on a different strategy. Leclerc took a lap to warm up his new tyres and then on lap 35, he retook third place.

Key moment. The key incident of the race came on lap 48, when Sebastian lost the rear of his SF90 at Turn 3, rejoining at turn 4 having gone off on the grass, but keeping the lead. The stewards however decided that Sebastian had rejoined unsafely forcing Hamilton off track and thus came the 5 second penalty to be added to his total race time. Sebastian crossed the finish line ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc, but the penalty swapped the order of the first two drivers on the podium.

Sebastian Vettel #5
“I think we had a great race and the stewards’ decision is too harsh. In turn 3, I lost control of my car and I had to run long onto the grass, rejoining at turn 4 ahead of Lewis. I couldn’t see where he was, as I was too busy trying to keep my car on track without crashing and I didn’t squeeze him on purpose.
I think given the way things went this weekend and even though our rivals’ race pace was very strong, we deserved the win, and I get the impression that lots of the spectators here today at the circuit agree with me. It’s always nice to race in Canada, I feel a lot of support from the people and it would have been wonderful to have given all our fans the first big result of the season.”

  Bildergalerie

Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre

08 | 06 | 2019 GP Canada | "Grande" Sebastian! A pole for the tifosi

 Sebastian Vettel will start the 50th Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix from pole position tomorrow, when the lights go out at 14.10 local time (20.10 CET.) The German’s best lap was 206 thousandths faster than second placed Lewis Hamilton, while Charles Leclerc was third in 1’10”920. This is Scuderia Ferrari’s second pole of the season, following on from Charles’ in Bahrain.

Q1. In the first part of the session, Charles and Sebastian each went quicker three times, going through to Q2 in first and second places. The Monegasque did a 1’11”786 then a 1’11”481 and finally a 1’11”214. Sebastian began with a lap in 1’12”339 then 1’11”601 and in the end, a 1’11”200.

Q2. In Q2, the aim was to make the cut on the Medium tyres, so as to use them for the start of the race. Sebastian did it with two laps in 1’11”309 and 1’11”142. Charles made a mistake on his first run but soon posted a 1’11”205, which was enough to make it through to the final session, even though Q2 was red flagged after Kevin Magnussen hit the wall which meant no one could improve.

Q3. In the top ten shoot-out, both the SF90s used Soft tyres to get the most out of the car. Charles was the first of the two Ferrari men to set a time in 1’11”188, with Sebastian then doing a 1’10”681. On the final run with new tyres, Leclerc got down to a 1’10”920 while Sebastian excelled himself to deliver an amazing 1’10”240, to ensure the 56th pole of his career, his eleventh with Scuderia Ferrari, which puts him level with Rubens Barrichello on the list of Ferrari driver poles. For the Scuderia, this was pole number 221, coming almost 68 years after the first one, which came courtesy of José Froilàn Gonzàlez in the 1951 British Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel #5 “That was a good day for us and I’m really pleased for the team. The last couple of months haven’t been easy for us so it’s nice to get a result like today and it sends the right message to all the guys. We are flat out and the most important thing is we keep pushing.
There’s a lot of adrenaline going around in qualifying and when they came on the radio I was really delighted. It was quite tense in terms of concentration and obviously you try to put everything in that one lap or in those two attempts that you have.
Coming here, we knew that we would have better chances and we were able to confirm that. Our pace is stronger here and we are basically sure to avoid the soft tyre in the race. We’ll take it from there. Anything can happen tomorrow and we’ll race to find out, as simple as that. We know our competitors are very quick, especially over the distance and we’ve seen this in all the races so far, but we’re starting ahead of them and hopefully we’ll stay there and fight as hard as we can. It is important that the chance was there today and we took it. But now we must confirm it tomorrow. So hopefully more singing!”

  Bildergalerie

Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre

07 | 06 | 2019 GP Canada | Data gathering on Friday

 It was a useful first day of practice for Scuderia Ferrari at the Canadian Grand Prix, as both drivers generated plenty of data which will be vital for the rest of the weekend. Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were first and second quickest, even if the lap times do not mean much given that the track is still very dirty and one never knows what programmes the other teams are running.

129 laps. In total, Charles and Sebastian completed 129 laps of the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit. This provided the engineers with plenty of data relating to the car’s handling and balance, while they worked on tyre evaluation in qualifying trim and also during long runs in preparation for the race. The track time was also useful for the drivers to progressively get to grips with the need to get close to the walls and make use of the kerbs on the track.
FP1 and FP2. In the first 90 minutes, Charles and Sebastian stuck with the Medium tyre. The Monegasque was third in 1’13”720, doing 24 laps, while the German did 28 laps, the quickest in 1’13”905. In the afternoon, the two SF90s ran the Pirelli Soft tyre as well, the drivers topping the time sheet, Charles in 1’12”177 and Sebastian 1’12”251, after which all the teams switched to long run work.

Saturday and Sunday. The cars will be back in action tomorrow at 11 (17 CET) for the final hour of free practice. That is followed by qualifying at 14 (20 CET.) The 50th Canadian Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 14.10 local time (20.10 CET.)

Sebastian Vettel #5 “It was an interesting session: the track was rather slippery at the start and I know it’s going to improve bit by bit as the weekend progresses. We struggled again with the tyres, especially in terms of performance over a long run. We will have to work on that in the third free practice session, because having a good grid position is vital.
At the moment, I’d say we’re not the quickest, especially over a single lap, where our main rivals seem to have a slight edge. We lack grip in the slowest corners and I’m still not getting the feeling I want from the car. We will try changing some settings to find the right balance, which is eluding us at the moment.”

  Bildergalerie

Foto © www.motorsportpics.de | Jerry Andre