0 Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Strong finish for Lewis on P3 and Nico on P5

Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium today at the Canadian Grand Prix with team-mate Nico Rosberg taking fifth place.

• Lewis scored his third podium finish in seven races with the team, finishing in third position

• He completed a two-stop strategy with stops on laps 19 and 48, running option/prime/prime

• Nico completed three pit-stops on laps 14, 31 and 57, running option/option/prime/prime

• His third stop was precautionary after flat-spotting the right front and did not cost him track position

• With a total of 25 points this afternoon, the team is now third in the Constructors’ Championship

Drivers ++ Car No. ++ Chassis No. ++ Race Result / Fastest Lap
Lewis Hamilton ++ 10 ++ F1 W04 / 04 ++ P3 1:16.354
Nico Rosberg ++ 9 ++ F1 W04 / 03 ++ P5 1:16.534

Weather - Fine
Temperatures - Air: 23-24°C / Track: 27-33°C

Lewis Hamilton
“The car felt fantastic today and I had good grip for the low-speed corners but we just weren’t quite on the pace of Seb and Fernando. I was on the maximum that I could possibly drive and we got absolutely everything out of the car today. It would have been nice to have kept second place of course but Fernando was very quick today and it was difficult to keep him behind. I got close to taking the place back but he was just that little bit too fast. Still I’m very pleased with third place and it was a strong points-scoring day for the team with Nico’s fifth place as well. We’ve taken a step up in the Constructors’ Championship which is great for the team and gives us a nice boost going into Silverstone.”

Nico Rosberg
“I think fifth place was probably my optimum today and, even if my race had gone perfectly, I wasn´t able to match the pace of the guys in front. The guys had a difficult decision to make at the first stop: we were worried about the warm-up of the harder tyres, so we went for the option to protect my track position against Webber and Alonso, but in hindsight it would probably have been better to go the other way because I could have run a longer second stint. I scored some good points and we know that there are areas where we can still improve our performance. But looking back to where we were a month ago, we have made some good steps forward, and it was great for Lewis to be on the podium again. We are heading in the right direction and looking forward to the next race at Silverstone, in front of our team-mates from Brackley and Brixworth.”

Ross Brawn
“It has been rare in recent seasons to have backmarkers become such a factor in a race as they were today. They played a decisive role in the final result but getting through traffic is one of the challenges that you have to tackle in Formula One. The car performed reasonably well but we still had some anxiety about the tyre performance in the high temperatures, so we were managing the situation carefully, particularly in the opening laps of the stints. Lewis drove a very strong race although it was a shame that he could not quite hold on to second position in the closing laps. However, that wasn’t down to him but rather the fact that we still need to find a little more performance from our car to compete with Ferrari and Red Bull. Nico had a reasonably quiet race after a strong first stint and we will have to analyse if we could have made more of the car’s performance today with him. We called him in for a third stop as a precaution, because he had flat-spotted badly the right-front tyre badly and we had nothing to gain or lose in terms of track position. Overall, a positive afternoon and another strong two-car finish that is important for our position in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Toto Wolff
“Lewis and Nico did a great job on track today and it was nice to see Lewis on the podium again. He tried to hold off Fernando towards the end of the race but the Ferrari was just too quick today. Nico dropped back on the option tyre and our strategy didn’t quite come to him this afternoon unfortunately. Looking ahead, we know that we need to keep bringing performance to the car and that Silverstone will be a bigger test for our tyre management. But it’s the second race in a row that we have had both cars in the top five and that is building a good platform in the championship. Well done, too, to Sebastian and Red Bull today: they didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2013, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Detail: Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Strong finish for Lewis on P3 and Nico on P5

0 Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Jenson and Checo finish outside the points' area

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A/02
- Started: 12th
- Finished: 11th
- Fastest Lap: 1m17.369s (+1.187s, 7th)
- Pitstops: Two: lap 13 (2.83s) and 43 (3.15s) [Opt-Pri-Pri]
- Points: 12 (13th)

“This wasn’t the race we were hoping to have.

“We tried our best to try and score a few points, but it was impossible to do any better than we did out there today. It’s a pity, because the car felt quite good during our installation laps. But the car didn’t work that well on the Option tyre, and we struggled to find enough grip.

“At Silverstone, I hope we can make a step forward. We brought some upgrades to this race, but didn’t really get the running we needed to verify them. Hopefully, they’ll work better at Silverstone.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A/01
- Started: 14th
- Finished: 12th
- Fastest Lap: 1m17.458 (+1.276s, 8th )
- Pitstops: One: lap 27 (2.29s) [Opt-Pri]
- Points: 25 (10th)

“This wasn’t the best race for us as a team. It’s particularly tough because this circuit is usually very good to us.

“With hindsight, I think we’d have been better off starting on the Prime tyre, rather than the Option. During my first stint, all the two-stoppers pitted ahead of me, then came back to overtake me, so it was a bit tricky.

“However, we showed today that, irrespective of strategy, we wouldn’t have gone any faster.

“Our car tends to work better on fast and flowing circuits – such as Malaysia or China – so I’m looking forward to my home race at Silverstone at the end of the month. We tried some new parts this weekend, but they weren’t really suited for this type of circuit – they should work better at Silverstone, so I’m feeling positive about the future.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“This was a difficult afternoon. Credit goes out to Jenson and Checo – both drivers performed brilliantly, attacking when necessary, and driving with the foresight and caution needed to look after their tyres across long stints. They deserved to score points.

“Unfortunately, with the benefit of hindsight, we were a touch too conservative with our tyre management this afternoon. The Prime turned out to be a stronger tyre than we’d anticipated, and we could have exploited it for longer and further in the race than we did.

“The data that we’ve accumulated this weekend will nonetheless provide us with a useful basis from which to move forwards, and we’ve learned some valuable lessons this weekend.

“Our focus now turns to our home race at Silverstone. We’ll be doing our utmost to score a better result for the many British fans who’ll be supporting Vodafone McLaren Mercedes on home soil.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2013, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Detail: Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Jenson and Checo finish outside the points' area

0 Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton on the front row on P2

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified in second and fourth positions today ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.

• Lewis will start in second place for the third consecutive race, giving him his fourth front row start in the past five races

• Nico suffered radio communication problems in the session but was still able to secure P4, half a second off the pole time

• Both drivers ran intermediate tyres throughout, each using the four new sets that were available to them

Drivers ++ Car No. ++ Chassis No. ++ Practice ++ Qualifying 1 ++ Qualifying 2 ++ Qualifying 3
Lewis Hamilton ++ 10 ++ F1 W04 / 04 ++ P3 ++ P6, 1:23.801 ++ P1, 1:27.649 ++ P2, 1:25.512
Nico Rosberg ++ 9 ++ F1 W04 / 03 ++ P6 ++ P7, 1:23.840 ++ P5, 1:28.420 ++ P4, 1:26.008

Weather - Damp with light showers
Temperatures - Air: 16°C / Track: 15-16°C

Lewis Hamilton
“It’s good to be up on the front row again but I am a little disappointed with my last lap. I was seven-tenths up going into the last corner which was really slippery and unfortunately I went straight on. I would have lost time there anyway as it was so wet but there was a chance of pole if the lap had come together. Tomorrow should be a good opportunity for us though. The car felt great yesterday in the dry so we’ll keep our fingers crossed that the rain stays away for the race and hopefully we can give Seb a run for his money. We’ve got a good car and I feel like I’m on it here so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Nico Rosberg
“We were very quick in the difficult conditions out there this afternoon and I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t qualify further up the grid. Unfortunately my radio stopped working and communicating with my engineers is crucial in conditions like we had this afternoon. The biggest issue was not knowing that I had one more lap that was the chance to improve my time. But generally I can be pleased to be starting from the second row and I will hope for a strong race tomorrow. We need to manage the tyres well and then I believe we can get a good result.”

Ross Brawn
“It was an unusual qualifying session this afternoon, with both drivers staying on the intermediate tyres throughout. The team managed the situation well, getting the cars out on track at the right time, and we saw how difficult that was to achieve today. Both drivers did a fantastic job: Lewis secured his third consecutive front-row starting position while Nico finished P4 in spite of a radio problem that made communication difficult when he was out on track. As we often see in conditions like this, there are some cars out of position compared to where they would be in the dry, and that should make for a very exciting race.”

Toto Wolff
“It was a tough qualifying for everybody and these are conditions where it is a lot easier to get things wrong than right. That means we’re very happy to have both cars on the front two rows, starting second and fourth tomorrow. The race will be a step into the unknown because the forecast says it should be dry and warmer than it has been so far this weekend. That will keep everybody on their toes and should make for a fun afternoon.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

Copyright © 2013, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Detail: Canadian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton on the front row on P2