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George Russell won the Canadian
Grand Prix, his fourth Formula 1 victory, a third in the Americas. Russell’s
maiden win came in Brazil in 2022 and before today, his most recent was in
Las Vegas last year, while in between was a 2024 victory in Austria. The
Englishman also secured his first career hat-trick, (the win, pole position
and the fastest race lap). For Mercedes, this was win number 130, the fifth
in the Canadian Grand Prix. A great day for Mercedes was completed by Andrea
Kimi Antonelli finishing third, the first time an Italian has stood on the
podium since the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix, when Jarno Trulli finished second
for Toyota.
Max Verstappen finished second to record his fifth
Montreal podium finish, while for the first time this year, there was no
McLaren driver on the podium. In fact, the previous time that happened was
at last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
THE DAY ON TRACK:
On the starting grid and indeed in pit lane, as Lawson and Gasly started
from there, the teams were almost equally split between Medium (11 drivers)
and Hard (nine). The two hardest compounds were the outright protagonists
today and it was only right at the end, when the Safety Car came out that a
few drivers, namely Piastri, Stroll, Bearman and Hadjar, fitted a set of
Softs, but they got virtually no use out of them as the race finished behind
the Safety Car.
The longest stints overall were completed by Ocon
(Haas) and Sainz (Williams), who did 57 laps from the start on Hards. As for
the Medium, Albon (Williams) covered the greatest distance, running 23 laps
on the set of C5s he used from the start.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“A very closely contested race from start to finish, as can be understood
from the fact that when the Safety Car came out, the top five drivers were
separated by less than seven seconds, with just four laps to go to the
chequered flag.
In terms of strategy, the two-stop proved to be
fastest with the Hard compound being the most effective. Making one stop was
possible but, honestly, it was really only an option for those starting from
the back half of the grid who therefore had less to lose. Those starting
from the front rows were able to push in all stints thus giving rise to a
very hard fought race, with notable differences in stint length and in the
sequence of compound use. The most effective tyre was the Hard, even if we
had little data on it available, given that during Friday free practice only
Sauber used it. The Medium probably suffered a bit because of the
temperatures being higher than on the first day.
This was the third
event of the year which featured the C6. Clearly, we will now carefully
analyse all the data gathered here to work out if and how to use it again
this season after the summer break. Here too we saw that the difference in
outright performance between the newcomer and the C5 is relatively small –
one to one and half tenths – but, as we predicted yesterday, having a wider
range of compounds allowed the team a greater range of strategic options.
Honestly, if we did not have the C6, we would have had to bring the same
trio as last year, namely C3, C4 and C5, and it’s probable that would have
produced a more linear race with just the one pit stop.
Finally, let
me say that, as an Italian, I was very happy to see one of our compatriots
on the podium. It’s the first time it’s happened since Pirelli returned to
Formula 1 in 2011 and interestingly, the last time an Italian driver
finished in the top three in a car running our tyres was also here in
Montreal in 1991, when Stefano Modena in a Tyrrell-Honda finished second,
behind winner Nelson Piquet in a Benetton-Ford, also fitted with Pirellis.
Our work continues next week with an important test for 2026 wet weather
tyre development. Working with Ferrari, we will be using their Fiorano track
where Zhou Guanyu will drive on 19 June, followed by Charles Leclerc on
20th.”
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