The Debrief by Aramco: Canadian GP
Fernando secures second and Lance battles into the top 10 in front of his home fans as AMF1 Team comes away from Canada with another points haul.
Hard-fought points and a podium at Île Notre-Dame.
Fernando finished second in his AMR23 to take his and the team's sixth podium of the season. He also matched his best finish of the season with P2 at the chequered flag.
Lance, meanwhile, battled a grid penalty and an unfortunately timed Safety Car as he gained seven places to complete a comeback to P9 – making a stunning last-gasp pass on the final lap – adding more points to Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team's tally.
Both drivers began on Medium tyres, switching to Hards and pitting for Hards once again as two pitstops were the order of the day – while the rain held off on Sunday. That was after a wet and stoppage-hit Friday and a Saturday that saw plenty of rain and plenty of action, leading to a mixed-up grid.
Scroll down to read the thoughts of Fernando, Lance, and Mike as they entertained fans and brought home a solid result from Canada's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Sunday
The Grand Prix
"It was a great result for Aston Martin today and another podium for the team. I think it was our most competitive race yet and the upgrades on the car are working well." Fernando begins by hailing a 20-point haul for AMF1 Team with a pair of upgraded AMR23 cars in Montréal.
"It was a good recovery drive to score a couple of points this afternoon. We got unlucky with the Safety Car; pitting a lap before it was deployed meant we missed out on a cheaper stop while the cars around us were able to take that opportunity." Lance was unfortunate not to be able to capitalise on the Safety Car at his home race, but he still made up an impressive seven positions to take points on Sunday.
"Congratulations to Fernando, Lance and the entire team on another great result. It was a very well-executed race with strong pace, clean pitstops, and important overtakes." Mike begins by pointing to the solid execution, both in the pitlane and on the track, on Sunday.
"I lost the position to Lewis [Hamilton] at the start, but we had some good pace and after a close battle we retook second. It was then like a qualifying session as Lewis was pushing at the end and we had to keep him there and not make any mistakes." Fernando underlines just how hard he was fighting to keep second place throughout the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
"Our focus had to shift to damage limitation and trying to pick up a couple of points for the team. There are still positives to take from the race; the AMR23 felt strong and was performing well." Lance says he had to reassess his objectives after the ill-timed Safety Car on Lap 12.
"There was not a moment to relax as Fernando stayed close to Max [Verstappen] and kept a gap to Lewis to finish second. We also had to play it safe with some lift and coast to manage a fuel system issue." Mike praises Fernando for overcoming an issue in the race and pushing hard to take his joint-best finish of the season.
"We hope to put more pressure on Max in Austria." Fernando looks ahead to the next race, the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix on 2 July, as he seeks an even better result.
"I had a fun final lap too, overtaking Valtteri [Bottas] just before the finish line. To hear the cheers from the grandstands when I took the position was great, and I want to say thank you to all the fans who have shown their support this weekend." The support from the fans has been momentous throughout this week and weekend in Montréal, and Lance says he could hear the roar of the crowd as he took ninth on the final straight on the very last lap of the race.
"It was good to see Lance make a great comeback and score valuable points too. He was heavily disadvantaged by the Safety Car. It came out a lap after his first pitstop, which cost him several positions and undid much of his hard work in the opening laps. He kept his head down and recovered well to take ninth place on the final lap. We leave Montréal, our second home race, with 20 important points for the Constructors’ Championship." Mike commends Lance for his determined drive into the top 10.
Saturday
#14 Fernando Alonso | Free Practice & Qualifying
#18 Lance Stroll | Free Practice & Qualifying
"We will take third place on the grid after a very complex Qualifying session. We were a little bit unlucky with the red flags during Q1 and Q3 just before we could complete a faster lap that might have put us on the front row." Fernando, speaking before any penalties were applied, qualified third on the road but was held back by the unfortunate timing of red flags, which forced him to slow down and abort what could have been faster laps.
"It was a tough Qualifying session for us today. The challenging weather conditions meant that being on the right tyre at the right time was really important, and we didn’t quite get that right." Lance says the changing weather conditions made Qualifying tricky, especially when there was a brief period where Soft tyres came into play during Q2.
"It wasn’t the easiest Qualifying session to navigate with the wet weather giving constantly changing track conditions." Mike reflects on a Saturday during which conditions were evolving throughout.
"Both the red flags impacted some of Fernando's best laps in Q1 and then in Q3, just as he was about to set a time that could have placed him second on the grid. All things considered, third place [in the session] is a good outcome from such an unpredictable session." Mike adds that the red flags didn't fall in Fernando's favour, but second on the grid is a good outcome given the tricky track conditions.
"There is an opportunity tomorrow [to] put pressure on Max [Verstappen] in front. It's always a challenging circuit with very low grip in the dry and wet conditions and the weather is always unpredictable." Fernando says he's going to aim to give the polesitter a challenge in the race as mixed conditions could make the Grand Prix even more challenging.
"The pace of the Aston Martin has looked good across the weekend though – I’ve been happy with how it's felt and how the upgrades are performing." Lance looks to the positives of the weekend so far, saying that upgrades to the AMR23 have performed well this weekend in Canada.
"The new AMR23 upgrades seem to be working well and delivering what we were expecting, but we will keep evaluating them and try to optimise our setup around this new package." Like Lance, Fernando says early evaluations concerning the performance of the new AMR23 upgrades are positive – but there's more to be done to maximise their potential.
"There should be some opportunities to progress tomorrow with several cars starting out of position, so I’m looking forward to my home race and putting on a good show for the fans." Lance has enjoyed tremendous support over the opening two days of action at home and he wants to go out and get a result in Montréal, with a mixed-up grid and mixed conditions on the horizon.
"Lance progressed to Q2 but, as he recovered from a spin, he was out of sync with the rest of the field. It meant he missed the best of the track conditions and was never on the right tyres and the right time. There is quite a mixed-up grid for the race, but we have a competitive car so there is everything to play for as we target scoring solid points with both cars tomorrow." Mike sets out a target for tomorrow as Lance aims to make up ground while Fernando lines up on the front row.
Friday
Free Practice
"It's good to see all of the support here and be back racing in front of the Canadian fans." Fernando says he enjoyed the electric support from passionate fans at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Friday.
"Today's running was fairly disrupted, but it's the same situation for all teams and we made the most of the extended FP2 session this afternoon." Lance says that even though FP1 was cut short, the team worked hard to complete some valuable mileage in the 90-minute FP2 session.
"When you’re running new upgrades, the practice sessions become about learning how they impact the feel of the car and about ensuring that they're operating in the expected way. I was happy with the car and thought it was feeling good, but we'll take the time to look through the data tonight and ensure we're ready to put in a strong performance in Qualifying tomorrow." The lead-up to Qualifying hasn't been ideal, but Lance said he got a good read on the updates to the AMR23 with FP3 to come.
"It was a shame that we weren't able to run in FP1 due to the technical issues. We didn't have a lot of time to fully understand the new upgrades on the car, so we will have to analyse everything overnight and learn more tomorrow." Fernando says the shortened FP1 – in which drivers completed no more than three laps apiece– made it difficult to evaluate updates to the AMR23 and there's plenty of work ahead.
"We will keep an eye on the weather radar again for tomorrow, as it could be another mixed day." Fernando says the skies could make things even more challenging on Saturday.
" It was great to see plenty of Canadian flags in the grandstands – you can really feel the home support." Lance capped off his post-Friday comments by acknowledging the strong presence of home fans who have packed the grandstands to cheer him on.
Lance comes home.
A fan and driver favourite, the Canadian Grand Prix takes place at one of F1's storied circuits. Situated on the man-made Île Notre-Dame, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve frequently serves up one of the most unpredictable races of the year. It's also AMF1 driver Lance Stroll's home race, adding to the buzz around a highly anticipated weekend.
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