What the teams said – Race day in Canada

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What is F1 TV?F1 GlossaryGet involved2026 RegulationsNewsVideosWhat the teams said – Race day in CanadaAlbon reflects on Piastri collision that led to Canada DNF'We can do better' – Verstappen pushing Red Bull despite podiumNorris admits Canada retirement ‘put us out of our misery’Play0:182026 Canadian Grand Prix: Hamilton celebrates ‘mega’ result after finishing P2 for Ferrari 0:132026 Canadian Grand Prix: Hamilton’s Mum enjoys his pass on Verstappen for P2 Alexander AlbonFernando AlonsoKimi AntonelliOliver BearmanGabriel BortoletoValtteri BottasFranco ColapintoPierre GaslyIsack HadjarLewis HamiltonNico HulkenbergLiam LawsonCharles LeclercArvid LindbladLando NorrisEsteban OconSergio PerezOscar PiastriGeorge RussellCarlos SainzLance StrollMax VerstappenAll Drivers Hall of FameTeamsChevron DropdownAlpineAston MartinAudiCadillacFerrariHaas F1 TeamMcLarenMercedesRacing BullsRed Bull RacingWilliamsAll TeamsFantasy & GamingChevron DropdownF1 Sim RacingFantasyF1 25F1 Manager 24F1 PredictF1 ClashF1 Members' AreaMenuFIA if(window.f1MobileDetection.iOSSafari) { var meta = document.createElement("meta"); meta.name = "apple-itunes-app"; meta.content = "app-id=835022598, app-argument=https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/what-the-teams-said-race-day-in-canada-2026.4HbLpruv73CXucAxpxWGgC.4HbLpruv73CXucAxpxWGgC"; document.head.appendChild(meta); } {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/what-the-teams-said-race-day-in-canada-2026.4HbLpruv73CXucAxpxWGgC","url":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/what-the-teams-said-race-day-in-canada-2026.4HbLpruv73CXucAxpxWGgC","mainEntityOfPage":"https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/what-the-teams-said-race-day-in-canada-2026.4HbLpruv73CXucAxpxWGgC","datePublished":"2026-05-25T01:15:22.673Z","dateModified":"2026-05-25T01:15:22.673Z","headline":"What the teams said – Race day at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix ","author":"F1","description":"The drivers and teams report back from the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix. ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://media.formula1.com/image/upload/t_16by9Centre/f_auto/q_auto/v1779654506/trackside-images/2026/F1_Grand_Prix_of_Canada/2278019529.jpg"},"isAccessibleForFree":"true","publisher":{"@type":"SportsOrganization","@id":"https://www.formula1.com#organization","name":"Formula 1","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.formula1.com/etc/designs/fom-website/social/f1-default-share.jpg","width":"480","height":"120"}}}MercedesMcLarenWilliamsShow more tagsWhat the teams said – Race day in CanadaThe drivers and teams report back from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix. Russell had a slow start from pole and lost out to both Antonelli and Norris. With the McLaren man pitting out of the way early on, Antonelli was released – but he soon lost out to Russell, who got in front but could not pull away. That led to lap after lap of fighting, with both drivers locking up, running wide, going side by side, coming close to touching and somehow keeping their battle clean. The lead changed hands multiple times, with Antonelli seemingly slightly faster, while Russell was a bit tidier. But the highly entertaining tussle ended early when Russell parked up with a loss of power, his frustration clear to see as he hit his car in disbelief. Antonelli was untroubled from there as he drove away to win a fourth consecutive race, extending his lead in the standings over Russell to 43 points. "First of all, massive commiserations to George. I feel very sorry for him as he was leading the race and was super strong. We were having a great battle in that first stint and very close on pace. I am sure it would have gone right until the end of the Grand Prix, and I am disappointed we didn't get the chance to continue that. "It was not an easy race for us. The wind was very tricky and with the low temperatures, it was hard to get the tyres working. We had several lock-ups, particularly in the early stages, but fortunately were able to keep it on the track and get to the chequered flag first. It is of course not how we want to win but we will take it. We now get ready for the European portion of the season and six races in eight weekends leading up to shutdown. It will be an intense period, but we are looking forward to it." "I am proud of my weekend, no matter that it ended in a retirement today. I took pole for the Sprint, won that race, took pole for the Grand Prix and was leading before we had the Power Unit issue that finished our race. I know there is nothing more I could have done this weekend to perform and that fills me with confidence moving forward into the rest of the season. It is of course a painful way to finish our Canadian Grand Prix weekend, but I will leave here satisfied that I did my best. "Up until lap 30, I was thoroughly enjoying the race. I loved the battle with Kimi, and I am sure he did too. It was like going back to karting days where you are racing wheel-to-wheel, swapping the lead multiple times. I hope everyone enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed being in it. I just wish we could have continued it until the end of the Grand Prix." Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport "It is always a bittersweet feeling when you win the Grand Prix with one car but the other retires through no fault of the driver. We are very happy as a team to take our fifth victory in a row to start the season. Congratulations to Kimi on his fourth win too; that is no easy feat and shows how much he has progressed this season. Commiserations to George though who put together a superb weekend. He took pole for both the Sprint and the Grand Prix, and won the Sprint itself yesterday, and was leading the race when he had his Power Unit issue. He has had some bad luck so far this year, but we know how resilient he is and how he will bounce back from this. It is a very long season, and we are only at the start of the year. "It is not always easy to watch your cars battling as they were in the early stages, but it was great racing. It was maybe a little too close for our comfort at times but both George and Kimi raced hard but fair. We had the pace advantage that we were still able to maintain the gap over the chasing pack and that was important. I am sure we will see many more exciting races like this over the year ahead." Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director "We come away from Montreal with mixed feelings. Well done to Kimi and the team for the win, our fifth to start this year and Kimi's fourth, but the failure on George's car is bitterly disappointing. We will work hard to make sure we understand the cause as it's been very costly for him and the team in terms of points. "The cold and windy conditions made the race challenging today. We didn't have any idea how the tyres would behave with such a low ambient and track temperature. The warm-up was certainly difficult but once up to temperature the tyres were working quite nicely. We were also able to quickly identify that the one stop strategy was the best option. "It wasn't particularly relaxing watching our pair race in the first stint; the advantage of the overtake mode meant the cars could not separate so they were locked in a dual for the first 30 laps. Whilst it was close, they gave each other room. It did cost them both race time but the advantage over their competitors was enough for them not to be threatened. That fight was brought to an abrupt halt with George's car coming to a stop with an issue in the battery pack. We don't have any more information on that at the moment, but it goes without saying we'll be doing everything we can do understand that ahead of the next race. Thereafter, Kimi's run to the finish was quite straightforward. We seemed to have a bit of a pace advantage over our competitors, although the margins are small and everyone is developing at such a rate that we will be trying to bring every bit of performance we can to the upcoming races." 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team celebrates with his team during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team celebrates with his team during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) Hamilton was quick off the line and overtook Piastri, finding himself running third. He kept the Mercedes boys in check for a while, but then started to drop back into the clutches of Verstappen. The Dutchman got through, but Hamilton chased back and managed to overtake his rival with a top move around the outside of Turn 1 to grab his best result of the season. As for Leclerc, he was left unhappy for much of the weekend and the Grand Prix was no different. He struggled with his tyres, but still had an entertaining fight with Hadjar, picking off the Red Bull man to grab fourth. "It’s been a really positive weekend on my side. I felt at one with the car from the first laps in practice, and while qualifying didn’t quite go our way, the pace was there. Today is a testament to the work that’s been put in, both here at the track and back at the factory, so a huge ‘Grazie’ to everyone involved. "I’m really grateful for the way the team has supported me and welcomed me from day one. It means a lot. To come away with a strong points finish is important, and there are plenty of positives to take forward. "The fight with Max was intense and enjoyable, that’s why we race and it shows the progress we’re making. The upgrades we brought in Miami worked well and we’ll keep building on this momentum and stay focused on the journey ahead." "It has been a difficult weekend for me, starting from FP, I just didn’t get the right feeling in the car and struggled to put the tyres in the right window. Lewis on the other hand had a great weekend in the same car, so I have to look into his data and understand what he did differently to make it work. "Next up is my home race in Monaco. I look forward to racing there, and I hope that our car will give us an advantage on that track." "Overall, it has been a strong weekend for the team and the result reflects the work everyone has put in. Lewis was competitive throughout the entire weekend, from his first lap in free practice to the final one of the race. He immediately felt confident in the car and, in these very cold and low-grip conditions, confidence is key to being able to build tyre temperature and extract performance consistently. "It was a bit more difficult on Charles’ side as, unlike his team-mate he never felt completely comfortable with the car from the beginning of the weekend. However, he still did a very good job today, recovering to fourth place and scoring important points for the team. "We were expecting a difficult weekend in Montreal because several of our competitors brought upgrades while we did not, so this result is definitely encouraging." 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Second placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Second placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) Verstappen had a very good race to end a mixed weekend. He managed to chase down and pass Hamilton on merit in the race, before losing out to the Ferrari late on. Despite losing tyre temperatures, he was still able to stick with Hamilton in the closing stages and missed out on P2 by half a second. Still, he scored his first podium of the season as Red Bull continue to recover their form. Hadjar had a messier time of it, picking up two in-race penalties. One was for moving under braking when fighting with Leclerc, who did eventually go through. The other was for a yellow flag infringement, and despite those two costing him around 30 seconds of racing time, he managed to hold onto fifth place at the flag. "It’s great to be back on the podium. It was a little bit of a surprise, but we made the right calls and didn’t leave anything on the table. We had a very good first stint on the Soft tyre, and that gave us the gap we needed. The Medium tyre was more difficult because managing the temperatures, combined with going in and out of Virtual Safety Cars, made things more challenging. I enjoyed the last few laps battling with Lewis, and I pushed hard to take the position back. Over the last two weekends, we’ve been a lot closer, and there have been positive steps forward. It’s also our first podium with our own powertrain, which is a great milestone for the Team, so credit to everyone for getting us here.” "I started off with a very good launch but struggled a lot with pace during the race. The car was very fast but hard to drive compared to yesterday when I felt more comfortable, so I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted. I think we could have secured fourth place, but had to settle for fifth in the end. The overall car performance this weekend was very positive – we took a big step forward since Miami and made the most of the weekend. I hope we can keep the same momentum for Monaco." "Firstly, congratulations to everyone at Red Bull Ford Powertrains. To claim our very first podium with our own PU, in only its fifth race, is truly a historic moment, especially when you consider the pedigree and experience of our competitors. A PU on its own is not enough and of course this result is also down to the hard work of everyone back on campus in Milton Keynes and here at the track. Overall, maybe we have closed the gap a little bit more to those ahead of us and this confirms we are moving in the right direction, but we are well aware that the next three to five tenths that we need to find are always the hardest ones. Max was as strong as always, very fast and very consistent, knowing the right time to apply pressure. Isack was on the pace and got into the right rhythm from the start of the weekend and he delivered an impressive performance, also having to deal with a couple of penalties. It was important for the championship to have both cars scoring good points. We still have a lot to learn about how to extract everything out of the package we have, while at the same time, everyone in Milton Keynes is working flat out to bring our next development to the fight at the race track." 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Second placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari and Third placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing congratulate each other in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Second placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Scuderia Ferrari and Third placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing congratulate each other in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) Colapinto bagged his best F1 finish in Canada, as he rounded out a very solid weekend with sixth place. He wound up heading the midfield after Lindblad failed to start, and held that position throughout. The Argentine racer had one hairy moment though, clipping the wall after exiting the pits and damaging his front wing – but that did not appear to slow him one bit. As for Gasly, he was left disappointed by a poor Qualifying result but more than made up for it, climbing through the field to finish in the points. He missed out on P7 by fractions, unable to get past Lawson late on after an entertaining multi-lap battle. “Overall, it's a really good team result and strong points for the Championship. On my side, it's been a bit of a damage limitation result where we've recovered from a difficult weekend up to this stage to finish P8 and inside the points. In general, though, I have struggled with the car again and, as a team, we need to see why that is and aim to fix a few areas. There is a lot of work ahead of us to get the car into a good place again and that is our target between now and Monaco. In terms of today's race, we had a tough start on the Mediums which were quite cold and low grip to begin with but in the end we made some positions back and then into the fight against Liam [Lawson] at the end. It was tough to find anywhere to overtake him and we just could not get by, so we had to settle for P8. I am looking forward to Monaco now. It is my favourite place of the year so hopefully we can fix some of these limitations and go there with more confidence and more performance.” “From where we started the weekend to having a double points finish for the team, is a great result and a fantastic reward for everyone at the team who has been working so hard. I'm very proud of the work we've collectively been doing and it's a great team result today. It's also my best result in Formula One, which makes me very happy and builds on the performance we showed in Miami. We know we benefitted from others' misfortune, and it's never a nice feeling to benefit from their issues, but we maximised everything we could and brought the car home. It was extremely low grip out there and slippery, especially at the start in the opening laps on a harder compound tyre to those around us. I also had a scary moment exiting the pits after my stop, where I hit a wet patch, then went on the white line and drifted towards the wall. Thankfully I hit the wall side on and got away with a small amount of damage, which didn't require repairs or impact the performance. As we know, there's still more we need to do to be more competitive, bring more performance to the car and get closer to those ahead of us on merit.” Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor “Congratulations to the entire team on this result where we have scored 12 points. We executed a good strategy, the drivers did an excellent job on track and we now extend our advantage in P5 in the Constructors' Championship. We had a difficult day on Friday, but the team has worked hard to understand a few things on the car and now we come away with a positive team result. I am happy for Franco for his best ever finish in Formula One in P6, so well done to him for his effort. On Pierre's side, it is a good recovery from P14 on the grid. There is a lot of hard work ahead if we are to improve our competitiveness. The drivers still share similar feedback on the car and there is much more performance for us to find going into Monaco next time.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Alpine F1 A526 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Franco Colapinto of Argentina driving the (43) Alpine F1 A526 Mercedes on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) Lindblad’s stellar weekend did not finish as he would have hoped. He stalled on the grid and was pushed off with a clutch issue, causing a delay to the start. But that meant Lawson inherited a place off the line. He did well in his first stint on the mediums, before looking fast on the softs as he climbed up the order. The Kiwi racer had to work hard in the closing stages to keep Gasly at bay, both running off at one point and swapping positions only for Lawson to fight back ahead and finish a very credible seventh. "We had an issue with the clutch at the start of the Formation Lap today which meant I wasn’t able to take part in the race. I was really excited to get out there and drive in the mixed conditions, so not getting the chance is obviously disappointing. It’s such a shame because up until that point, the weekend had been really positive. The team worked flawlessly all weekend and the upgrades we brought were performing really well, so it’s frustrating not to come away with the result we felt we deserved today. There are still a lot of positives to take forward into the next race, and we have plenty of confidence heading into it. I’m already excited to get back out on track and drive a Formula One car in Monaco for the first time." "After a difficult start to the weekend, finishing in P7 is definitely a good result for us, so it’s nice to bring home points for the team. Overall, it wasn’t an easy race. We made up some ground from where we started, but we also struggled with the balance of the car and lacked some speed throughout the race. The biggest challenge was to maintain the correct temperature on the tyres as we were only able to do it during the flat-out laps. The Alpines were faster than us today and Pierre didn’t give me an easy time at the end of the race when I was on the Soft tyres, so I'm happy to have defended my position. I’m excited to get back to racing in Monaco in a couple of weeks as we look ahead to the European stretch of the season." “There are lots of positives and learnings to take from today. Liam had a stunning race despite us not being as fast as Alpine. He showed a masterclass of defending against a clearly faster car, so it's great to have him finish in the points following a tricky start to the weekend. Unfortunately, Arvid had an issue with the clutch at the start of the Formation Lap, meaning he couldn't engage first gear on the grid. It's a shame as there was a great opportunity given the pace he's shown all weekend. “After today's race we move to P6 in the Championship. With much of the season left to go, there are plenty of opportunities to secure points. The car has worked exceptionally well here with the low speed corners and we've certainly benefited from our upgrades to the car. With Monaco being only low speed corners, there's hope and confidence for a strong race." 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 03 RB Ford makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Liam Lawson of New Zealand driving the (30) Visa Cash App Racing Bulls VCARB 03 RB Ford makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) Albon’s weekend of poor luck continued, as he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Piastri locked up and hit his sidepod. That caused enough car damage for the Thai driver to park up trackside. Sainz kept out of trouble despite also starting on the inters, and worked his way back from an early pit stop to a very credible P9 finish, for his second straight points score for Williams. Alex Albon: "It just hasn't been my weekend overall. Bad luck again today - no hard feelings toward Oscar as I think he just misjudged the overtake. Sometimes these things happen and that’s just racing. We had good pace at the start of the race, the car felt more comfortable, and I think we would have been in the fight with the Alpines and on for decent points. Ultimately, we're just down on track time this season, and I need to get into a rhythm and have a smooth weekend. It will come. Monaco is usually a good track for us, and for me as a driver, so I'm looking forward to resetting and coming back stronger as a team with the start of the European season." “Mixed feelings today. I always enjoy driving in these conditions and feel like I can extract everything from the car. I took a risk and made the decision to start on the intermediates as I thought it was worth the gamble starting P15 and the conditions were a bit uncertain. The additional formation laps didn’t help, and unfortunately it clearly didn’t paid off today. “However, once we switched to mediums, the second stint was super strong, and we were at times the quickest of the midfield. We made a good recovery but it would have been interesting to be in the fight with the three cars ahead. Anyway, more points for the team so happy on that front. Ultimately, we still need more pace to be fighting in the top eight on a regular basis, but we’re building some good momentum race by race.” “Well done to Carlos, really great couple more points to our name, and what I'm really pleased to see is that across Miami and Montreal, we've added car performance and are able to get into a regular point scoring position. We didn't get it all right today, and I feel for Alex because he had the pace and from his position, there would have been points available to him as well. As always, we’ll review what we should have done differently and learn from our mistakes. The primary goal, however, is to keep adding car performance to make sure we keep fighting up the grid.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW48 Mercedes leads Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW48 Mercedes leads Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) Bearman had a very eventful race in Canada after starting on the softs. He was in the thick of the midfield fights, and was lucky to avoid Piastri when the McLaren man locked up and hit Albon. Bearman suffered a lock up of his own which looked set to cost him points, but the Haas man was about to recover back to the top 10 and grab the last point on offer. As for Ocon, he had to pit twice on his way to a P14 finish, with the team needing to assess why their upgrades did not really jump them up the order here. “It was tough, to say the least. There was something that didn’t work when we were braking, and I kept locking up, so we need to dig into that. We changed the car to the new update from qualifying, so I’d only done two proper laps, but as a team we’ll go back and study everything.” “I don’t know if we deserved points today based on our performance, but we’ll take it as there’s been weekends where we definitely did and received nothing for it. In general, this has been a really challenging weekend for us, but to get points is good. We could’ve got more, but we had a slow pit stop, so we need to understand why that happened. It was very slippery and challenging out there, and I chose to start on the used soft as I thought that would help me on Lap 1, but we ended up doing three more formation laps, so I don’t know if I benefited much. I don’t think we’re leaving with a big smile on our face, but we have a week before we need to come back strong in Monaco.” “It was a very challenging race. Tyre choice was really difficult at the start and very low grip conditions with misty rain, but at least we started the race on the correct tyre – degradation was very low. With the balance issue we’ve been facing this weekend, it was very challenging for both drivers to keep the front tyres alive and keep the brake locking under control. On that front, I think Ollie’s done a great job, while Esteban struggled a bit more, but I believe the fundamental cause of the issue is the same. We understand why we had a slow pit stop, so we need to improve it. At least we came away with one point, that’s a positive, and we know why we couldn’t perform this weekend, so the message is to stick together. The only thing that matters is how we go from here, find the solution, improve the car, improve the execution, and we can do it.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (1) McLaren MCL40 Mercedes and Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari battle for track position during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by James Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (1) McLaren MCL40 Mercedes and Oliver Bearman of Great Britain driving the (87) Haas F1 VF-26 Ferrari battle for track position during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by James Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) McLaren opted to start both cars on the inters with the drizzle falling. But the track was relatively dry and no more rain arrived. Norris used his to good effect to take the lead into Turn 1, but had to pit soon after with Piastri having stopped at the end of the first lap. That dropped both out of the top 10, but worse was to follow. Piastri locked up fighting Bearman, and ran straight into the side of Albon’s Williams. He needed to pit for a new front wing and was handed a 10-second penalty, which ended his chance of points. Norris also needed a second pit stop after running wide, and then was forced to retire with a suspected gearbox issue. “Today was tough. We made the decision to start on Intermediates because it was still spitting on the grid, and while the start was fantastic, the rain eased and that choice proved wrong beyond the first lap. That’s racing. Sometimes those decisions win you a race, sometimes they don’t and I take my share of responsibility for that decision. We also had to deal with a couple of early stops and, in the end, a mechanical failure that put us out of the race. In the cold conditions we couldn’t get the fronts up to temperature, which made the car hard to handle, but even so I think we were on for decent points. “There are still plenty of positives to take from the weekend. Our pace was strong, we fought the Mercedes, and the support from the fans was brilliant. We’ll investigate the failure, work on tyre warm-up in cooler conditions, and come back stronger. We learn from the calls we made today and aim to turn that speed into a clean finish and points next time.” "That wasn’t the day we were hoping for. We made the decision to start on Inters as the ground was quite wet between the anthem and getting in the car, but ultimately it was the wrong call. I then got some damage in the collision with Albon. Apologies to him and to the Williams team. After that, we did what we could to try and catch up but it was just very difficult out there. "There are still positives to take from this weekend. I feel like I made progress in some areas and we have made a step forward in closing the gap to Mercedes. We now reset, review and shift our focus to Monaco.” "It’s been a Sprint event weekend of two halves. We were competitive in qualifying and the sprint, but the race didn’t go our way. We opted for intermediates five minutes before the start because the track was greasy and it was still raining; unfortunately, the rain stopped as soon as the tyres went on, the track dried quickly, and two extra formation laps took away any advantage. With Lando we faced a car issue, had to stop to clean the radiators, and then suffered a terminal gearbox problem. On Oscar’s side, the collision with Albon damaged the car and led to a penalty, and even in free air we struggled to generate the tyre temperatures needed for strong race pace. “This is racing, and on difficult days you show character and learn the qualities that make you a champion. We’re grateful for the support, we’ll regroup and go again in Monaco.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren inspects his car after retiring during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by James Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren inspects his car after retiring during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by James Sutton - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) Audi made a mistake at the start, putting both cars in the inters despite the track being predominnatly dry. Hulkenberg and Bortoleto both had to pit early to get rid of the green-marked tyre, which lost them some places. The German was then further hampered by a penalty for pit lane speeding, and he also spun for good measure on a tricky afternoon. Not to be for Audi, on a day where many of their rivals picked up points. “It was a challenging race for us. Looking back, the conditions at the start evolved differently from what we expected: it was a risk worth taking with what we knew at the time, but in the end the opening phase didn’t really play out in our favour and that put us on the back foot quite early. “Even after that, we didn’t quite have the pace to recover in the way we wanted. Others around us managed to move forward more quickly, so there are definitely things for us to understand and improve there as well. “Overall, it’s been a demanding weekend with a lot to review. We’ll go through everything carefully, take the lessons from it and move on to Monaco!” “It’s been a long race for us. We started on the intermediate tyres because we felt it could pay off, but the rain stopped pretty quickly and that ended up putting us on the back foot. The extra stop dropped us out of contention, and from there it became a race in free air, mainly focused on managing our own pace. Still, as a positive to take from today, we brought both cars home and collected important data for the team. It’s obviously a bit disappointing because with a clean weekend and a straightforward race, I think points could have been possible today, but that’s racing sometimes. Now, the focus shifts to Monaco.” “Overall, the race was heavily influenced by the weather conditions and the tyre decisions at the start. It was a finely balanced call between compounds, and while we opted for the intermediate tyre, based on the information available at the time, in hindsightthe delayed start ultimately meant it was not the ideal strategy. “From that point onwards, it was always going to be difficult to recover track position, and we ultimately finished P12 and P13. While there are some positives to take from the weekend in terms of reliability and completing every session cleanly, there is still work to do to convert our pace into stronger race results. “That said, we do leave Montreal feeling that we’ve taken a step forward compared to Miami, particularly in terms of consistency and overall execution across the weekend. It was also great to see Emma secure a strong P2 finish in F1 Academy earlier in the day – another encouraging result that further highlights her continued development.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Audi F1 Team R26 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Nico Hulkenberg of Germany driving the (27) Audi F1 Team R26 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) Stroll started from the pit lane after changing his battery and also making set-up changes. Alonso started from towards the back of the grid and had a good first few laps, running in the top 10 before dropping back as other cars started to get their tyres into a good working window. The Spaniard wound up retiring with a seat issue, but Stroll saw the chequered flag on home soil. “We had a good start and we were fighting into the top ten positions. We made the right call starting on the Soft tyres, with a few others opting for Intermediates and then having to pit early. Unfortunately, we had an issue with the seat in the race, so we decided to retire the car. We seemed to be faster here than we were in Miami with the same package. We need to wait for performance to come with our upgrades around the summer break, but we will look to keep optimising this package until then.” "It’s been a difficult weekend in Montreal.  We couldn’t get the temperatures we needed into the tyres and we were struggling for grip throughout the race. We didn’t have the pace we needed on the straights either. The car performance isn’t where we need it to be and there’s still a lot of work to do to get us there.” Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer “We made a decent start to the race with both drivers making up ground in the opening laps. But it was difficult to stay there, especially with the threat of rain reducing. Fernando’s race ended early due to a seat problem, making things uncomfortable in the cockpit, so we chose to retire the car on lap 24. Lance’s race was a conventional two-stop race [Soft, Soft, Medium] finishing in P15 ahead of Bottas. Unfortunately, we do not have more pace at the moment and this is our position. Separately, I would like to congratulate our colleagues at Honda for the pole position and win in the Indy 500.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR26 Honda on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) Cadillac started both cars on the intermediate tyres, a gamble that did not pay off. After both pitted, they found themselves a lap down at an early stage. Bottas was handed a penalty for speeding in the pit lane, while Perez’s race ended in disaster as something broke on his front suspension when he was coming into the pits anyway, the Mexican winding up retiring as a result. “A long and tough day out there. We really struggled with the balance. We couldn't cure the oversteer in anyway throughout the race, which was the biggest issue and something we need to investigate. Result wise, we maybe sometimes can't see that much progress, but it's not only the pace of the car as we’ve been continuing to make improvements everywhere else. We're getting there step by step and always knew it would take time. The next race is in two weeks, so hopefully we can take another step forward.” “It was going well! Obviously at the start we got it wrong with the intermediate tyres, but it was 50-50 which way to go. We were recovering and in contention, battling with Esteban [Ocon] and then I got ahead of the Haas and we had some good pace. Then unfortunately we had a suspension failure and had to retire. We’ve done a massive step in the right direction this weekend and it has been our most competitive weekend since the start of the season, so plenty of positives. We just need to clean up operationally now to capitalise on the progress we’ve made.” “Even challenging races can yield useful learnings, and that’s what we can take away from this weekend. Overall, it’s been our most competitive weekend to date. We introduced some further upgrades, which have given us another step up in performance and we were able to race on pace in the midfield. Operationally we know where we need to improve, but everything we do is being done for the first time. We’ll address as we go into the European season. Monaco represents a very different challenge to anything we’ve seen before so we will debrief, regroup and come back even stronger.” 2MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Cadillac F1 Team MAC-26 Ferrari crashes out during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)Close image galleryPrevious imageNext image1 / 2 MONTREAL, QUEBEC - MAY 24: Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Cadillac F1 Team MAC-26 Ferrari crashes out during the F1 Grand Prix of Canada at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on May 24, 2026 in Montreal, Quebec. (Photo by Bryn Lennon - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director "It did not rain during the Canadian Grand Prix, but in the end rain was still, in some respects, a key factor in the race, at least as far as the start was concerned. The decision by four teams, including McLaren, to fit Intermediates in anticipation of a sudden change in the weather was a gamble that did not pay off, as it became immediately clear once the lights went out that the race would be run on a dry track. "The low temperatures pushed the remaining teams to rely on the softest compound which, thanks to its greater grip, helped the tyres reach their operating window, despite the additional difficulties caused by the two extra formation laps. "As we described yesterday, the C5 was the joker of this Sunday thanks to its consistency, which allowed drivers to run until the first neutralisation, but the theoretically quickest strategy nevertheless confirmed its effectiveness. This is demonstrated by the positions gained by the two Alpine drivers, who started on the Medium and finished the race in the points on the Hard. "Graining, despite the cold conditions, was very limited and did not affect tyre performance over a stint, allowing the drivers to focus on on-track battles, which once again delivered an entertaining Grand Prix. "The fastest lap today, set by race winner Kimi Antonelli, was less than a tenth of a second slower than the quickest race lap recorded in 2025 by his team-mate Russell, a sign that car development is progressing at full speed and in the right direction." F1FacebookXInstagramYouTube© 2003-2026 Formula One World Championship Limited