Canadian GP – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Ricciardo delivers some choice words after Villeneuve comments

Daniel Ricciardo says scathing comments from Jacques Villeneuve at the Canadian Grand Prix made his fifth-place qualifying performance all the sweeter. Villeneuve is a pundit with Sky Sports at this weekend’s race and questioned Ricciardo’s place on …

Daniel Ricciardo says scathing comments from Jacques Villeneuve at the Canadian Grand Prix made his fifth-place qualifying performance all the sweeter.

Villeneuve is a pundit with Sky Sports at this weekend’s race and questioned Ricciardo’s place on the grid on Friday, saying his image has kept him in the sport over his results and asking: “Why is he still in F1? Why?

“We’re hearing the same thing now for the last four or five years. ‘We have to make the car better for him, poor him.’ Sorry, it’s been five years of that. No, you’re in F1, maybe you make that effort for a Lewis Hamilton, who’s won multiple championships, you don’t make that effort for a driver that can’t cut it. If you can’t cut it, go home; there’s someone else to take your place.”

While Ricciardo insists he didn’t know the exact comments that were made but only that Villeneuve had been critical, prior to his top five qualifying result in Montreal.

“I still don’t know what he said, but I heard he’s been talking s**t,” Ricciardo said. “But he always does. I think he’s hit his head a few too many times. I don’t know if he plays ice hockey or something. Anyway, I won’t give him the time of day, but… all those people can suck it! I want to say more, but it’s alright. We’ll leave him behind.”

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Speaking to SiriusXM later on, Ricciardo admitted the timing of his qualifying display was particularly satisfying given the comments.

“Yeah, it’s nice… It’s nice to deliver a few ‘eff yous.’ That’s the icing on the cake. It’s obviously nice to shut some people up, but obviously it’s just for me. I know what I’m capable of and I think it’s just frustrating I haven’t been able to get it out of myself.

“You’re always trying to fine-tune the car for sure, but I take a lot of accountability. After Monaco we tried to just put everything on the table and clean a few things up and we had a lot of good energy coming into this weekend, so I’m very happy and a good time for people to talk s**t.”

Ricciardo believes a blunt debriefing session with his RB team after the last race in Monaco helped give him a better chance of carrying his strong performance into Sunday.

“After Monaco, it was a weekend where I was a bit down, probably emotionally after not doing well on a track that I obviously love,” he said. “Everyone around me, the team, engineers, my inner circle as well, I was like, ‘Guys, open book, constructive criticism, give it to me — what do you think I can clean up? Where do you feel I’m maybe missing something?’

“A lot of it was kind of just probably management, like energy management over the course of the weekend. It’s not even what I’m doing in the car, it’s what gets me into the car feeling like I’m…ready to go.

“It was just trying to clean up some of those things, and if there was anything on my mind, try and just get it off my chest. I just got into this weekend feeling certainly a bit lighter and just hungry and happy and ready to say ‘eff you’ to all the people!”

Russell beats Verstappen to pole in a Canadian dead heat

George Russell took a shock pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix in a dead heat with Max Verstappen after both Ferrari drivers bombed out of qualifying in Q2 and Sergio Perez was knocked out in the bottom five. The Mercedes car came alive in …

The Mercedes car came alive in Saturday’s dry conditions, and Russell seized his chance. Fastest in Q2, he took provisional pole at the beginning of Q3 with a time of 1m12.000s to lead teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.28s.

The entire top 10 took to the circuit on used soft tires for their first runs, saving their last fresh sets for the final shootout for pole, but neither Mercedes driver was able to improve despite what should have been greatly improved grip.

The surprise underperformance opened the door to Max Verstappen, who was 0.358s adrift after his first lap, to close the gap. The Dutchman was fastest in the first sector but lost time in the final two splits to Russell to set an identical 72s lap.

Russell, who set the time first, claimed the second pole position of his career and Mercedes’s first since last July’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

“It feels so good,” he said. “So much hard work back at the factory has gone into this. We hope this is the start of something for our season, and I think it is. I’ve missed this feeling.

“The car’s been feeling amazing. Since we brought some upgrades to Monaco we’ve sort of been in that fight now, so we’re going for it tomorrow.”

Verstappen bounced back from a power unit problem that curtailed his seat time on Friday to contend for pole at a circuit Red Bull Racing expected to struggle at, and the Dutchman expected more twists on Sunday.

“The whole weekend has been a bit tricky for us, but to P2, I’ll take it — going into qualifying, I would have definitely taken [it] then,” he said.

“This weekend we didn’t have a great build-up to today, but I think it will be quite an interesting race with the tires tomorrow, how they’re going to fare, and the weather as well. It keeps on coming in and out, the rain.

“Hopefully it will be very exciting.”

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Lando Norris vaulted from an uncompetitive ninth after his first lap to run within 0.021s of Russell and Verstappen to claim third for McLaren, 0.103s ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

“I’m super happy,” Norris said. “When it’s so close you always think, ‘Could I have jumped in the car for that little bit more?,’ but third is a good job by us, so I’m happy and excited for tomorrow.”

Daniel Ricciardo will start fifth in his best qualifying performance since last year’s Mexico City Grand Prix. The Australian was just 0.178s short of pole in his RB and pipped Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin to the head of the third row by 0.05s.

Hamilton dropped to seventh with an unimproved time by the end of Q3 ahead of the freshly re-signed Yuki Tsunoda, home favorite Lance Stroll and Alex Albon, who put Williams in Q3 for the second race in a row.

The tight climax to qualifying featured five different constructors in the top six and seven different teams in the top 10 after both Ferrari drivers slumped to 11th and 12th in Q2.

The Scuderia had been optimistic after Friday practice that it could be competitive in all conditions, but the Italian team was shown up by the dry track on Saturday, with neither Charles Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz finding any speed on slicks.

The team didn’t help itself with tire strategy either, with both drivers out on used soft tires for their final laps of Q2, leaving Leclerc and Sainz stranded in 11th and 12th respectively.

The under-pressure American Logan Sargeant qualified 13th in his first Q2 appearance of the season ahead of Kevin Magnussen in 14th for Haas and Pierre Gasly in the lead Alpine in 15th.

Perez was eliminated in Q1 for the second consecutive round, lapping 0.966s slower than teammate Verstappen in the opening qualifying segment. The Mexican will line up 16th ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Esteban Ocon qualified 18th, but his five-place grid penalty for causing a first-lap crash with teammate Gasly in the Monaco Grand Prix will drop him to the back of the grid behind Nico Hulkenberg and Zhou Guanyu in 18th and 19th respectively.

Mercedes’ Allison: Red Bull upgrade looks like a ‘downgrade’

Red Bull’s upgrade introduced in Imola looks like it “was a downgrade” that could cost it a lot of time, according to Mercedes’ technical director James Allison. Ferrari and Red Bull both brought new components to the first race of the European …

Red Bull’s upgrade introduced in Imola looks like it “was a downgrade” that could cost it a lot of time, according to Mercedes’ technical director James Allison.

Ferrari and Red Bull both brought new components to the first race of the European season, following a major update from McLaren that propelled it into the fight for wins from Miami onwards. While Max Verstappen won in Imola, he was under severe pressure from Lando Norris and was then limited to sixth place in Monaco, and Allison still believes the car has strengths but has not been developed as effectively as its rivals.

“My guess is that as soon as there’s a decent range of cornering speeds, they will be useful again,” Allison said. “But it does look as if their upgrade was a downgrade, so fingers crossed that will really [screw] them up!

“That makes life hard because the moment you stop trusting your tools, you backtrack and you start losing time. Time is your biggest friend and losing it is your worst enemy … Everyone always loves other people’s misery in this game!”

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Alongside the added motivation of seeing Red Bull remain within closer reach for Mercedes, Allison says the past few rounds have shown signs of the team getting itself into a position where it could soon be battling for victories itself.

“I have to confess, I’m not really thinking of it in big picture terms, I’m just thinking where we are now appears to be somewhat better than where we were two races ago,” he said. “Hopefully it will be somewhat better in a couple of races from now.

“We’ve gone from being really embarrassingly crap or not good enough in the beginning of the year, to being near the fight. A little bit more will get us right in the melee and that’s really the only terms I think in.”

Allison explains those gains have come from addressing a weakness that emerged after improvements in low speed corners this season:

“I think we’re in the right ballpark [with ride height]. I would say the thing that has most bedeviled us this year is the high-speed understeer. We didn’t get a car balance to match the downforce we have found lower down, and that’s where we have been healing up a little lately.”

Hamilton well clear ahead of Verstappen in Canada’s dry FP3

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, leading Max Verstappen by nearly 0.4s as teams finally got significant dry running. After the rain-affected two sessions on Friday, there was a threat of rain and gusty winds …

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in final practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, leading Max Verstappen by nearly 0.4s as teams finally got significant dry running.

After the rain-affected two sessions on Friday, there was a threat of rain and gusty winds for the drivers to deal with Saturday, as well as a low-grip track, but the entire session could take place on slicks ahead of qualifying. Hamilton set the pace with a 1m12.549s, leading Verstappen by 0.374s as Mercedes enjoyed a strong start to Saturday with George Russell just 0.034s further back in third.

Verstappen’s time did also come after he touched the concrete at the Wall of Champions finishing his lap, as he didn’t look completely comfortable after missing much of FP2 with an ERS issue.

The initial stages of the session already saw Verstappen having to catch a snap of oversteer at the final chicane — taking to the run-off as a result — and complain about the steering feeling “super weird for me” so far during the weekend, before Zhou Guanyu brought out another red flag.

The Stake driver understeered into the wall at Turn 5 on Friday, and on this occasion he lost the rear in odd fashion exiting Turn 1, in a spin he said was caused by the rears unexpectedly locking. The car went backwards into the barrier and appeared to have damaged the rear wing, but potentially have been drivable back to the pits. Unfortunately the car was beached on uneven grass and the rear wheels spun in the air, forcing him to climb out.

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When running resumed, Russell had an off-track excursion at Turn 9, as did Logan Sargeant, while there were close calls for drivers dealing with traffic, including when Sargeant opted to try and pass a McLaren on the inside heading towards the final chicane and miscommunication almost led to contact.

Sargeant still ended the session ahead of his Williams teammate Alex Albon, however, as Albon — who also went off at Turn 9 — hit the Wall of Champions harder than Verstappen and damaged his right rear.

Traffic played a role in a number of drivers not getting a totally clean lap on soft tires, with Sergio Perez down in ninth ahead of Charles Leclerc in tenth and Carlos Sainz 12th, but the first two of that trio were still just 0.4s off Verstappen’s time in a congested top ten.

Lance Stroll was fourth quickest — nearly half a second off Hamilton — ahead of Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo, with Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso rounding out the top eight. Under 0.1s covered fifth to tenth.

While the running gave Mercedes a boost in dry conditions, Hamilton was confident they were closer to the front on Friday too. There is still the unknown of weather factoring in to qualifying — the forecast involves a high chance of thunderstorms bringing rain later in the afternoon in Montreal.

Verstappen keen to understand impact of ERS issues in Canada

Max Verstappen wants to understand the implications Friday’s reliability issues could have on his season after suffering an ERS problem in practice at the Canadian Grand Prix. Red Bull called Verstappen into the pits on just his fourth lap of FP2 …

Max Verstappen wants to understand the implications Friday’s reliability issues could have on his season after suffering an ERS problem in practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Red Bull called Verstappen into the pits on just his fourth lap of FP2 and he had to jump clear of his car in the garage, with the team unable to touch it for some time before getting to work on a suspected ERS issue. The championship leader was one of a number of drivers — including teammate Sergio Perez, both RB drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon — to take a new power unit on Friday in Montreal, and he admits the situation could impact the rest of his year.

“Unfortunately FP2, not many laps for me. There was a suspected electrical issue so they told me to box, and they’re investigating now,” Verstappen said. “I haven’t been back in the garage yet, but I’m sure soon we’ll figure out what it is.

“It’s not ideal, I would have liked to drive more laps. Some other people had a few more laps in the dry, a few more laps now in the wet, so it’s definitely not how I would have liked to get on in FP2. I think it’s more important to just figure out what actually happened, and what kind of implications that will have for this weekend or the rest of the year.”

Teams are limited to four internal combustion engines (ICE), turbochargers, MGU-H and MGU-K components each season — with Verstappen taking his third of each on Friday — while they are also only permitted two energy store and control electronics components before receiving a penalty.

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver unhappy at the amount of running he got during a rain-affected day of practice, with Lando Norris not overly optimistic despite topping FP1.

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“Never enough, but we learned a good amount,” Norris said. “Actually not in the dry — didn’t learn enough in the dry to be honest. We did the least laps, I think, out of everyone. Not the best thing with that, but in the wet a good amount. I think we’re in a reasonable place. It’s always tricky around here, but I think a reasonable first day.

“At the minute…we seem a little bit off. Ferrari seem definitely a little bit ahead, but I don’t know where we are at the minute because the conditions are changing, so whether you do the first lap when the track’s the best, or the last lap when the track’s the best, it changes everything. I’ve no idea.”

Fernando Alonso was similarly uncertain about where Aston Martin stacks up after setting the fastest time of FP2, due to the majority of slick tire laps taking place on a damp track before further rain.

“It was a tricky Friday for everyone,” Alonso said. “Not many laps in FP1 and not many laps in FP2. Not proper laps in dry conditions and not proper laps in wet conditions — we were in the middle of nowhere. It could be like this in qualifying and the race so it’s still useful information. We need to analyze the data a little bit and be very sharp tomorrow – I think the right decision can gain you five seconds, the wrong decision you are out of the race.

“[The new track surface] feels OK. Obviously it’s not very clean. Also after the storm it’s quite dusty, but at the same time it feels quite good…so I think the new tarmac is a good one. We just need to test it in proper wet conditions to see if there is any aquaplaning or something like that.

“Apart from that, I think it’s going to be an interesting weekend for you guys from the outside, but for us it’s going to be a gamble…about which tire to put on in which moment. Let’s see if we get it right.”

Alonso slides atop the charts in a very wet Canadian FP2

Fernando Alonso topped a rain-interrupted second practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired early with a power unit issue. Pit lane opened as scheduled for the second hour of practice, but dark clouds hung heavy over …

Fernando Alonso topped a rain-interrupted second practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired early with a power unit issue.

Pit lane opened as scheduled for the second hour of practice, but dark clouds hung heavy over the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as a gaggle driver headed onto the track on slicks to make up for lost time in FP1.

Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly were quick to set lap times, but others were reticent in the slippery, drizzly conditions. It took another 15 minutes for drivers to attempt to attack the circuit with any meaningful anger.

Gasly briefly took top spot from Hamilton before Alonso relieved him of position as conditions gradually began to improve.

Home favorite Lance Stroll briefly usurped his teammate, and Charles Leclerc then momentarily took the fastest time, but Alonso slammed on three purple laps when the track was at its driest to set the pace at 1m 15.810s.

The rain came down shortly after, halting running, and though drivers re-emerged in the final 15 minutes, the track was never dry enough again for the Spaniard’s time to come under threat, with all drivers stuck on intermediate tires to the finish.

George Russell emerged as Alonso’s closest challenge, his Mercedes 0.463s off the pace, with Stroll holding onto third and 0.654s adrift of his teammate.

Monaco Grand Prix winner Charles Leclerc was fourth, but his best lap, 0.746s off the pace, was set on the medium tire rather than softs.

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Leclerc ended the session under investigation for improper tire usage, with Ferrari appearing to have sent him onto the track with intermediate tires minutes before the circuit was declared wet by race control at the beginning of the hour.

Daniel Ricciardo completed the top five for RB ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Sergio Perez down in 10th.

Esteban Ocon was 11th ahead of Logan Sargeant, Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri and Zhou Guanyu, whose car had been repaired following his FP1 crash.

The limited representative running was good news for title leader Verstappen, who lasted only 25 minutes in the session before smoke began billowing from the back of his car. The team suspected an energy recovery issue and ordered him back to his garage, where the Dutchman had to leap from the car as a safety precaution to guard against potential electrocution in the case of a battery problem.

Red Bull Racing had furnished him with a brand-new power unit at the beginning of the day.

The problem left him anchored 18th in the order with only four unrepresentative laps.

Pierre Gasly ended the hour 19th ahead of Lando Norris in 20th, who will be investigated by the stewards for failing to use the escape road after running wide at the final chicane.

Norris tops shortened Canadian GP FP1 after dramatic hailstorm

Lando Norris was fastest in a shortened first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix that was too wet to start on time but ended with drivers on slick tires. Norris headed Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton, Max …

Lando Norris was fastest in a shortened first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix that was too wet to start on time but ended with drivers on slick tires.

Norris headed Ferrari pair Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri rounding out the top six in a session when the highest lap count was 11 and three drivers — Zhou Guanyu, Jack Doohan and Alex Albon — failed to set a time.

The session was heavily impacted by the weather, after a thunderstorm hit the circuit around 90 minutes before the start of FP1. That continued for around half an hour and brought with it torrential rain and hailstones, leading to flooding around the track.

Routes into the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were briefly closed as fans had to take shelter, but work soon began to try and clear the standing water and prepare the track for running as quickly as possible. The clock started at 1:30pm as scheduled but the pit exit remained closed while vehicles and track workers were pumping away the largest areas of flooding, with the session effectively beginning when race control opened the pit exit 21 minutes into the allotted hour.

Lewis Hamilton was first to check out the conditions. Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images

Hamilton was first out on track but the majority of cars soon started exploring the conditions after a band of rain had cleared and the sun started to come out. Intermediates were immediately in use despite large puddles in places, but the risk of aquaplaning was displayed when Zhou lost the rear of his car accelerating towards Turn 5, hitting the wall on the outside of the track before he could regain control.

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The damage to the left-hand side of the car meant Zhou had to stop at Turn 6 and brought out a red flag, leading to a five-minute interruption to running at the halfway point in the session while his car was cleared.

Soon after the session resumed, the track was then starting to dry too much on the racing line for intermediate tires but featuring too much standing water patches for slicks, leading to a quiet spell until the final five minutes where the sun had dried the track out enough for Leclerc to make the first move on softs. He was soon followed by the rest of the field, with a few incidents resulting.

The most dramatic was a spin for Valtteri Bottas at Turn 8, the Stake Sauber driver losing the rear on entry and sliding through the waterlogged grass sideways. The same corner also caught out Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Logan Sargeant and Lance Stroll, although they were all able to keep their cars pointing in a straight line.

Norris managed to go fastest with a clear lap on the checkered flag, but Leclerc looked set to comfortably beat it as it became a matter of timing and track position. Unfortunately for the Monaco Grand Prix winner, he came across a line of traffic on the approach to the final chicane, and with just one dry line he was unable to pass to complete his lap.

It made for a frustrating first session for Doohan in particular, who did not complete a timed lap on his FP1 appearance in place of Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman will be back in his Alpine for FP2 later this afternoon, for which the weather forecast appears more settled.

Technical updates: 2024 Canadian Grand Prix

Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine are the only teams not to bring small upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix as limited new parts have been introduced in Montreal. Hosting the race between a run of European rounds means there is less benefit to an upgrade …

Ferrari, McLaren and Alpine are the only teams not to bring small upgrades to the Canadian Grand Prix as limited new parts have been introduced in Montreal.

Hosting the race between a run of European rounds means there is less benefit to an upgrade package at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, with teams able to push development later to take to Barcelona at the start of a tripleheader of races in two weeks’ time. That means three teams have not brought any new parts at all, while the most updated components for any single team is two.

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Red Bull has a new rear wing design that increases local load, while it also has developed a larger front brake duct exit for cooling reasons, with braking demands heavy in Canada.

Mercedes has similarly focused on its front brake ducts — although the inlet has been enlarged — while there is also a realignment of the front suspension that improves airflow to the floor for a performance gain.

Aston Martin has a new beam wing, while Williams has updated suspension on both the front and rear of the car. A shorter steering arm has an impact on driver inputs, while a new pullrod rear suspension design offers a wider range of ride heights and provides increased performance through a weight saving.

A new rear wing at RB is designed to offer more efficient downforce at a track where long straights put an emphasis on reducing drag, but that has required a front wing tweak in conjunction with the upgrade in order to keep the car balanced.

A similar approach has been taken by Stake Sauber — where there is the updated rear wing and beam wing for low-downforce setups — and Haas that has an evolution of its front wing to help balance the car when a lower-downforce configuration of rear wing is used.

Sainz says Red Bull finally starting to feel pressure

Carlos Sainz believes Red Bull is still the favorite to win both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships but is unlikely to enjoy dominance at most tracks heading into the Canadian Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc won the last race in Monaco to back …

Charles Leclerc won the last race in Monaco to back up Lando Norris’ victory in Miami either side of a Max Verstappen success in Imola, with three particularly competitive races increasing interest in the title fight. Sainz was third in Monaco behind Oscar Piastri to help Ferrari close the gap in the constructors’ championship to just 24 points, and he believes there are now fine margins albeit with Red Bull still holding an advantage.

“I think my common sense tells me that on normal tracks Red Bull should still be favorites,” Sainz said. “Domination, like we were seeing, hopefully not. But favorites, yes. And then it will be a very tight fight with both McLaren and us. I think we are all three at a very similar level.

“Our last reference of a normal track is Imola and Miami. And those two tracks, we seem to be half a tenth behind McLaren and maybe a tenth or two behind Red Bull. It still means that that any small progress, any small upgrade, any small thing that we bring to the car might switch it to a potential race victory or a winning car.

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“Monaco, we’ve always been strong. Street circuits like Singapore and last year in Monaco, it shows the strengths of the Ferrari. At the same time, being within 24 points of the Red Bull in the constructors’, you see that when you put them under pressure, [in Monaco] Max did a mistake in Q3 run two, Checo [Perez] was out in Q1. We all just need to be there, you know, to show that these things can happen to Red Bull too.”

Although he’s uncertain about how the three teams will stack up in Montreal this weekend, Sainz is expecting the European rounds to be different compared to the opening few races when Red Bull had a comfortable advantage over the rest of the field.

“I think as Ferrari we will have our opportunities in these sort of tracks. McLaren will have their opportunities, but when I talk about a normal track we can talk about maybe a Barcelona. Canada, I think is quite specific but a Barcelona or any European track, where I consider it to be a normal track, I still think Red Bull will be favorites, but I don’t think they’ll dominate like they used to do.

“I think that’s good news for the championship. It’s just worth being within a tenth or two in qualifying, that even if they’re favorites, they cannot afford to do any mistakes. That’s where both Ferrari and McLaren, we can capitalize, which is a position that in Bahrain — race one — no one was.”

McLaren seeks right of review into Norris penalty in Canada

McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix. Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards …

McLaren has lodged a petition for its right of review into the penalty given to Lando Norris during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for “unsportsmanlike behavior” in Montreal having been deemed by the stewards to have slowed down excessively behind the safety car in order to create a gap to teammate Oscar Piastri in front before pitting. Norris was confused by the penalty — that dropped him from ninth in the race to 13th in the results — and McLaren is now seeking a review.

In order to be granted that review, the team must convince the FIA that it has a significant and relevant new element that was not available to the stewards at the time the decision was made.

“We are very supportive of the FIA and the stewards, and we trust them while they carry out what is a difficult job,” a McLaren statement read. “We appreciate stewards need to make decisions in a short timeframe, analyzing complex scenarios and often with partial information and multiple elements to consider.

“In Canada, we were surprised by the penalty and uncertain as to the rationale behind the decision. We spoke to the stewards immediately after the race to help understand the reasoning for the penalty.

“The FIA’s regulatory framework has tools and processes which allow them and the sport to deal with the operational complexity of Formula 1, especially for decisions which need to be made during the race. The “right of review” is one of those processes which showcases the strength of the institution in allowing decisions to be reviewed, should that be in the best interest of the sport and this is something McLaren fully embraces and supports.

“Given this provision, the team took the initial explanation onboard and decided to review the case in a calm and considered manner, performing comprehensive due diligence, which included looking at the precedents. After this careful and extensive review, we believe enough evidence exists to…submit a “right to review” to the FIA, which we have done…

“We will now continue to work with the FIA closely, in the same constructive and collaborative manner in which we normally do, and will accept the outcome of their deliberations and decision.”