Canadian Grand Prix – Ready to make a stand

Montreal, 6 June 2019 – The sun shone down on Montreal today, as the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at the Gilles Villenueve circuit got underway. For this the seventh round of the World Championship, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc tackled the usual Thursday task of meeting the media to talk about the upcoming event, one day ahead of the start of free practice.

Sebastian.  Sebastian was the first one to meet the press and said he was feeling confident going into the weekend. “There’s no point in making predictions when we’ve yet to go out on track. It’s better to wait until after the first practice, but the characteristics of the Montreal track should, on paper, be well suited to the SF90. So far, we have not been as competitive as we would have liked, but the team has never stopped working and our aim is still to give our competitors a hard time. We continue to work on improving our tyre management and generally on improving grip. On this topic, I believe the next few races will be important in order to understand how much our car can improve.”

Charles.  Next up it was Charles’ turn and he clearly was keen to get out on track. “Montreal is another street circuit, which as you know is the sort I like best.  We are ready to give everything to maximize the outcome of this race weekend. At a power sensitive circuit such as this one, we will aim to take advantage of the strengths of our car and the track’s layout, although at the moment it’s hard to tell which teams will have the advantage. The target is always to aim as high as possible and we will see where we stand after qualifying. As always, the goal for me is to do the best job I can and understand where I can improve. It will only be the second time I race at this track, but I expect to improve bit by bit the more time I spend on track.”

Meeting and track walk.  In the afternoon, the drivers attended the usual engineering meetings to prepare the job sheet for Friday. Apart from meeting up with the engineers, Sebastian and Charles tackled the obligatory track walk to check out any changes to the surface and other features, while getting a first glimpse of the Canadian kerbs they will use and the walls they will brush in order to put in quick lap times.

Programme.  First free practice takes place tomorrow at 10am (16 CET) followed by the second session at 2 pm (20 CET). Third free practice will be at 11 (17 CET) while qualifying on Saturday gets underway at 2 pm (20 CET). The race starts on Sunday at 14.10 (20.10 CET).