Formula 1 heads to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal for the ninth round of the 2022 Formula One World Championship, the Canadian Grand Prix.
Here’s what they have to say as the championship battle heats up:
Red Bull
Sergio Perez: “This car is really performing on the street circuits so we are confident we can put together another strong performance and keep the momentum going at the top.”
Max Verstappen: “Montreal is a really beautiful city and arriving off the back of a 1-2 in Baku, it would be great to leave Canada with the same result.”
Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas: “It’s great to be back in Canada after such a long time. This is a city that really embraces Formula One and it’s always a pleasure to come here and see the way the fans welcome us. Last week was a difficult race for us and we have spent the few days since we were in Baku looking back at the data to understand what went wrong.
“We have taken in-depth steps to make sure we start this weekend with a clean slate and can return to the levels of competitiveness we have enjoyed since the start of the season. Montreal is a track we know fairly well, although it is the first time we race here with the new cars, so we can aim to get down to business straight from FP1.”
Zhou Guanyu: “The benefit of back-to-back races is the opportunity to get on track immediately after a disappointing event and this is the approach I have for the weekend. I am focusing on the positives from Baku: my performance in Q1 and the way I was running my race until the DNF are the starting points for Canada and this is what I am going to build on.
“The team has worked hard to understand the issue we had and we come to Montreal to get the result that evaded us last week. I have never raced here, so I don’t know this track, but it’s one of the great venues of Formula One and I’ve watched it on TV many times: it’s a circuit where races can be real classics and I can’t wait to be in the car on Friday.”
AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly: “I went back home from Baku with Max and, as he won the race, it was a pretty entertaining flight! I was extremely happy with our Baku weekend – P6 on the grid, P5 in the race. It was a perfect weekend, with great strategy and pit stops, an excellent start and good speed. I was very happy for the whole team, as we had not enjoyed much luck in recent races. It was tough, but we stuck together and kept working and it finally paid off. I feel we have kicked off our season properly now.
“Canada is another street circuit and I think that this year, the Montreal circuit will be really challenging, especially with these new cars that are very stiff, much more so than their predecessors. The big kerbs and the high speeds will be a real test as will the final corner and the famous Wall of Champions!
“We will have to avoid the kerbs a lot more, whereas in the past you needed to ride over them to do a quick lap. Although it’s another street circuit like the last two races, it’s a much faster layout with quicker corners. On paper that suggests it might be a bit more complicated for our car, so it means we must make sure we arrive fully prepared and are able to get everything out of the package we have. Operationally, the team must be on top of its game if we want to get the results the car is capable of delivering, as we saw in Baku.”
Yuki Tsunoda: “Although my race results in Baku with no points is very disappointing, I think we can approach the Canadian weekend with optimism after a really strong showing in Azerbaijan, where we were on the pace all weekend.
“It was our best team Qualifying and at least Pierre scored good points for fifth, but it was very frustrating that I lost what looked like being a sixth-place finish because of the rear wing problem. So, I am feeling very motivated to continue making progress this week.
“After Monaco and Baku, Montreal is another unusual circuit, with generally low grip and high-speed corners, so that like in Baku, we will be running medium-low downforce to get good straight-line speed. I have only experienced it on the simulator but it looks interesting.
“Actually, it’s a circuit I have used a lot when playing the Formula 1 game, so I had a reasonably good idea of what to expect before driving it on the sim. We’ll see after FP1. It has a mix of medium and slow-speed corners, as well as fast chicanes. I have never been to Canada before and I’ve been told Montreal is a fun city, so I’m looking forward to my first visit and to discovering what it’s like on and off the track.”
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