Canadian Grand Prix: Race Recap
June 9, 2019
Event: Canadian Grand Prix (Round 7 of 21)
Date: Sunday, June 9
Location: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal
Layout: 4.361-kilometer (2.710-mile), 14-turn track
Weather: Sunny
Air Temps: 28.4-30.9 degrees Celsius (83.1-87.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 49.5-52.6 degrees Celsius (121.1-126.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
Race Winner: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes
Team Result: Romain Grosjean – Started 14th, Finished 14th (Running, completed 69/70 laps)
Kevin Magnussen – Started 20th (pit lane), Finished 17th (Running, completed 68/70 laps)
Recap
Rich Energy Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen brought home finishes of 14th and 17th, respectively, in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, the seventh round of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.
Grosjean, making his milestone 150th career Formula One start, lost four spots from his 14th grid position when he was forced to avoid a pileup that scattered pieces from the car of Toro Rosso driver Alexander Albon’s car in front of him. Riding on a set of Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires during his initial run, Grosjean made steady forward progress and reached 11th place by lap 13. He pitted from 13th for a set of White hard tires on lap 36 and resumed in 15th. He moved up to his finishing position of 14th when Alfa Romeo driver Kimi Raikkonen pitted for a second time on lap 60.
Magnussen started the race from the pit lane in his Haas VF-19 after a completely new car build following his accident in qualifying Saturday. He did his best to preserve his hard tires during his opening run and climbed as high as 14th on lap 11 before pitting from 16th on lap 41 for the set of medium tires he rode to the finish.
Today’s results dropped the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team from sixth to eighth with its 16 points in the constructor’s championship, one behind seventh-place Toro Rosso and three ahead of ninth-place Alfa Romeo.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton scored the victory despite crossing the finish line behind Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari, the polesitter who led all 70 laps today but was assessed a five-second penalty for a lap-48 incident with Hamilton. It was Hamilton’s 78th career victory, his fifth of the season and his seventh at Montreal – more wins than he’s recorded at any other track. Charles Leclerc made it the season’s first double podium for Scuderia Ferrari with his third-place finish behind Vettel’s adjusted runner-up result.
The 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship resumes with the French Grand Prix June 3 at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“It was a long afternoon. Everything went south at the start; the guys take a lot of risks going three-wide. I just picked up all the damage. I was dead last, and after that we didn’t have much pace. A few laps were good, then others were very difficult. We need to analyse everything, get a better understanding of how to go fast in the race.”
Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“We have such a good car, and qualifying is brilliant, we can fight anyone in the midfield – and we’ve been on ‘best of the rest’ pole many times this year. So, it’s very hard to keep emotions under control in situations like today. There was nothing meant towards the team over the radio. They did an amazing job this weekend. I made a mistake in qualifying, and they’ve been able to build me a completely new car for the race today. We just have these tires that don’t work in the race for us. It’s hard to not be very disappointed, I know the whole team is. They deserve a lot better.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Rich Energy Haas F1 Team
“The weekend didn’t end better than yesterday. We got two cars to the end, but the result is quite disappointing.”