Drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo share their thoughts on the challenges of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, while Cyril Abiteboul and Chassis Technical Director Nick Chester give the latest on the team and on the 2019 package.
Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal: “If we only looked at the result from Sunday, we would not have the full story of our only Monaco weekend. The potential was there to achieve a better result; we just need to look at the fifth place Daniel was holding until the safety car came out after Charles Leclerc and Nico’s incident.
“It was an encouraging weekend, with continued improvement on the chassis, confirmed progress for the power unit, pit stops matching the best and numerous successes for our Renault Sport Academy drivers, the breeding ground for our future generation of drivers, including Anthoine Hubert and Victor Martins who won in Formula 2 and Formula Renault Eurocup respectively, while Guanyu Zhou and Caio Collet were both on the podium. We must now target a result in Canada that accurately reflects our performance level.”
Nick Chester, Chassis Technical Director: “Montreal is a power sensitive circuit but there are lots of big stops over a short lap, so finding the right balance between drag and aero efficiency is key. There are some chicanes in the middle of long straights and riding the kerbs can shorten the lap further and improve lap time. We have some aero and mechanical items coming through for Montreal. Our main focus will be concentrating on getting every different element to work in harmony – the midfield is so tight now that we need to maximise the overall performance.”
Nico Hülkenberg: “I love the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. The circuit is great, the city is really cool and the Canadian fans create a superb atmosphere. Montréal always embraces Formula 1 when it comes to town and there’s a real buzz about the place. The circuit itself is a mix of a permanent track and a street course based on an island, which makes it unique. It has a nice flow to it: long straights, fast sweeping corners, hairpins and big kerbs to ride.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “It’s good to go straight into Canada on the back of racing on a street circuit as we’re already quite dialled in. The circuit is usually a little dirty in the early running as it’s not used that often, but once it’s rubbered in we’ll be up to speed. Canada will always be a memorable place for me, as it’s where I won my first Formula 1 race in 2014. We had to battle from sixth on the grid and were fortunate with some problems for other cars ahead of us, but nevertheless, winning for the first time was incredibly special and something I’ll never forget!”