There were points for three of the four Honda-powered cars despite a challenging Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing split strategies after Max was unfortunate to drop out in Q2 on Saturday, starting him on the hard tyre from ninth place while Pierre was compelled to start on his Q2 softs in P5. The softs did not last long at the start of the race on a hot day in Canada, meaning Pierre made an early first pit stop for hards on lap seven and attempted to complete the final 63 laps without pitting again.
Max, by contrast, started on the hards and was able to make progress through the field, passing Lando Norris early on and then moving up the order as others pitted in front of him. Making his stop on lap 48, Max switched to mediums and rejoined in seventh place, using his tyre advantage to ease past the two Renaults and come home in fifth place.
Pierre had to be conservative with his tyres to make sure he got to the end of the race, and picked up four more points with an eighth-placed finish. Toro Rosso also scored a point as Daniil pulled an excellent move down the inside of Carlos Sainz into Turn 1 with four laps remaining to take tenth. Daniil had started on mediums but switched to hards on just lap 12, producing a really measured drive to finish in the top ten.
Alex had a difficult afternoon, as he was sandwiched between two cars at the start and lost his front wing at Turn 1. After an early pit stop to rectify it, he was out of position and later retired 11 laps from the end.
Toyoharu Tanabe, Technical Director: “Verstappen performed well to recover from ninth on the grid, the result of an unfortunate qualifying yesterday, to finish fifth this afternoon. However, he lost time, stuck behind slower cars in the early stages, after which he was unable to challenge for a podium position.”
“We also have Gasly, eighth and Kvyat, tenth, in the points, which is positive. Daniil never gave up fighting and claimed his point right at the very end. As for Alex, he was unlucky to be involved in a first lap collision which meant he had to pit to change the nose and there was nothing much he could do from there.”
“We must work to improve in order to perform better as soon as possible, given that we are now coming to our first back-to-back races in France and Austria.”