Canadian Grand Prix starting grid changed just hours before F1 race | F1 | Sport
Liam Lawson and Pierre Gasly have both been moved to the pit lane for the Canadian Grand Prix after their respective teams made changes under Parc Ferme conditions. The duo were initially set to partner one another on the back row of the grid following a frustrating qualifying session.
With his race already looking like an uphill battle, Lawson’s Racing Bulls squad opted to use a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store, control electronics, and exhaust system. Gasly’s Alpine engineers fitted a new energy store and control electronics on his A525 machine. Lawson’s chances of scoring points in the Grand Prix have taken a major hit with this penalty. The New Zealander hasn’t enjoyed the rub of the green since he was demoted from Red Bull after two race weekends, and has been outscored 21-4 by team-mate Isack Hadjar.
“We’ve been struggling to make the tyres work on the first lap all weekend,” Lawson said on Saturday, summing up his miserable qualifying session. “We committed to doing a build lap at the start of Q1 to keep them in the right window, however we didn’t do a build lap for the last run.
“This meant we didn’t have much grip through the lap, which is a shame as the car has been fast all weekend. I really enjoy the track and, as always, will be giving it my all tomorrow. We keep pushing.”
Gasly was also extremely frustrated after Saturday’s track running in Montreal. The Frenchman was impeded by his own team-mate, Franco Colapinto, and finished last of all the runners. Team Enstone have scored points in just one of the past five race weekends ahead of the Canadian GP
“It’s a painful one to take to be out in Q1, especially as the car had pace and potential for more today,” Gasly said after qualifying. “We were on course for the top ten in Q1 before the red flag came out, so we had to abort our lap, which was looking quite strong and safely through.
“On the final set of Softs, we were just not in the right tyre temperature window and we struggled for grip and it was a messy lap with so much sliding. We need to review what happened as the jump between the tyre sets was frustrating and, clearly, we had much more lap time than we were able to show.
“The car was good, and we should definitely have both cars further up the grid. We will see what we can do better and also look into our options on strategy tomorrow, as it could be a long race with opportunities to take.”
