| 2023 Canadian Grand Prix | |||||
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Race 8 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details[1] | |||||
| Date | 18 June 2023 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 PirelliGrand Prix du Canada 2023 | ||||
| Location | Circuit Gilles Villeneuve,Montréal,Quebec,Canada | ||||
| Course | Street circuit | ||||
| Course length | 4.361 km (2.710 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 70 laps, 305.270 km (189.686 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 345,000[2] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Time | 1:25.858 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Time | 1:14.481 on lap 70 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Second | Aston MartinAramco-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The 2023 Canadian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix du Canada 2023) was a Formula One motor race, which was held on 18 June 2023 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal,Quebec, Canada. It was the eighth round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
The race was won byMax Verstappen, who started frompole position and led the entirety of the race, followed byAston Martin'sFernando Alonso andMercedes'Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen's victory markedRed Bull Racing's100th victory in Formula One.
345,000 people attended over the three days, a record for the Grand Prix.[3]
The event was held across the weekend of 16–18 June 2023.[1] It was the eighth round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship. After thefires in the region, the Grand Prix was in danger of being cancelled.[4][5][6] However, on 9 June, Formula One Management made a statement that the Grand Prix would continue as planned.[7]
TheAston Martin team brought major upgrades to the race, overhauling its sidepods and floor.[8]
Max Verstappen was the Drivers' Championship leader after the seventh round, theSpanish Grand Prix, with 170 points, 53 ahead ofSergio Pérez in second, withFernando Alonso in third, 18 points behind Pérez. In the Constructors' Championship,Red Bull Racing ledMercedes by 135 points andAston Martin by 153.[9]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[10]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[11]
The weekend had threefree practice sessions, two on 16 June 2023 and one on 17 June 2023. The first practice session started at 13:30 local time (UTC−4), but was abandoned after a few minutes of running after a CCTV failure at the venue. The session was initially stopped to recover theAlpine car ofPierre Gasly, which had stopped on track. Ultimately only twelve drivers set a time in the much curtailed first session withValtteri Bottas ofAlfa Romeo fastest ahead ofLance Stroll andFernando Alonso in the twoAston Martin cars.[12] The FIA also announced the intention to commence the second practice session at 16:30 local time (UTC−4) rather than the originally planned time of 17:00 (UTC−4), also extending the length of the session from the planned 60 minutes to 90 minutes in order to give teams a chance to make up for some of the lost running in the first session.[13]
The second practice, which ran for 90 minutes, ended withLewis Hamilton leading the session ahead of teammateGeorge Russell andCarlos Sainz Jr. The session was red-flagged twice due to issues withEsteban Ocon andNico Hülkenberg's vehicles.[14] The third practice session started on 17 June 2023 at 12:30 local time (UTC−4). The session was red-flagged after a crash byCarlos Sainz Jr. Verstappen was fastest ahead of Leclerc and Alonso.[15]
Qualifying was held on 17 June 2023, at 16:00 local time (UTC−4).[1]
Rain befell the second and third session. Only three minutes after Q1 began,Zhou Guanyu reported an issue with his Ferrari power unit and caused a red flag with a stranded and powerless car on track. However, during the red flag period, his car was able to restart and he went back into the pits. However, he did not set a further time, so he started at the back of the grid.Max Verstappen topped Q1 ahead ofFernando Alonso andLewis Hamilton, withCarlos Sainz Jr. impedingLando Norris andPierre Gasly, the latter who was shown to be furious over the team radio. His impeding resulted in a three-place drop for the Ferrari driver. Gasly joined Zhou,Yuki Tsunoda, teammateNyck de Vries andLogan Sargeant as the drivers all out of Q1.[16]
It was during Q2 that the rain started to fall. As such, drivers used intermediate tyres;Sergio Pérez andLance Stroll made contact with the wall no damage, and joinedCharles Leclerc,Kevin Magnussen andValtteri Bottas as the drivers out of Q2.Alexander Albon set the fastest lap of the session, but could not set a time in Q3. Hamilton set a time for 10th.[16]
Verstappen began Q3 with a slide off the final corner, withOscar Piastri going fully off the exit of turn 6 and crashing out. This resulted in the second red flag of the day asNico Hülkenberg set a time as it went out. The session was soon resumed. Before penalties, Hülkenberg's time for second place gaveHaas its second-highest qualification result after Magnussen's pole at the2022 São Paulo Grand Prix. He was behind polesitter Verstappen and ahead of Alonso.[17] Hülkenberg was surprised with his performance, saying that it "comes a bit unexpected," but expected a challenge during the race.[18]
Hülkenberg was summoned to the stewards for a red flag infraction, dropping him three places;[19] Tsunoda and Stroll were also given three-place drops for impeding.[20]
Notes
The race was held on 18 June 2023, at 14:00 local time (UTC−4).[1]
As the race began, polesitterMax Verstappen was challenged byLewis Hamilton as the cars went into the first corner. Soon, Verstappen would create a lead which he would keep throughout the 70 laps ran during the race. Meanwhile,Esteban Ocon overtookNico Hülkenberg, who would drop down to fifteenth from his starting position of fifth, while Hülkenberg's teammateKevin Magnussen brushed the wall and continued on.Logan Sargeant retired from the race, his first retirement of the season. This resulted in a briefvirtual safety car period, allowing the recovery of the stranded Williams car. Soon,George Russell hit the wall on turn nine, necessitating a full safety car period. All drivers, including Russell, who received a new front wing and repairs to his car, went into the pit lane for their stops. The only drivers who did not stop were the Ferrari duo ofCharles Leclerc and Sainz. During this period, a close call betweenLewis Hamilton andFernando Alonso was reported, andLando Norris for an unsafe release. All three drivers were investigated with no further action taken, though Norris was given a five-second penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour; he had slowed down during the safety car period.[27]
As the safety car period ended, Verstappen sped ahead of Hamilton, with Alonso unable to fight the two. Alonso would regain second place. A brief yellow flag was observed for a collision between Magnussen andNyck de Vries.Alexander Albon, on seventh position and having set the hards on his earlier stop, began to hold up Russell, Ocon,Valtteri Bottas and Norris behind him as Russell retired from eighth place and Norris went for Bottas on the final corner, sending him up to ninth; the penalty Norris had received earlier would drop him outside the points into thirteenth. Albon's defending awarded him with the driver of the day.[27]
Verstappen won the race, givingRed Bull its100th Formula One victory, which also marksAdrian Newey's 200th win in Formula One; his teammateSergio Pérez on sixth position set the fastest lap. Verstappen commented on his team's 100th win, "It is amazing, I never expected to be on these kind of numbers myself as well, so we keep enjoying it and we keep working hard but this is another great day."[28] In addition, his victory meant Verstappen has now matched three-time World ChampionAyrton Senna's number of victories at 41.[29]
Notes
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| Previous race: 2023 Spanish Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 Canadian Grand Prix | Canadian Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 Canadian Grand Prix |
