2024 Canadian Grand Prix - Sunday

First podium of the season as team finishes P3 and P4 in Montreal

• George Russell finished third with Lewis Hamilton fourth in the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.
• George lined up on pole position with Lewis Hamilton as the inclement weather conditions seen on Friday and Saturday continued into the weekend.
• It was therefore an Intermediate start for all and, as the track dried, George dropped to P3 as his Intermediate tyres wore out.
• The first Safety Car of the afternoon was deployed shortly after and, with more rain expected, both cars pitted for new Intermediates. Good work by the pit crew helped Lewis jump up to P5 and ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
• The McLaren of Lando Norris pitted one lap later than others which meant George took the restart in P2.
• As the track dried, George switched to the Hard compound tyre with Lewis taking the Medium. Norris used the overcut to take P2 back from George before the Safety Car was deployed once again.
• Both cars boxed once again, this time with George taking the Medium tyre and Lewis the Hard.
• Both drivers put the fresh rubber to good use and in the closing stages, made their way up to P3 and P4, falling just short of taking P2 from Norris.
• Lewis also secured the fastest lap point with his best effort on the final tour.
• George therefore took the 10^th podium of his F1 career and the team’s first of the season.
  

George Russell

I’m disappointed with myself today. I made too many errors that set us back and cost us a chance of victory. I was really pushing the limits out there. That said, it feels great to be disappointed with P3. We’ve made small steps over the past few races and to come to Canada, get pole position and a podium is really encouraging. We’ve been one of the fastest cars on track all weekend, so we’ve definitely made progress. There are many positives to take away from here.

The conditions were incredibly challenging out there. Put a wheel even one millimetre off line and you would be in trouble. Unfortunately, the errors I made came with consequences as it let other cars past. Other drivers made errors too, but they didn’t come at the same cost. We were still able to battle back to the podium though with the pace we had. We will continue to work hard, develop the car, and I’m looking forward to heading to Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton

We scored some good points for the team today. We’re also looking like we’ve made a step closer to the front this weekend which is really encouraging. Thank you so much to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth who has worked so hard to deliver our recent updates. It has moved us in the right direction, and we will continue to put the effort in to continue that progress.

On my side, it wasn’t the best weekend. We had the pace to be fighting higher up but we ultimately ended up with P4. I’ll go away and work out what I need to do to come back stronger. I made too many mistakes overall but the positive I will take away is the performance of the car.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

It has been an encouraging weekend. We have taken the right steps recently and brought updates that are working well. Directionally, we seem to be adding performance every Grand Prix. Everyone at Brackley and Brixworth continues to work incredibly hard and it’s great to see their efforts rewarded with our first podium of the year. I hope that we can continue this positive trajectory. Looking ahead to Barcelona, it’s a circuit that really tests a car. We are excited to go there and truly understand where we are performance wise.

Today’s race was a challenging one. When you finish P3 and P4, given where we have finished in recent races, then of course it is positive. Both drivers know that we could have achieved more though. We certainly could have taken one or two more positions and then maybe have fought for victory. It is a little bittersweet therefore but ultimately, if you had said to us before the weekend that we would be third and fourth, then we would have taken it.