KVYAT FINISHES NINTH, RICCIARDO 13TH IN 'A TOUGH RACE' FOR INFINITI RED BULL RACING AT THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX

June 15, 2015 by Infiniti

CANADA GP – RACE

DANIIL KVYAT, Finish Position: 9th, Start Position: 8th

'It was a tough race because the Mercedes powered cars had a clear advantage over us, but we managed to keep two of them behind us today which is the maximum we could have done. Two championship points is the best we could have achieved. The team did a good job, but we obviously have to improve in many areas including the power unit.'

DANIEL RICCIARDO, Finish Position: 13th, Start Position: 9th

'It's been a strange weekend for me, and I am a little confused about today's race. I was lacking pace, and we are not sure why. There was nothing that felt especially wrong, but we just couldn't get any pace out of the car. I had a few set-up changes compared to Dany, but that doesn't explain the difference in pace. It is something we will look at to understand what the cause was.'

CHRISTIAN HORNER, Team Principal

'A difficult race for the team today, as we simply did not have the pace to make any progress. Having said that, Dany did a very good job all weekend to salvage a couple of points, and that was the maximum we could achieve today. Daniel struggled for pace all weekend, which is unusual for him so we'll now have an in-depth look at that to see what might have caused it.'

THIERRY SALVI, Renault

'A hard weekend for the team, as expected. We finished the weekend without any reliability issues, but the performance was not at the right level. We know the steps that need to be taken to come back to the front, so it's just a question of time now. Now the reliability issues are under control, we can focus 100% on the performance. We hope to be able to run the up-to-date engine spec as soon as possible to take as much advantage as possible before the end of the year.'

CANADA GP – QUALIFYING

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DANIIL KVYAT, Position: 8, (3rd Practice – 6, 1:17.021)

'It wasn't an easy qualifying but we got the maximum out of the car we could today. We have to keep pushing as we want to be further up the grid; we have a lot of work to do to be as competitive on the straights as our rivals. We knew this track wasn't going to be easy for us. Nevertheless, it's a competitive position we're starting from, and anything can happen in the race as we have seen in the past.'

DANIEL RICCIARDO, Position: 9, (3rd Practice – 13, 1:17.892)

'The weekend so far has been tough. We have struggled for most of it. This is a power circuit and we are power limited. We have been trying a few options with the tires, but we couldn't find a solution that worked, which is quite frustrating. We couldn't get a happy medium. We don't seem to be propelling forward at the moment which is disappointing. We'll do what we can, the team is working hard and we have to keep pushing.'

CHRISTIAN HORNER

'I think considering the layout of this circuit, with the high dependency on straight line speed, both drivers maximized the potential of the car. Eighth and ninth is the best that we could hope for at this track. We have seen in previous years that this race can throw up some curveball results, and we will be looking to make some good progress from the grid positions tomorrow.'

CANADA GP – FRIDAY PRACTICE

DANIIL KVYAT

First Practice Session: Position: 7, Best Time: 1:18.021, Laps: 30

Second Practice Session: Position: 9, Best Time: 1:17.092, Laps: 10

'We have been playing around with different settings to find a good balance for tomorrow, but we have more work to do in the morning. There doesn't seem to be any issues with the brakes. I came in for the guys to check them, then my session was cut short because of the rain. We will keep pushing with this engine, and when we need to change it, we'll change it and deal with penalties then.'

DANIEL RICCIARDO

First Practice Session: Position: 14, Best Time: 1:18.775, Laps: 24

Second Practice Session: Position: 10, Best Time: 1:17.111, Laps: 16

'It would have been nice to get more laps in today. We tried a set up this morning that didn't feel quite right, so we reverted back to a more conventional set-up in FP2. This worked better, but we just didn't get enough laps in with the session cut short because of the rain. We were a little off the pace today, but we tried four set-ups between the two cars. We'll look at these and find the best compromise to hopefully propel us towards the front tomorrow. We are going to try and push on with this fourth engine for this race. Ideally we want to get through Austria with it as well, but we'll see how we go.'

PREVIEW

Daniel Ricciardo

Q1: Daniel, winning in Montreal didn't really change your opinion of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, did it?

Ricciardo: Not really. Possibly winning has made me love it a little bit more, but really I've loved it since my first lap, back when I was driving for Toro Rosso. I remember coming back into the pits and saying, 'what a circuit.' I was amazed at how good it was, and I'd only done an install.

Q2: Gotta give us a bit more than that Dan…

Ricciardo: It's just a ridiculous amount of fun. You can jump across the curbs and really get the car bouncing around. It's like getting back to go-kart days. You really feel like you own it, and I love that. You can get aggressive with it and aim to just brush the wall. There's a lot of risk, but that brings a lot of adrenaline with it. It'd be wonderful if you were doing it in isolation, but with 100,000 screaming fans urging you on, it's just mega.

Q3: How do you judge the risk versus reward between the walls?

Ricciardo: It's a clear choice: Some guys will play it safe and sacrifice half a tenth to get through there cleanly; others will take a risk and go flat out trying to find a little bit. The nearer you are, the faster you'll go. Give the wall a kiss and you feel pretty good; kiss it too hard and that's it!

Q4: How about the city?

Ricciardo: Awesome. There are great places to eat and drink, plus the fact that Crescent Street is closed off for a big party is very, very cool. The whole city gets involved in the race, and you get the impression that the grand prix is really embraced.

Q5: Presumably last year there was a bit of a party on Sunday night?

Ricciardo: There was, but I was very restrained and in bed by 1:30 a.m. There's a point where the adrenaline wears off, and suddenly you're absolutely exhausted. I remember falling into bed, thinking 'wow, crazy day,' and out went the light. Fortunately the crew are made of sterner stuff and kept the party going. They were not a pretty sight at breakfast the following day.

Daniil Kvyat

Q1: We've just had a tight and twisting street circuit in Monaco, and we're now heading to a quite different temporary track in Montreal. Is a lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as intense?

Kvyat: Yes, it's quite intense, but in a very different way. The straights are long, but you have these big braking zones. It has a little bit of the feeling of street circuit because of the walls, but it is more of a traditional, classic track. It has a unique feeling though, and it's a great place for racing. It's great for drivers, and the races are usually very exciting, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q2: What about the atmosphere in Montreal? It's a city that really embraces F1.

Kvyat: Yeah, the atmosphere is always really good. It's a great crowd and they seem to really know a lot about F1, which is great.

Q3: Is it a town where you enjoy hanging out?

Kvyat: From what I've seen it's a good city, but to be honest I haven't actually been out and about there very much. However, my trainer likes it very much, because of the hockey. He's a former hockey player, so he loves it there. We've visited the stadium and I've watched a few games on the TV because it's often play-off season (with the Stanley Cup) when we're there, so he's always watching it.

Q4: You've got a good hockey team, Salavat Yulaev Ufa, in your home city in Russia, don't you?

Kvyat: Yeah, they're good, but they're facing difficult times now. But they're my home team so I have to support them. I was never a really big fan of hockey, but since meeting my trainer I've followed it a bit more and I do enjoy it, especially when Russia beats Finland.