The Canadian Grand Prix proved relatively successful for a struggling Ferrari F1 team.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz started 10th and 11th on the grid but managed to salvage valuable points, finishing 4th and 5th respectively.
For Ferrari, the 2023 season has been plagued with poor strategy and discontent, but it appears fortuitous times are on the horizon.
It was Ferrari’s strategy on race day that improved their overall position and saw the team maximise their potential as they decided not to pit a second time after the safety car was deployed.
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This was a decision backed by Ferrari man Carlos Sainz.
“We definitely did a very good strategy,” he said. “Staying out with both cars was the right call.
“The medium was very strong on our car this weekend since Friday and I could maximise the stint on the medium and I felt good on it,
“We trusted the medium because of FP2 and we committed to it and felt like we’d go long, no problem. It was a nice tyre. The hard, like always in our car, the harder tyres are a bit trickier,” Sainz stated.
The biggest shock of the weekend however was not Ferrari’s strategic play, but a stellar drive from Williams man Alexander Albon.
The Williams team introduced new upgrades to the FW45 and Albon was able to capitalize on such additions finishing the race in seventh place.
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Team principal James Vowles has discussed plans to introduce the same upgrades to the car of Logan Sargeant.
“The update that was on the car this weekend was enormous by standards in Formula 1 and it was the culmination of huge and significant teamwork back in Grove, of hundreds of people really pulling together and working together to deliver the update we have here in the timeframe that we had available to us.
“It’s paid off. Without that upgrade, I’m confident that we wouldn’t have the points on the table today and that is really a testament to the dedication the team has to this year’s championship and our future championships,” Vowles claimed.