The 2024 Canadian Grand Prix is fast approaching, so ahead of the race, we took a look at what happened the last time we were at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Having been added to the calendar in 1967, Montreal’s Île Notre-Dame circuit officially became the home of Formula 1 in Canada for the 1978 season.
The 2023 edition of the Grand Prix was a particularly important start to our season as Alex Albon raced to an impressive P7.
Here’s how the weekend unfolded in Montreal.
Rainy qualification
Saturday saw wet conditions. However, as the countdown to Q1 began, the rain was beginning to ease and the team’s discussions were dominated by how close it was to the time for the tires to dry.
Alex comfortably finished Q1 in P6 to advance. Then, as the rest of the drivers went about their first laps in the second stage, our No. 23 was last on track and the only one on slicks.
The decision proved decisive as Albono put in three consecutive fast laps to top the time sheet while other drivers continued to weigh up their options.
As he crossed the line at the end of the third push, the rain continued and nobody eclipsed Albono’s 1:18.75 in Q2 – the fastest lap by anyone in all three qualifying sessions.
The rain then picked up for Q3 which prevented Alex from getting a clean lap before a red flag came out when Oscar Piastri hit the wall and our #23 ended the day in P10.
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Sweet Sunday
Race day brought an even better performance from Alex as his solid driving managed a one stop strategy to bring home his joint best points of the season.
Unfortunately for Logan Sargeant, an oil leak in his FW45 brought out the Virtual Safety Car, ending his race after eight laps.
Alex got off to a strong start running in P8 when George Russell collided with the wall at Turn 9. As a result, a full Safety Car was called and our Thai racer was able for a set of middles.
From here, Albono delivered a racing masterclass as those around him pitted, committing to a one-stop strategy that saw his tires run 27 laps longer than the Hard C3 average.
Footage from Montreal Match Day 2023
By lap 40, our #23 was running P7 on aging tyres, with George Russell for company, although the Mercedes driver couldn’t find a way past and was forced to retire with 15 laps to go.
This left Esteban Ocon right on Alex’s tail for the final 15 laps, but despite everything Alpine threw at Alex, he could do nothing but watch as our Thai racer took the checkered flag.
Alex’s commanding defensive show secured him F1 Driver of the Day, with 28.7% of the vote in his favour, and a memorable race across the Atlantic.
It was just the fourth time in Albono’s career that he was awarded the honor and would set the tone for the rest of the 2023 season to come!
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