The Manor Marussia F1 Team’s Will Stevens ended today’s Grand Prix du Canada in 17th place, while teammate Roberto Merhi encountered the team’s first retirement of the season on lap 53.
Will Stevens on 17th spot said, “After a good start I was having a really strong race, managing to get ahead of my team-mate despite a problem with the front left in the pit stop, which lost us quite a bit of time. After that my race was going pretty much according to our one-stop plan and then on lap 50 I was hit by Grosjean as he was passing me, which was a little surprising as I left him so much room. It was an unnecessary accident and one which required another pit stop for front wing damage. The wing was snapped clean in two. All that aside, it’s been a stronger weekend for us here. It’s a shame we had our first retirement with Roberto’s car, but that was a good long run compared to other teams and I’m sure we’ll have things sorted for Austria.”
Roberto Merhi on 18th spot said, “It has been a very positive weekend for me and the team, so to retire from the race for the first time this season is disappointing. I had a nice battle with Will though and there is so much to take away from here in terms of steps forward, so we have to focus on the good things. I feel like I’m making good progress, so it’s all about what we can do to prepare for the next one and keep pushing to improve.”
John Booth, Team Principal said, “After what has been a strong weekend for us here in Canada, it’s a shame to have experienced our first retirement of the season. Roberto suffered a broken drive shaft, which, after such a long run of reliability up until now, is disappointing. He’s doing a great job at the moment though and I’m sure he’ll bounce back for Austria. Will was having a very good race before he was hit by Grosjean, breaking his front wing. He was at least able to recover and take the chequered flag. So, a less than straightforward race than we’ve been used to, but plenty of positives to take away nonetheless.”
