Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2019

Red Bull no quicker in Canada as Renault make strides

Lap time watch: 2019 Canadian Grand Prix

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The two Renault-powered teams made the biggest year-on-year gains at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, in contrast to former Renault users Red Bull who lapped slower than they did 12 months earlier.

Red Bull failed to beat their best time from 12 months ago, as also happened in Bahrain and China. However this might not have been the case had it not been for the misfortune of Max Verstappen, who missed the cut for Q3 after Kevin Magnussen’s crash caused the session to be stopped.

Nonetheless the progress of the two Renault-powered teams validated claims made by both sides that Renault have improved their power unit since last year. Daniel Ricciardo, who in Monaco said the team finally had a real ‘qualifying mode’, produced a surprising effort to claim fourth on the grid.

However the most-improved team at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is McLaren. They lapped 1.2 seconds quicker than last year, and qualified eighth and ninth compared to 14th and 15th last year.

The cars of 2019 have lapped quicker at most tracks this year than they did in 2018. In Canada they are over half a second quicker.

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The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve track configuration has been unchanged since 2002, allowing us to compare the performance of the cars under the V10 (until 2005), V8 (2006-13) and V6 hybrid turbo (2014-present) engine regulations.

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2019 Canadian Grand Prix

Browse all 2019 Canadian Grand Prix articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Red Bull no quicker in Canada as Renault make strides”

  1. The title should be ‘Gasly no quicker than 2018 Red Bull’. He was pretty mediocre again.

    1. Verstappen usually being faster 0.4-0.8 sec RBR would have gained time just like any other team…. it’s not like Gasly is a frame of reference

  2. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve layout has remained unchanged more like since 1996, though. Perhaps there was some minor alteration somewhere from ’01 to ’02 like there was in Monaco from ’14 to ’15, but zero impact on the lap time.

    1. Counting official, and outright records should be started from scratch only if there’s a change to the layout that has an actual impact on the average lap speed and consequently to the overall lap time, which definitely wasn’t the case with Monaco from ’14 to ’15, nor with Bahrain from the inaugural season to the following, and doubtfully with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve either based on how the layout looked in the six seasons preceding 2002.

  3. I bet Verstappen will beat both Renaults in the race.. And Gasly should beat them too else Kvyat will be in his seat next race weekend.

    1. Ahah, indeed!

    2. the midfield is really interesting and unpredictable, who knew all renaults would be in the top 10. the str have been good but not today, why were they 10kph slower than the RBs?

      1. @peartree Differences in drag-levels perhaps.

  4. So, this time Williams did better in developing their car (drivers?) than two other teams, last time they ended ahead of another team in the race: signs of a solid renaissance for the team!

    No, I do not quite believe that either, no. But, maybe they are past the worst now?

    1. its just that last years williams was slower than 2017’s

  5. Very interesting article. Great job Keith. Never see this kind of analysis elsewhere- particularly so quickly.

    Also fantastic job by Ricciardo- yes there were reasons today but a real great result for him. So nice to see a Renault in the top 4 again.

  6. With all the bashing Renault receives, unjustly in my opinion, I hope this is a sign they are making strides and though they may not be equal with RBR yet, it may shut them up for at least a day.

    Congrats to RIC and Hulk – hopefully it will result in points tomorrow.

  7. This may be a result of the Honda not being as powerful as the hype had them.

  8. Sonny Crockett
    9th June 2019, 9:50

    After all of the pre and early season nonsense that has come from Marko and Horner I find this quite amusing!

    I seem to recall Marko saying confidently that McLaren had the second slowest car in 2019 with only Williams behind them. He also stated several times that RBR had the second fastest car in 2019 with only Ferrari ahead of them.

    All of the Renault-bashing they did in the last few years is coming back to haunt them too.

    As has been pointed out many times, Red Bull have only ever won races using Renault power. It looks like that is going to remain the case for a little while longer…

    1. Nothing wrt Renault is haunting RBR. Max is doing quite well in the standings as are all the Honda cars, and Renault still has everything to prove as a works team. When Renault actually challenges Mercedes and Ferrari like Max is, then they will have shown something. Let’s see where they end up come the end of this race. But hey, if their Pu and car have improved, better for us and the show. But one quali session where Max should likely have still qualified ahead of Renault but for unique circumstances is not something to hang one’s hat on quite yet.

  9. Daniel Ricciardo 2018(RB): 1:11:116 vs. 2019 (Renault): 1:11:071 :improvement: 0.045s
    Nico Hulkenberg 2018(Renault): 1:11.973 vs. 2019 (Renault):1:11:324, improvement of 0.649s

    if you consider the second car then:
    RB: 2018: 1:11:116(Ric) vs. RB 2019:1:11:079(Gas): improvement: 0.037s
    (assuming Gasly is second since Max was on medium instead of soft)
    second car Renault: 2018: 1:12:168 (Sainz) vs Renault : 2019: 1:11:324 (Hulkenberg): improvement0.844s

    1. Only GAS wasn’t second, he was the leading RB in quali. Max in his best lap was slower than GAS in s1 and s2.

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