Formula 1

Canadian GP: Virgin qualifying report

Virgin Racing demonstrated a positive step forward between yesterday's Free Practice running and today's crucial Qualifying hour in the final countdown to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Rain overnight meant that the track was once again very ...

Published: Jun 12, 2010, 11:23 PM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Virgin Racing demonstrated a positive step forward between yesterday's Free Practice running and today's crucial Qualifying hour in the final countdown to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Rain overnight meant that the track was once again very green and finding a way to extract the best from the tyres would be key. The track was more or less dry for the start of Free Practice 3, apart from the kerbs, which remained slippery. Both cars stuck to their planned programmes which were designed to evaluate the best set-up for Qualifying and the Race. The team made significant progress from yesterday, with the varied programme resulting in Lucas topping the official list of top speeds, while Timo ended up recording the lowest speed on the list as the objective for his car was to gather as much data as possible. With just a minute to go in the session, Lucas unfortunately locked a rear brake, touched the grass and brushed the wall. The team had to work hard to get the car ready for Qualifying but this was achieved without drama.

This afternoon, Timo was able to take advantage of the progress that had been made with the car, but was disappointed that it was not sufficient to usurp the Lotus cars today. Lucas struggled with traffic during his crucial run which compromised his lap time.

Timo Glock, Race Driver #24
"It was quite a difficult session for us today. Because of the problems we had yesterday the car wasn't perfect but we did made quite a nice step overnight which got us close to Lotus today. The car is still quite difficult to drive over the kerbs and bumps but reverting to a higher downforce set-up was the right direction. We will look at the strategy and see how we can make the most of tomorrow's race."

Lucas di Grassi, Race Driver #25
"It was not a very good qualifying for me today. For my second run I got a lot of traffic -- especially with Kobayashi - and I was not able to extract the maximum from the car. I lost the quickest two laps because of this. The car is still some way from the optimum set-up for here so we will now look at the best strategy for the race tomorrow and do the best job possible. I'd like to thank everyone in the team for their great work in getting the car back together in time for Qualifying after my 'off' in Third Practice this morning."

Nick Wirth, Technical Director
"Our overnight changes brought us closer to our expected pace here, but in two very different ways. Lucas decided to stick to our Canada-specific aero package, whilst Timo wanted to run more downforce. The tyre issues that all teams have faced have definitely made our Canada package look a bit light on overall downforce, which we saw in the speed trap from FP3, where we had both the fastest and slowest top speeds of all teams! In reverting to higher downforce, Timo has also been somewhat compromised by what aero parts we have available here, so we couldn't give him the aero efficiency that we had in Turkey, which is why he was a bit slower in qualifying than we can do at the moment. I think Lucas would have found a bit more speed in his last run on a different tyre, but we head into tomorrow's race with both ends of the downforce range covered and with another double finish our main target. With tyre problems expected tomorrow for all teams, I think the race could be one for the fans, so let's see what we can achieve."

-source: virgin

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Canadian GP: Renault qualifying report

Next article Stewards consider penalty for Hamilton 'in lap'

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Lucas di Grassi



Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career

Formula E

Why ‘Mr Formula E’ has called time on his racing career



Everything that went wrong in Lucas di Grassi’s farewell Formula E weekend

Formula E

Formula E

London ePrix II

Everything that went wrong in Lucas di Grassi’s farewell Formula E weekend



How Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi wrote Formula E’s history

Formula E

Formula E

London ePrix I

How Sebastien Buemi and Lucas Di Grassi wrote Formula E’s history

More from

Envision Racing



The reunited Formula E partnership that could finally flourish

Formula E

Formula E

The reunited Formula E partnership that could finally flourish



Envision Virgin reveals first two-seater electric formula car

Formula E

Formula E

Envision Virgin reveals first two-seater electric formula car



Powell joins Envision Virgin as Formula E sim driver

Formula E

Formula E

Powell joins Envision Virgin as Formula E sim driver

Latest news



Why Monza win from 19th still isn't the best of Kimi Antonelli's dominant F1 2026 season

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

16 min

Why Monza win from 19th still isn't the best of Kimi Antonelli's dominant F1 2026 season



What happened to Austin Hill at the end of Talladega NASCAR Cup race?

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Talladega II

51 min

What happened to Austin Hill at the end of Talladega NASCAR Cup race?



Sesks tight-lipped on WRC future after ERC season finale triumph

WRC

WRC WRC 1 h

Sesks tight-lipped on WRC future after ERC season finale triumph



Franco Colapinto responds to Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial comment about him

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

2 h

Franco Colapinto responds to Jeremy Clarkson’s controversial comment about him

Feature

Discover prime content



A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

A strategic masterclass: How Kimi Antonelli put himself on the cusp of F1 title at the US GP



How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying

Formula 1

United States GP

By Stuart Codling

How Verstappen and Antonelli were both “surprised” in United States GP qualifying



What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP

Formula 1

United States GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 United States GP



Max Verstappen’s words explained: Why Red Bull’s turnaround is so different this time

Formula 1

United States GP

By Ronald Vording

Max Verstappen’s words explained: Why Red Bull’s turnaround is so different this time

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe