REPORT: Not our day in Montreal

The chance to pick up some points at the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix was cruelly snatched away with less than 20 laps to go as we suffered a double DNF in Montreal.

Our drivers were greeted with a wet track when they lined up on the grid, with all but two cars on the intermediate tyre as the lights went out.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant would lose positions at the start when the two Haas cars on extreme wets charged up the order before they fell back through the field.

With the track drying up, DRS was enabled and Alex went on the charge, passing Yuki Tsunoda and Charles Leclerc in successive laps.

On Lap 25, Logan spun at the exit of T4, hitting the wall, bringing out the Safety Car and ending his afternoon.

Alex took the opportunity to pit for fresh intermediates under the Safety Car to be ready for the restart in P11.

Next up for Alex was a sensational double overtake at the final chicane - first passing Daniel Ricciardo before weaving his way through a tiny gap up the inside of Esteban Ocon.

DRS was enabled again on Lap 39 and the track was soon becoming dry enough for slicks, with Alex switching to the mediums on Lap 44.

Our No23 was soon hassling a pack of cars ahead, but it was in this pack that Alex’s afternoon soon ended in heartbreaking circumstances.

Whilst firmly in the fight for points, Carlos Sainz span in front of Alex at T6 and contact between the pair was unavoidable. The Spaniard was able to continue, but it was all over for Albono.

"A disappointing end to our race today," Alex shared.

"Points were definitely on the table and the car felt good on all compounds in the changing conditions.

"We didn't take any unnecessary risks and the race plan was well-executed by the team.

"It was a battle of survival, which was always going to be the case considering the weather, and we ended up getting caught in other people's errors.

"That's racing and I don't think I could've done anything differently."

Logan continued our reaction by saying: "The track conditions were difficult especially at the start of the race with the amount of standing water.

"There was quite a lot of aquaplaning going on, so I was trying to manage that. I made too many mistakes today and two punishing ones.

"I lost the rear extremely quickly and couldn’t save it. I’m disappointed with myself after feeling like I was driving great this weekend.

"We had good pace when we were able to put together clean laps. We’ll move on and look ahead."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, concluded by commenting: "The race started well on a wet track for both cars. We were able to hold positions in those first very tricky laps.

"Getting the Inters up to temperature was going to be key. Alex had good pace on the first set of Inters in those tricky conditions. When Logan made a mistake and the Safety Car came out, we decided to pit Alex for a fresh set of Inters as a second rain zone was arriving.

"We struggled a bit with pace on that second set and Ocon managed to get past us just before everybody started to pit for slicks.

"We pitted for a set of Mediums and knew it was then going to be a fight all the way to the end with several cars for P8.

"Unfortunately, Sainz made a mistake just in front of Alex. As there was no room for Alex to avoid the Ferrari, it meant we had to retire.

"Not the result we wanted today but we were happy to see that we again could fight for points this weekend. All our focus will now turn to the triple header ahead and Barcelona in particular."