After a difficult start on Friday, it was an impressive turnaround from the whole team as we left Montréal with our best points haul of the year so far

A challenging Canadian Grand Prix weekend ended with a double top-10 finish, 12 more points on the board, and Franco’s best-ever Formula One result (again!) — The limitations in track time during a Sprint weekend initially put us on the back foot, but thanks to good team work both at the factory and at the track, plus a little good fortune, we can be proud of the final outcome after a busy weekend. Here’s the story of how our Canadian GP unfolded…

Quick stop at the big top

Before heading to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Pierre paid a visit to the world-famous Cirque du Soleil in Montréal. It was an opportunity for Pierre, joined by compatriot Isack Hadjar, to put his circus skills to the test as part of a TV feature with Sky Sports F1. While Pierre is famous for his pre-race reaction challenge of catching tennis balls, juggling four or more at once proved a little more difficult.

Spinning on the trapeze and handling a tower of giant cardboard boxes also ended in chaos, as Pierre lost his balance and sent the boxes flying across the arena. After that, everyone agreed that was enough clowning around for one day and to leave it to the professionals, with Pierre attending the premiere of the world-famous brand’s Echo show.

The development race continues

We arrived in Montréal with new parts for the A526 as part of our ongoing upgrade programme, with both cars running identical components with a new floor to complement the rear wing introduced in Miami. Unfortunately, the weekend did not begin well, with Franco only completing an out-lap before stopping with a suspected PU-related electrical issue in FP1.

With just a single hour of free practice during a Sprint weekend, it was valuable time lost, especially with comparison tests planned across both cars. It was a credit to our mechanics that Franco was able to start Sprint Qualifying later that afternoon with a new Energy Store — his second of the season, meaning no penalty was incurred. Despite missing crucial track time, Franco progressed to SQ2 and secured P13 on the grid.

Pierre, sporting a special Maple Leaf-inspired helmet design in personal collaboration with Qatar Creates, also endured a difficult opening session, hampered by red flags and a lack of balance. As a result of the work required to change the setup, the team broke curfew on Friday evening for the first time this season — and the first of four permitted under the regulations — taking the car out of parc fermé conditions to replace aerodynamic components and revise the setup. Consequently, Pierre started the Sprint from the pit lane.

A spotlight on the Academy programme

With Formula 2 making its first-ever visit to Canada alongside F1 Academy, it was another busy weekend for the junior categories. Nina Gademan experienced a mixed weekend in Montréal, initially classified P9 in the opening race following a track-limits penalty. She climbed to seventh in the reverse-grid race before becoming an innocent victim of an on-track incident, leaving her in the barriers. Nina bounced back well on Sunday, navigating the wet conditions to secure another top-10 finish with P7.

The Formula 2 races were particularly frenetic, especially Sunday’s wet Feature Race. Gabriele Mini started Saturday’s Sprint Race from pole position and finished second to move into the lead of the F2 Drivers’ Championship. He extended that advantage in a chaotic wet race on Sunday, with Alpine Academy drivers securing two podium positions as Alex Dunne finished second ahead of Gabriele, who now holds a 19-point championship lead.

Away from Canada, Sukhmani Khera finished in P2 and P4 in the X30 Junior Finals at PF International Karting Circuit. Sukhmani finished the weekend leading the standings.

Sprinting into Saturday

The second consecutive Sprint — and the third in the opening five races — gave the record Montréal crowd of 360,000 across the weekend plenty to enjoy. Franco lined up P13 on used medium tyres and made an excellent launch, gaining two places on the opening lap.

After Isack Hadjar pitted, Franco moved ahead of Carlos Sainz to take ninth place and ultimately finished just a couple of seconds shy of the final Sprint point after 23 laps. Following overnight work on Pierre’s car, he started from the pit lane and effectively used the half-hour race as a test session, first running on new mediums before pitting on lap 19 for a Qualifying preparation run on used softs.

Unfortunately, Pierre’s bad luck continued in Qualifying when he unfortunately made contact with a groundhog in Q1, damaging his floor and compromising the car’s handling through Q2. It left him 14th on the grid. In contrast, Franco’s strong Sprint pace carried into Qualifying later that day. He reached Q3 for the second consecutive time and qualified P10 for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

A double points finish

Sunday’s forecast had looked gloomy, and morning rain soaked Île Notre-Dame. Combined with cold temperatures that barely climbed above 13°C, strategists faced a difficult decision over starting tyres. In a dramatically varied grid, teams split between mediums, softs and even intermediates — despite a dry track — in an attempt to generate tyre temperature from the additional tread. Conditions remained slippery, particularly with a tailwind into Turn 10, where Franco locked up and ran wide during a reconnaissance lap.

Following two delays to the starting procedure to remove a stranded car from the grid, the race began. Both Pierre and Franco started on medium tyres and adopted a cautious approach in the opening stages. Franco soon settled into a strong rhythm, running seventh throughout the opening stint and staying clear of trouble.

George Russell’s retirement elevated him to sixth before he pitted under the VSC on lap 30 for hard tyres. There was a brief scare as he exited the pit lane, catching a damp patch and skating across the grass towards the outside wall, fortunately without sustaining major damage.

By this stage, Pierre had diligently climbed to eighth and also boxed under the VSC for new hards. He remained there to the chequered flag, spending much of the final 20 laps chasing Liam Lawson. On lap 65, Pierre launched an attack into the final chicane, but Lawson defended the inside line. Both drivers cut across the run off but avoided contact, with Pierre ultimately finishing eighth, just 0.337s behind Lawson at the flag.

After P7 in Miami, sixth place marked another career-best F1 finish for Franco, while Pierre extended his run of scoring points at every event so far this season, a streak he hopes to maintain next time out in Monaco.

“Congratulations to the entire team on this result where we have scored 12 points,” said Flavio Briatore. “We executed a good strategy, the drivers did an excellent job and we now extend our advantage in P5 in the Constructors’ Championship. I am happy for Franco for his best ever finish in Formula One in P6, so well done to him for his effort. On Pierre’s side, it is a good recovery from P14 on the grid.