INFINITI RED BULL RACING DOMINATES CANADIAN GRAND PRIX

The Renault RS27 V8 engine powered Infiniti Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel to a dominant win in yesterday’s Canadian Grand Prix. The reigning world champion won the 70 lap race by 14 seconds over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, lapping every driver up to fifth position in the process. Starting from pole, Vettel scorched to his first-ever victory in Canada and extend his championship lead to 132 points to Fernando Alonso’s 96.

Team-mate Mark Webber finished in fourth having enjoyed a tightly fought battle with Alonso throughout the race. The Australian lost the position just before the mid-point of the race when he suffered front wing damage caused by an incident with Giedo van der Garde. He regained ground, but finished just outside the podium.

Lotus F1 Team’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in ninth, continuing his unbroken points run dating back to the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix. The Finn had a tough race with Massa, who passed him for position on the final lap. Romain Grosjean finished in 13th, moving up nine positions from his grid slot.

Williams F1 Team had its most competitive overall performance so far this season. Valtteri Bottas qualified in third position for the race – the team’s best qualifying slot this year - and raced in the top 10 for the first part of the Grand Prix. He however dropped out of the top ten in the first round of pit stops and finished in 14th. Pastor Maldonado finished in 16th following a drivethrough penalty for his part in an accident.

Charles Pic (Caterham F1 Team) finished in 18th, the Frenchman overtaking the Marussia of Max Chilton in the closing stages of the race. Giedo van der Garde retired on lap 43 following accident damage.

Infiniti Red Bull Racing leads the constructors’ championship by 201 points to Ferrari’s 145. Mercedes is third with 134 while Lotus F1 Team is fourth with 114.

Rémi Taffin, Renault Sport F1 head of track operations said 'We are delighted to see Red Bull score its first win in Canada, and to do so in such style. Seb made it look easy out there, and pulled out a comfortable lead. This in turn gave us certain advantages as we were able to manage engine performance more efficiently, which could be useful for future races. Montreal is one of those circuits that shows whether the chassis-engine package is working well, so this bodes positively for the rest of the season. Mark was unlucky to miss out on a podium but all the same, scoring the first win for the team is great news, plus it’s the first win for a Renault-powered car in Montreal since 2006.

Overall it’s been a good weekend for us, with three Renault-powered cars in the top ten. Red Bull and Lotus remain right in the hunt for the championship. Between them, they have scored 45% of the points available this year, which is a hugely impressive statistic for us at this point in the year. More positive is that reliability has matched the performance, giving us a good basis going forward into the second part of the season.'