Brendon Hartley is set to start his maiden Canadian Grand Prix from P12 with his sights firmly set on finishing inside the top 10 at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve tomorrow afternoon.
 
Coming into the weekend with an upgraded engine package from Honda, hopes were high that the improvements would aid the teams hopes of moving further up the championship order. With tyre degradation a primary concern for many, the team got off to a solid start in Free Practice working through a number of setup programmes throughout Friday and into Saturday. Completing FP3 in P12, Hartley was feeling confident in the pace of his STR13 going into the afternoon’s qualifying session.
 
A superb run in Q1 secured his place into Q2 and looking well on course to continue his charge up the order. With times getting ever closer, Brendon’s best effort was compromised by a couple of tenths at the chicane, meaning he would complete the session in P12.
 
Brendon Hartley – #28 Scuderia Toro Rosso:
“I was really happy with the job I did today, and how we’ve worked as a team throughout the weekend to get the car in the right place. I think 12th was more or less where we’ve been this weekend, there was probably another tenth in the car on that last lap, but to move much further up the grid and into Q3 was a bit of a tall order today. I’ve really enjoyed driving the track here, it’s got a lot of character, bumps, kerbs, you’re close to the walls. I felt strong all weekend in Monaco as well but Q1 was a bit of a mess and we missed Q2, so it was nice to get a better result in Montreal. I’m quite optimistic for tomorrow! The upgrade performance in qualifying was good, and we think the bigger step is in the race trim which is where we have been struggling recently. Hopefully we can battle it out and try to muscle our way into the top 10 – everything has been really positive so far and we’ve seen races in the past here where a lot can happen, so I’ll keep focused and do my best to bring home some points.”
 
Timetable:
Race – 70 Laps
20:10 – 22:10 (Local Time – UTC+2)
06:10 – 08:10 (New Zealand – UTC+12)