Scuderia Ferrari technical director Mattia Binotto admits that the Maranello team had high hopes before coming to Montreal for the 2017 Canadian Grand Prix and also had the potential to score another podium finish, but given the bad start and the technical problems for both SF70H cars at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Sebastian Vettel’s fourth place and Kimi Raikkonen’s seventh place can be considered a good result:

“I think we showed on Friday and Saturday morning that we had the race pace to fight for victory, but the conditions on Sunday were a little bit different, which probably did not help us. The start was also not ideal, Sebastian had damage to the front wing and the floor. We thought he would be able to continue, but after the restart it got worse and we had to change our strategy. Sebastian did a fantastic race and could have finished on the podium with one or two more laps, but we have to accept this result and focus on the next race. Kimi had a difficult first stint so we went for a different strategy which proved very good, unfortunately a brake control issue prevented him from fighting for a podium finish in the last laps. Now we have to carefully analyse and identify the cause of this problem. I am sure we will be back in a stronger position for Baku.” – Mattia Binotto explained, as reported by the Italian media.

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel’s duel has turned this Formula One season’s title race into one of the most keenly-anticipated — and most difficult to forecast — in decades. The next round of the F1 championship will take place in Baku, as the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is scheduled in two weeks time, when Scuderia Ferrari will attempt to regain the lead in the Constructor Standings.