@F1Photographer Darren Heath delivers a stunning collection of images for each race in the 2015 calendar. View the Canadian Grand Prix Gallery above.

A selection of images from across the weekend, as Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosted round seven of the 2015 Formula 1 championship.

“We’re learning important lessons every weekend, and gradually we’ll put things right”

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Sunday June 7

Today we saw a double retirement for McLaren-Honda in Montreal as both Fernando Alonso and then Jenson Button retired from the Canadian Grand Prix. Both were forced to return to the garage with unrelated exhaust issues.

Fernando began the race on the Option tyre. He got away well from P13 and had a strong first lap, rising to P11. Conserving tyres and fuel, he fell back in the opening stint after good battles with Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. He was the final Option runner to pit, switching to the Prime tyre on lap 31. He increased his pace after his pit-stop but was forced to retire on lap 46.

Jenson started from P20 on the grid, having failed to set a time in qualifying yesterday. He also carried a penalty into the race for MGU-H and turbo replacements, and was duly required to perform a drive-through. He ran 45 laps on the Prime and was the last driver to pit-stop. Having switched to the Option, he set a string of personal best lap-times before retiring the car on lap 58 with an exhaust issue unrelated to the one suffered previously by Fernando.  

JENSON BUTTON, MP4-30-01

“It was obviously a very difficult day, made even more difficult for me since I’d started last with the addition of a drive-through penalty in the first three laps. I was then obviously out of sequence; the leaders lapped me, pitted and then lapped me again.

“One of our biggest issues today was fuel saving. In addition, we lost a bit of tyre temperature as well. That said, our pace on the Prime tyre was pretty good.

“I guess it’s easy for people to look at today’s result and say we’re having a bad season, but that’s not actually the case. We’ve made very big improvements since the first race, in fact. You do have difficult days, and today was undoubtedly one of those, but that’s always the way of it when you begin a new project and you’re starting from zero. So, yes, we’re still quite a long way behind the other teams in terms of power unit development, and even the design philosophy behind our car too; but if you don’t take a stab at it at the start of the season with a new project like this, you’re never going to be able to fight the top guys.

“Today was quite painful, yes, but so far this season there’s been improvement at every race, with the exception of today. The layout of the circuit here was always going to be tough on us, but hopefully we’ll be back on track in Austria where we have some updates coming.”

FERNANDO ALONSO, MP4-30-03

“Obviously, I’m a little bit sad to have suffered a third consecutive retirement. I lost power and I had to pit, and that was it. Definitely, we need to put some things in order – we know the situation for what it is but what we have to do now is work harder than ever because we want to change the situation more than ever. All the developments I know are coming for future races make sense, so I can see positive signs. I think we need to be patient now, and we need to continue to work incredibly hard.

“It’s been a difficult weekend for both Jenson and me, with Saturday’s problems and now today’s DNFs. Hopefully, though, we’ve learned a lesson, and it’s better that all these problems are happening now, while we’re not yet competitive. If, one day, we’re fighting for a podium finish, or for a victory, and we have to retire the car, that will hurt even more than these retirements hurt; so, as I say, we’re learning important lessons every weekend, and gradually we’ll put things right.”

ERIC BOULLIER – Racing director, McLaren-Honda

“In a word, today’s race was disappointing.

“Fernando made a good start, moving up from P13 on the grid to P11 at the end of lap one. Thereafter, however, he was unable to stem the tide of rival cars passing him, owing to a straight-line speed deficit compounded by fuel consumption concerns that caused him to have to lift and coast extensively all afternoon.

“By lap 20 he’d dropped to P16, and by lap 46 his race had come to an end, owing to an as-yet-unspecified exhaust issue.

“Jenson started the race from the back of the grid, having not been able to enter qualifying yesterday. He immediately had to perform a drive-through penalty, owing to our having had to replace his car’s MGU-H and turbo before today’s race.

“He’d climbed to P18 by lap 58, when he too was forced to retire, owing to an unrelated exhaust issue.

“Clearly, as I say, all of that was and is disappointing, very much so. But, as I said yesterday, we know what we have to do to improve, and we’re doing it. It may take us some time, but we’ll get there.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank and praise both Fernando and Jenson, who are continuing to drive brilliantly in very trying circumstances, both of them digging deep and working extremely hard behind the scenes to help us move forward towards reliable competitiveness and eventual success.

“The staff of both McLaren and Honda, too, are working tirelessly to effect the same result.

“Finally, I want to pay tribute to our fans, whose steadfast support in these difficult times is impressive and edifying in equal measure. Truly, they really do #BelieveInMcLarenHonda, and that’s incredibly heartening to see. Thanks, guys, I really mean it.”

YASUHISA ARAI – Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport

 “We’re extremely saddened by this weekend’s result.

“The team had worked so hard to rectify the issues we’d encountered during the free practice and qualifying sessions, and against the odds we’d managed to get both cars ready for the race. However, both cars then retired owing to unrelated exhaust issues.

“Fernando’s car suffered a rise in exhaust temperature and had to be called back into the garage.
We think Jenson’s car also had an issue in the exhaust area, but we won’t know for sure until the car is back at the factory.

“The next grand prix, in Austria, will be run on another high-speed circuit, but we’ll get to the bottom of today’s issues, rectify them, and prepare for that race.”

“It’ll be a long race, but I’m already looking forward to it”

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Saturday June 6

Today was a frustrating day for the McLaren-Honda team, track time having been limited by technical issues. Fernando Alonso made it through to Q2 but Jenson Button was unable to participate in qualifying at all, following an ERS-related problem at the end of FP3 that required more time than was available to remedy.

Fernando qualified P14 in a very congested midfield battle, despite his preparation having been complicated by an engine change earlier in the day. The team had elected to not break the Friday-night curfew and instead completed the task on Saturday morning. Fast work got Fernando out for the final 10 minutes of FP3.

Jenson ran strongly in FP3 until an ERS-related failure caused him to stop on track. The team could not rectify the situation in the time available and Jenson was consequently unable to participate in qualifying. Jenson will therefore start tomorrow’s Canadian Grand Prix from the pit-lane. 

FERNANDO ALONSO, MP4-30-03

“I was happy with my lap and I think this is the best qualifying position we could have expected today. I expect to be starting 13^th, owing to Max’s [Verstappen] likely penalty, so, after a tough day for the team, with my engine change this morning, and me missing most of P3, and then the disappointment of running only one car in qualifying, I think P13 is the best news of the day.

“Hopefully tomorrow we can have a much better day, with a smooth race and both cars finishing with no problems. Montreal always seems to provide good races with lots of action, a few Safety Cars, reliability issues for everybody, and so on, since it’s a very demanding circuit on brakes, gearboxes and other components too. You have to stay focused until the very last lap, because anything can happen.

“Our top speed on the straights will be our main concern tomorrow, so we’ll try to do something clever in terms of strategy and tyre management in order to compensate for that and try to get some points.”

JENSON BUTTON, MP4-30-01

“This morning we did a lot of set-up work in the car, and it felt much better than yesterday, so I was looking forward to qualifying. It was disappointing to miss it, therefore, but it happens – and we’ll make the best of it tomorrow.

“The guys have worked so hard this weekend; they did a great job of getting Fernando’s car back together for qualifying and they’ll do the same fantastic job as they always do with my car, but weekends like this one are tough for the whole team.

“It’ll be a long race, but I’m already looking forward to it.”

ERIC BOULLIER – Racing director, McLaren-Honda

“It would be wrong of me not to admit that today has been both frustrating and disappointing.

“First, this morning, we were forced to replace Fernando’s engine when a routine inspection revealed problems with it that we feared would prevent its completing the weekend’s running. Then, towards the end of FP3, Jenson’s car suffered an ERS-related failure; that, too, required an engine change, the result of which was that he was unable to take part in qualifying at all.

“Since the beginning of the year, we’ve consistently made clear that we were fully aware of the enormity of the task Honda and we were facing, but, despite that, we remain undaunted by it. Our friends at Sakura [Japan] are working around the clock in a superhuman effort to rectify the issues we’re encountering, and we have total faith in their ability to do just that. We’re working flat-out at Woking, too.

“Together, since the Australian Grand Prix, at which race the famous McLaren-Honda partnership was renewed after a gap of 23 years, we’ve made massive progress together. We always knew that that progress wouldn’t always be linear, and so it has proved here today. But we’re on a journey, we understand how to get to our destination – together – and get there we undoubtedly will.”

YASUHISA ARAI – Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport

“We’ve had a very tough day during both FP3 and qualifying.

“A routine check after FP2 found an engine anomaly that we believed may have prevented Fernando from finishing the race tomorrow; we therefore decided to change the engine. That meant we lost precious time in FP3, during which we were unable to confirm the car’s set-up before going into qualifying.

“Thanks to the team’s great efforts, and Fernando’s superb driving, we made it into Q2 and the session went well. It was a pity that we did not make it into Q3.

“As for Jenson’s car, we encountered ERS problems towards the end of FP3, and after an investigation of the power unit discovered that the engine had unfortunately been damaged. We’ll replace the engine for the race.

“Tomorrow will be a very challenging day for fuel, energy harvest and braking balance; therefore we’ll gather as much data as we can from practice and qualifying to prepare.”