Points and recovery on the minds of Canadians in Russia

The grid is set and the two Canadians in the field are starting 10 positions apart at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Lance Stroll, of the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team, is starting inside the top 10 at P8.

The 22-year-old Montreal native had a slow start to the weekend. He was 2.1 seconds off the top time in FP1 and 1.7 seconds off the pace in FP2, both sessions were in dry conditions.

But rain was in the forecast for Saturday.

Stroll used his comfort in such conditions to get himself into Q3 and ultimately place himself into the eighth spot on the grid, out-qualifying his teammate Sebastien Vettel who starts from P11.

Nice work, Lance. 👊

That's a 1:44.956, putting him P8.#RussianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aH8RPRMMdJ

— Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) September 25, 2021

On the other end, there is Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi, who will start at P18.

Williams Racing showed some pace in today’s wet session, with Latifi’s teammate George Russell qualifying in a lofty P3, though it is expected to be dry for Sunday’s race.

Williams discovered a pneumatic problem overnight and chose to install a fourth power unit on the Montreal native’s car, outside the three allocated to teams for the season, thus incurring a penalty that will force them to the rear.

He will be the third driver on the grid that will be starting from the back due to a component change. This was revealed late in the qualifying session, ending 26-year-old’s shot at a potential first-time appearance in Q3.

It could not have come at a worse time.

With Red Bull and Ferrari taking penalties for Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc respectively, Williams wanted to see how these teams handled the session in order to try and have Latifi start ahead of them. FIA race director Michael Masi was using qualifying placement in order to set the places for those making the power unit change.

We knew we were going to have to take a PU penalty yesterday evening + thus it was never the plan to drive in Q2 if we made it. Quite frustrating when I see the pace we had, as Q3 was both realistic and achievable. Nonetheless another amazing team effort from @WilliamsRacing 👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/sEi2HaqNsG

— Nicholas Latifi (@NicholasLatifi) September 25, 2021

All is not lost, there is potential for a recovery drive from the Canadian.

Luckily for Latifi, the Sochi Autodrom has two Drag Reduction System zones on the long straights creating a decent amount of overtaking potential.

Lando Norris will lead the field from Pole position for the Russian Grand Prix. Race start is set for 3 p.m. MSK/8 a.m. EST.