Having opted to start the race on intermediate tyres, owing to the damp track, both drivers pitted early and had to climb their way back into contention for the points: the pursuit was ultimately unsuccessful, but there remain positives to take from the weekend, such as a relatively trouble-free event from a reliability point-of-view.
With five races now under the belt, the team prepare to head to Europe, with the Monaco Grand Prix, taking place on the first weekend of June, an opportunity to maximise to return to the points.
Earlier in the day, F1 Academy driver, Emma Felbermayr, charged from fourth on the grid to secure a well-earned second place. Showing strong pace throughout the race, she executed a series of confident overtakes, managing the challenging weather conditions on the way to the podium. The results cements her second place in the standings after two rounds.

Allan McNish, Racing Director: "Overall, the race was heavily influenced by the weather conditions and the tyre decisions at the start. It was a finely balanced call between compounds, and while we opted for the intermediate tyre, based on the information available at the time, in hindsightthe delayed start ultimately meant it was not the ideal strategy.
"From that point onwards, it was always going to be difficult to recover track position, and we ultimately finished P12 and P13. While there are some positives to take from the weekend in terms of reliability and completing every session cleanly, there is still work to do to convert our pace into stronger race results.
"That said, we do leave Montreal feeling that we've taken a step forward compared to Miami, particularly in terms of consistency and overall execution across the weekend. It was also great to see Emma secure a strong P2 finish in F1 Academy earlier in the day – another encouraging result that further highlights her continued development."
Nico Hulkenberg (Car 27):
Race result: 12th
Fastest lap: 1:16.275 (Lap 57)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Inter) - Lap 2 (New Soft) - Lap 20 (Used Medium)
"It was a challenging race for us. Looking back, the conditions at the start evolved differently from what we expected: it was a risk worth taking with what we knew at the time, but in the end the opening phase didn't really play out in our favour and that put us on the back foot quite early.
"Even after that, we didn't quite have the pace to recover in the way we wanted. Others around us managed to move forward more quickly, so there are definitely things for us to understand and improve there as well.
"Overall, it's been a demanding weekend with a lot to review. We'll go through everything carefully, take the lessons from it and move on to Monaco!"
Gabriel Bortoleto (Car 5)
Race result: 13th
Fastest lap: 1:16.221 (Lap 50)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Inter) - Lap 2 (New Soft) - Lap 18 (Used Medium)
"It's been a long race for us. We started on the intermediate tyres because we felt it could pay off, but the rain stopped pretty quickly and that ended up putting us on the back foot. The extra stop dropped us out of contention, and from there it became a race in free air, mainly focused on managing our own pace. Still, as a positive to take from today, we brought both cars home and collected important data for the team. It's obviously a bit disappointing because with a clean weekend and a straightforward race, I think points could have been possible today, but that's racing sometimes. Now, the focus shifts to Monaco."
