Abiteboul is looking for Renault to close the gap

The Enstone team scored points with an eighth-position finish thanks to a strong and determined drive for Nico Hülkenberg at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Ever hungry for more, Hülkenberg had been chasing down Kimi Räikkönen’s Ferrari for seventh position in the final laps and finished just 1.7 seconds adrift at the chequered flag. Enstone team-mate Jolyon Palmer drove in equally determined fashion to finish just one second shy of the points in 11th.

Abiteboul said: “We had a good race in Montreal, the results were positive and we’re happy to be resuming our series of points finishes after a frustrating retirement in Monaco.

“The race allowed us to reduce the deficit between us and Williams, as we are aiming for sixth in the constructors’ championship before the mid-season break. The priority moving forward is for Jolyon to qualify higher in order to get a shot at winning some points and contribute to the team’s effort to gain ground.”

Hülkenberg said: “The race was quite positive for us overall. Everything was running pretty smoothly although the wind was crazy at times; blowing the car from left to right on the straight!

“Obviously we were helped by some DNF’s but nevertheless I found myself in eighth place and four nice points isn’t bad given this was a track where we were a bit worried on how good we were going to be.”

Palmer added: “We finished within touching distance of points again. That is very frustrating but the race was much better, we just need to keep working hard.”