Grand Prix 2011 Canadian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Thought this might be useful if you wanted to sing along to the Canadian National Anthem before the start of the race.

Anyway, on to the Grand Prix, after all that’s what we’re here for. Last year Bridgestone provided tyres, which didn’t like the surface at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve too much, and the powers that be in F1 thought “ah, ha here’s an idea to spice up the racing. Why don’t we ask those blokes at Pirelli if they can make sets of boots for F1 cars that fall apart on the warm up lap”, and they did.

In 2010 Hamilton put his car on pole (you may recall him pushing his car back to the pits, so light was it on fuel) and then went on to win an exciting race with teammate Jenson Button standing on the 2nd step.

So what for Canada 2011? Red Bull, at least car No.1, has been a tad difficult to beat but McLaren and Ferrari are getting closer during the race. With 5 wins out of 6 races Vettel has a healthy lead in the Championship and some bookmakers are already paying out on the title being his. Vettel was 3rd on the grid last year, behind teammate Webber, and finished 4th with unspecified gearbox problems, still ahead of Webber who had led for many laps but got caught out by the high tyre wear rate.

Fernando Alonso was 3rd last time out in Canada after getting mugged by a hard charging Jenson Button. Mercedes had a mixed race, Rosberg was “best of the rest” behind the McLaren’s, Alonso’s Ferrari and the Red Bull’s whilst Michael Schumacher treated the race like a destruction derby, straight lining chicanes and bouncing off other cars with gay abandon. What of Felipe Massa I hear you ask; well, he was one of Schumacher’s victims and lost time pitting for a new nose cone.

This is very nearly the last Hurrah for the exhaust blown diffuser and we have two, yes 2, DRS zones. So expect cars breezing past another before and after the pits, when they’re not in their getting new tyres of course.

Will it be another Red Bull walk over or can the McLaren’s and Ferrari’s tame the charging Bull? How will the Pirelli tyres hold up dusty and bumpy Ille Notre-Dame Circuit? Will it rain? Who will win? Can one of the minor teams struggle up into the points? I don’t know but I get the feeling there will be lots of speculation.

And we have our own track side reporter this year - take a bow Ray in Toronto and make sure you post some good photos

For Galahad’s excellent circuit write up, track history and all the stats a boy or girl could want click here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/circuit-gilles-villeneuve/
 
Last year we saw a ridiculous 65 overtakes.

If you take the average multiplier from 2010 to 2011 of the 4 dry/dry circuits so far, you would hence get 350 overtakes at this year's race!

I think that's unlikely but we're probably looking at triple figures, depending on circumstance!
 
Just looked at Tea Bag's stats and seen that Lewis has been on pole every race here! Didn't know that. I think the odd's looked stacked against it for this year though with the Red Bull being how it is.

I think Red Bull focus on quali a bit too much sometimes - who knows maybe they've been listening to Ray too much :p - In race pace the Mclaren's should have them here. Obviously they'll still come in just behind the Renaults though :whistle:

Hopefully Canada will have got a bigger more visable traffic light system at the end of the pit lane to stop any further victims to that little quirk its current victims being Montoya, Massa, Fisichella, Hamilton and Rosberg.
 
Yes, Lewis Hamilton's average grid position for this Grand Prix is 1.

Pole is not nearly as critical at Montreal as it is in Monaco. With two DRS zones in play, all you need is a car with race-winning pace. McLaren have that race-winning pace right now and Hamilton can concentrate on being on the Front Row or, at worst, Row Two. Unlike Monaco, you can legitimately pull off over-takes here. Saving tyres in Q1/Q2/Q3 will be more important in Canada than it was in Monaco because in Monaco you were in the pound seats if you had track position and tyres were superceeded in importance by Pole/Track Position.

RBR have been sitting ducks on Starting Grids (China, Spain, Monaco)...Inititally because of KERS v McLaren's best-in-class KERS Hybrid and now because of Ferrari's interesting 'New' Clutch after Turkey (which paid dividends for Alonso in Spain and Alonso/Massa in Monaco). So, even if Vettel gets Pole in Montreal, he'll still be an easier target off the line and in the race than he was in the MUCH TIGHTER confines of Monte Carlo.

It's Hamilton's race to lose, frankly. Alonso and Button will be a bigger threat than the mighty Vettel IMO.
 
Really looking forward to this one more than any of the other races left on the calendar.

With the new rules and reg's this one has the makings of a classic.

Can't wait for this one wish it was on this weekend!
 
Admin hat on.

This thread is already riddled with off topic posts and has been heavily pruned with one third of the posts having been deleted.
This is despite repeated requests not to do so, including this thread http://cliptheapex.com/threads/off-topic-posts-and-other-issues.2818/, which we hoped would make people aware of how serious we take this site.

We all like a laugh, but the main discussion forums are intended to be for semi-serious debate, not random chats about facial hair, Star Wars, or any of the other nonsense which has been posted lately.
There are other sections of the site where you can let your hair down and have fun.

Anyone who repeatedly ignores polite requests to abide by the rules will have action taken against their accounts.
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Admin hat off.

Carry on :)
 
Hey, don't blame me it was just a cut and paste ;) Ray? Guidance from a native?

Tsk, vous êtes au Québec maintenant, hein?

Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

Note the completely different lyrics and overtly religio-marshal tone. Colis de tabarnak!

(I'll put money on the swear filters not catching that one....)
 
Not sure if it has already been mentioned or not, but are the softs and super softs the right choice for Canada?
We saw what happened last year and that was without Pirelli's marshmallow compound.

Granted they lasted longer than expected in Monaco, but the average speed is a lot higher here so there will be significantly more energy going through the tyres.

Couple that with the surface and the well known issues it has, and it could result in very short stints on the super softs.
 
Not sure if it has already been mentioned or not, but are the softs and super softs the right choice for Canada?

I think the problem is one of getting tyres into their operating temperature range. Track temperatures are usually low, and there isn't much lateral energy going through the tyres - it's more about braking and acceleration than long fast curves. The softer tyres are easier to heat up, and keep warm.
 
Why are Pirreli taking softs and supersofts?

Is this the good ole Ferrari International Assistance at work?

They're just trying to help Mr Alonso avoid the scenery. The St Lawrence is pretty cool at this time of year.

I reckon Hamilton HAS to win this one and Alonso MUST do well. They both need better results to boost their morale. It is worse for Alonso because he is fast running out of time...
 
They're just trying to help Mr Alonso avoid the scenery. The St Lawrence is pretty cool at this time of year.

I reckon Hamilton HAS to win this one and Alonso MUST do well. They both need better results to boost their morale. It is worse for Alonso because he is fast running out of time...

And what is this FIA favouring Alonso incrimination based upon?
 
That's the key Galahad, it's the hard acceleration out of the slow corners that will cause the most problems so mechanical grip, driver input and downforce will be key.

Because the circuit is predominately made up of slow and medium speed corners, interspersed with long straights the compound goes through very unnatural heat cycles and the chemical reactions that take place aren't seen anywhere else on the calendar.

The tyres will constantly go through a cycle of very heavy loading in the braking zones, followed by hard acceleration and a prolonged period of light loading on the long straights. This tends to overheat and work the compound for very short periods, followed by sustained periods of cooling down before the next heavy braking zone.

This is something the tyres in general aren't normally asked to go through as all other circuits (with the exception of Monza) offer a more constant set of loading parameters.

Pirelli IMO have gone for soft and supersoft as we know these tyres can loose core temperature very quickly and this heat and grip is required instantly when braking into the hairpin before the back straight for example.
 
I really like the selected options it will make the race affair more strategic, the Supersofts will degrade quickly while the Softs will be a little more resistant to degradation. I wonder if anyone will be brave in qualie to save some supersofts (1 or 2) in order to give a better chance of track position.........I will also say a 4 stopper is the likely route.
 
This thread is already riddled with off topic posts and has been heavily pruned with one third of the posts having been deleted...
We all like a laugh, but the main discussion forums are intended to be for semi-serious debate, not random chats about facial hair, Star Wars, or any of the other nonsense which has been posted lately.
There are other sections of the site where you can let your hair down and have fun.
Anyone who repeatedly ignores polite requests to abide by the rules will have action taken against their accounts..
Damn! Looks like I missed all the fun!
 
2011 style Formula One goes to its birthplace next weekend, thats for sure. It was Canada which forced the Formula into its current direction!
 
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