Grand Prix 2010 Canadian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So after a break last year while certain "Contract" issues were resolved Canada returns to the calendar, bringing with it everyone's favourite wall. How many drivers will fall foul of it this year we wonder.

The good news for the circuit organisers is that the GP is a sell out which justifies the amount of effort that they put into ensuring that the track would remain a highlight of the season.

As for the teams, it's widely acknowledged that this track should play into the hands of McLaren who, with their F-Duct, should have the advantage when it comes to straight line speed. Red Bull's drivers have agreed to disagree about whose fault it was and its all smiles for the cameras but you can almost guarantee that on the track they will be even more determined. We've seen this situation several times before, Piquet/Mansell and Hamiltion/Alonso for example, where team mates at war have thrown away a clear car advantage and let a third driver in to pinch the championship.

Ferrari will be desperate to recover from a poor Turkish GP while Mercedes will look to continue their recent improvement and finish ahead of the scarlet cars. Schumacher is one of the champions who left a little too much paint on the "wall" and with a Merc' that still doesn't seem to be handling the way he'd like it, will he do it again. Renault will once again be pushing both of them all the way.

In the mid field, Sauber are finally starting to claw there way back towards the front end and now look to be able to compete with Force India while Toro Rosso have shown signs that they can find some speed from their car. Jaime Unspellable recently taking the fastest lap of the race may have been a huge boost and he has shown signs, now that he has had a chance to get more experience behind the wheel that he may be capable of doing a job.

Williams. Oh dear. With Sauber pulling themselves up to the back of Force India it would seem that Williams are now stuck fighting it out with STR for the crumbs from the top table. With that last win for the team looking further and further away and no sign of another any time soon, these are troubled times. That it's been over a decade since JV's title and watching yet another excellent Adrian Newey designed car further down the pit lane must just rub more salt into the wound.

Finally the newbies, Lotus continue their development of the T127 however the recent gains made over the last couple of races are likely to slow again as Mike Gascgoyne insists his team will be concentrating on the development of next years car. The real story among the newbies is the continued improvement of HRT having out-qualified one of the Virgin cars in Turkey. Is this a sign of the chaos surrounding the Virgin team or is this a sign that HRT have made a leap in technical performance since their chaotic début. They must be confident that they have what it takes to improve since they recently severed their links to Dallara and are going it alone when it comes to chassis development. Finally at Virgin, the signs that they are heading the way of Nick Wirth's previous foray into F1 cannot be ignored. With the Virgin brand on the cars it's well known that for Sir Richard, failure is not an option. They need to sort out their woes quickly otherwise it could be back to "Manor" racing next year or something worse.

So that's the state of play, let's hope Canada continues the recent run of great races.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The worst part about Practice today is trying to figure out how I'm going to watch 2 World Cup matches and 2 practice sessions.

Oh dear the terror! ROFL
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Nice one c_a_t.

I'm really looking forward to this race, we might see a change at the top of the leaderboard if McLaren have the advantage that everyone expects them to.

For those who are around for practice, don't forget there will be a bunch of us in Chat as usual, although the times are naturally a bit odd.

I expect as per previous practice sessions, we'll see McLaren at or near the top of the time sheets with Red Bull doing their usual sand-bagging.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Enja said:
The worst part about Practice today is trying to figure out how I'm going to watch 2 World Cup matches and 2 practice sessions.

Oh dear the terror! ROFL

Actually, the time of the sessions has me out of sorts. My ritual "Free Practice breakfast muffins" are not quite the same in the mid-afternoon/early evening!

It will be a bit tricky juggling the World Cup and F1 though. Maybe the opening match, South Africa v Mexico will be a tad boring anyway, making the decision to watch FP1 easy...
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

McZiderRed said:
My ritual "Free Practice breakfast muffins" are not quite the same in the mid-afternoon/early evening!
Free muffins you say?

I'll have 2, freshly buttered and a mug of tea :D
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Brogan said:
Free muffins you say?

I'll have 2, freshly buttered and a mug of tea :D

Oops! Should have worded that better! LOL

Darn & blast! **watches freshly toasted muffins depart** :blink:
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I usually pump for hot cross buns. Actually this morning my toaster (known in the house as the Metallic Sheen of Death) set fire to one of them and lodged the other one inside it's evil bowels.



I think I'll probably watch the football. Don't know whether if I have time to watch PF1 in between the 1st match and FP2... :unsure:

Actually, just figured it out. Plenty of time.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The schedule for Canada works out pretty well for me this weekend. Got a game of birthday rounders to play tomorrow (don't worry, my stipulation was that there was also a corresponding pub-based celebration in the evening) but qualifying should fall into that no-mans land afterwards where all the women are getting ready to go out. Handily, the race isn't until later than normal on Sunday, so I'll have time to work off some of the inevitable hangover.

Oh, and crumpets are my practice/quali toasted product of choice, even though I have to burn my fingers trying to tease them out of a red hot toaster.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Really gutted,

Have to leave for a 3 hour drive down the M1 at 3. Looks like I'm going to miss all the FP and world cup games. Terrible situation!!!!

Ah well, FP on the next tomorrow morning it shall be!!!!

Will have to record the football (Can't see SA beating Mexico)
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Presumably you have no TV at the other end as you'll be in time for the second game and FP2. Also, you must have a radio, you can listen to the opening match on the way, plus they normally give out FP results on radio 5.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Can I recommend investing in a portable digital radio to get 5Live Sports Extra. I have one in my car linked to an FM transmitter and it works pretty well, with reception only dropping out occasionally.

Even better get a DAB radio installed in the car and you can not only enjoy the practice & qualie sessions you get the joy of TMS via digital - fantastic.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Mercedes were 2nd & 4th. Mercedes will be pleased with being close to the McLarens - just have to see if they can keep up the pace all weekend... The RBR's were not fast... at all! I don't think they were carrying extra sand in their side-pods... no doubt we'll see if they "pop up", up front on Saturday or not. :nah:
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

FP2 was a bit of a non event.

Serious tyre graining meant that most people were setting times 5 seconds slower at the end of the session than their first few laps.

Is that going to be an issue for the race?
Are we going to see the top 10 qualifying on super softs only to have to come in after a few laps?
Or will they go for the medium compound?

Either way it looks like 2 stops will be required.

It could be an interesting race on Sunday if the tyres behave as badly as they did today.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

You've got to think that the track will be a bit more rubbered in by Sunday but I think they'll be looking at about 10 laps on the soft tyres which isn't long. The sensible tactic would be to start on harder tyres and use the softies later once there's plenty of rubber down and fuel weight isn't such a problem.

Of course, it's a brave choice because you risk someone (or lots of people) getting the jump on you in qualifying. I really hope we see a split between some of the top drivers when it comes to strategy as that'll make the race far more interesting.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It seems unlikely the track will "rubber in" - looking into my crystal ball, I predict..

mystic-meg-horoscop_384331a.jpg


Rain for Qualifying.





It has absolutely nothing to do with the "High chance of rain on Saturday" forecasts, nothing.
 
Re: 2010 Canadian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Bullfrog said:
The sensible tactic would be to start on harder tyres and use the softies later once there's plenty of rubber down and fuel weight isn't such a problem.

Of course, it's a brave choice because you risk someone (or lots of people) getting the jump on you in qualifying. I really hope we see a split between some of the top drivers when it comes to strategy as that'll make the race far more interesting.
I've been hoping at previous races that some of the drivers in Q3 would try starting on the harder tyres in the hope that they could go longer and possibly get the jump on those starting on softs.
Sadly the 2 different compounds so far this season have been very similar in performance so that wasn't an option.

Canada looks to be the first time this will be a possibility, which is slightly odd as the super soft was used at Bahrain and Monaco (link).

I guess we'll find out in about 8 hours...
 
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