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

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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/
 
This feels so well set up for the weekend. I really see Lewis doing what he did last year to grab pole!
 
So...any idea why the Mercedes cars were so far off the pace from their P1 form? Were they exclusively doing longer runs on medium tanks using the Primes...or was there something more worrying?
 
Every little helps? Why would Mclaren want to compromise their car to find a small amount of time in the pit stop which would really cost them time.
 
Every little helps? Why would Mclaren want to compromise their car to find a small amount of time in the pit stop which would really cost them time.

You don't think it's worth finding out why a certain car or chassis - in this case Sauber - is much kinder on it's tyres than your own?
 
Much kinder is a bit of an exaggeration, Mclaren have more pressing priorities to worry about, like Vettel.
 
You don't think it's worth finding out why a certain car or chassis - in this case Sauber - is much kinder on it's tyres than your own?

Finding it out and trying to adopt Sauber's way can make their car worse, and can distract them from other developments. But it could be worth finding out, but just after a few sessions, I doubt they will figure it out that quickly.
 
Let's just leave that. There is always a possibility that teams do certain underhanded things to get an advantage, but it really isn't worth speculating on without any evidence. It is quite possible that Mclaren just decided Pedro De La Rosa was better off in a car that isn't really ever going to challenge them this week, rather than sitting around doing nothing. At very least, they have an extra driver who isn't going to be putting up too much fight when being overtaken or lapped.
 
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