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/
 
It is not unusual for test drivers to be available to drive for other teams. There will be a number of reserve drivers in the paddock under bilateral agreements existing between various teams. We may not know who is "sub-contracted" to whom but it has been custom and practise for many years.
 
Much kinder is a bit of an exaggeration, Mclaren have more pressing priorities to worry about, like Vettel.

Sauber's one and only tyre stop at Monaco was on Lap 34. Button had already made 2 pitstops by then...and made a 3rd that, basically, cost McLaren a victory and 2nd place...to Vettel and Alonso. How a car manages the Pirellis is crucial this year. Same with the driver. Horner is saying Webber's main problem this year is getting the most out of the Pirellis and that Vettel is doing a much better job. We may not like it, but tyres are a big part of what is deciding this year's winners and losers. McLaren have a lot of engineers and i'm sure some of them wouldn't mind knowing just why the Sauber was able to 1-Stop Australia and 1-Stop in Monaco.
 
It would make sense for teams to have a contingency plan for cases like today. If teams aren't doing what you suggest, then they should be.
 
It would make sense for teams to have a contingency plan for cases like today. If teams aren't doing what you suggest, then they should be.
My guess is that they have this, which is how come Bruno Senna still gets to go all the races. Whether Renault would actually throw him in the car is another matter!
 
Really this is just a screw up by Sauber.
Why is their reserve driver in Mexico and not at the circuit?

Surely a pre-requisite of a reserve driver is actually being able to stand in when required?
 
He must hold a record for being beaten by different teammates in one year. If he was called Bruno Smith he'd have been dropped like a donkey from a spanish church half way through 2010.

You do realise that if we take qualifying as a measure, Bruno Senna was only beaten 5 times by his team-mate all season...

That's actually a mighty good record.....
 
Quite clearly Sauber don't consider their official reserve driver capable of driving in a GP....

And although there had been contact between Sauber and McLaren earlier in the week about de la Rosa being on standby in case Perez had any complications caused by his Monaco GP crash, the final call only came at lunch time on Friday.

Not exactly a vote of confidence in Esteban Gutiérrez, is it?
 
Is it because every time you see him, you want to go
"Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can........"

PS... Sorry, off topic!

It seems to me that none of the teams trust their reserve drivers....

Renault - Kubica gets injured and they re-hire Heidfeld rather than Bruno

Sauber - Calls on de la Rosa rather than Gutierrez...

Maybe it's just that all the teams remember the farce that was Badoer at Ferrari!
 
The fact that Sauber have taken a lot of Mexican sponsors recently with Perez has nothing to do with the fact that Gutierrez is also Mexican. I think not.
 
You do realise that if we take qualifying as a measure, Bruno Senna was only beaten 5 times by his team-mate all season...

That's actually a mighty good record.....

When they include Yammamoto and a Klien who's rustier than Juan Manuel Fangio it looks pretty embarresing to me. He had far more miles under his belt than any of his teammates too.
 
Like to add that, Chandhok only being there for 7 races or so managed to get the teams best finish which was 12th or 14th I think, and he was a midfielder in GP2 unlike B.Senna :thumbsup:
 
Is it because every time you see him, you want to go
"Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spider can........"

PS... Sorry, off topic!

It seems to me that none of the teams trust their reserve drivers....

Renault - Kubica gets injured and they re-hire Heidfeld rather than Bruno

Sauber - Calls on de la Rosa rather than Gutierrez...

Maybe it's just that all the teams remember the farce that was Badoer at Ferrari!

Then is there any point in having reserve drivers? Just on a payroll for no reason...wish I had that life :disappointed:
 
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