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/
 
Well this is dull, first time I've been on here mid-race.

Starting the race under the safety car was farcical, and the other rain safety car was too early. Also why did Lewis stop just before a break in the Armco, and made us endure yet more Safety car misery. Not the first time I've been questioning Charlie Whiting's decision.

CW retired, Vettel is the new race director.
 
DC and MB are coming out with some quality comments lol, e.g.

"Jerome d'Ambrosio, other brands available"
"I think that's a red-shouldered blackbird"
"Looks like Schumacher's backed him into a corner"
"Get your umbrella..ella...ella"

Give them their own show!
 
Webber had the racing line and and Hamilton lunged in from quite some distance back meaning Webber did not see him till the very last second. Webber would therefore not have spun if not for Hamilton and the penalty would've been causing an avoidable accident as Brundle put it. I've seen Hamilton unfairly blamed for a number of incidents but I'm afraid he was fully at fault for this one.
 
jez I agree about Button but that must have been a visibility issue. It was a legitimate overtaking attempt but he pushed Hamilton practically into the wall which under the regs isn't allowed.

He my as you say pushed Lewis to the wall, but because of the problem of visibity, Jenson probably may not have seen him.
 
He my as you say pushed Lewis to the wall, but because of the problem of visibity, Jenson probably may not have seen him.

Yeah agreed (sorry that's what I meant), in normal circumstances that would have been a bit naughty but if you can't see someone, you can't see someone so the conditions should be taken into account.
 
If the conditions were too dangerous to overtake then why was there not a yellow flag? It was a legitimate attempt to overtake, I think Button started moving over probably at the exact point Lewis pulled out to his left so it wasn't malicious or knowing in my opinion - wasn't this his one defensive move? Just so happened it was at the wrong point and Lewis was much much faster.

Lewis was faster than Webber, Schumacher and Button, but he must start to learn a little bit more patience when he is in his attackiing mode.
 
Does anyone know how many overtakes Koba has made and how many of the places he has made up because of people pitting or crashing?
 
Jenson saw Hamilton alright and clearly moved across to cover. I think this would've been ok if they were racing for different teams but when you hear this tacit give your team mate room agreement being bandied around all the time, Jenson's actions must be questioned. Footage clearly showed him looking in his mirrors attentively and moving across to cover. It was as clear as day and DC who is a staunch Jenson looked short for words when Brundle pointed it out to him that Jenson was clearly looking in his mirrors. Add this to the sense of feel drivers get when another car is running close by and Jenson knew full well what he was doing.
 
Quintesssentially.... You could consider the alternative argument... JB knew that he hadn't got a good drive out of the final corner, so he checked his mirrors to see if LH was on his left before moving over to the left hand side of the circuit to take the racing line....
 
I will be extremely angry if Lewis gets penalized for the move, likewise jenson, although I could understand that more.

I do think that it is wrong to say that Jenson DID see Lewis, he may have, he may not have, but from what i saw, Lewis was directly behind him when he checked his mirrors, and as pointed out he followed the normal line.

As an aside, I thought that Lewis handled the questions very well considering the circumstances.
 
Quintesssentially.... You could consider the alternative argument... JB knew that he hadn't got a good drive out of the final corner, so he checked his mirrors to see if LH was on his left before moving over to the left hand side of the circuit to take the racing line....

Jenson got a good drive out of the corner. Hamilton was simply faster at that point (possibly using his kers to get up close) and Jenson would've noticed this from the moment they went into the corner and exited as Hamilton was already very close to him anyway. For me the argument is simple - If Jenson was aiming to retain the racing line and thus not compromise his entry into the ensuing corner then I'd say it's an honest argument. However this would mean he did not see Hamilton almost running alongside him. We now know this was not the case.
 
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