Grand Prix 2012 Canadian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Going into the 7th race of the season we are now hitting new territory as far as different race winners are concerned as for the first time in history 6 different drivers have won the first 6 races with 5 different constructors as Red Bull are the only team to have had more than one driver win a race with victories in Bahrain and Monaco, the way things are going there could easily be 10 winners from 10 races with people like Hamilton, Raikkonen, Grosjean and Schumacher yet to win this season, and with Canada pretty much being Hamilton's best track, it could easily be 7 winners from 7 even though McLaren have been floundering in recent weeks.

Despite this downturn in form, Lewis Hamilton lies just 13 points off Fernando Alonso who no-one would have predicted to have been leading the championship after 6 races going into the opening race where Ferrari had a car which struggled to even get near the top 10 let alone fight for wins and podiums, but improvements with the car allied with supreme driving and consistency from Alonso has seen him top the table from Vettel who's clever strategy in Monaco nearly get him onto the podium despite starting from 10th on the grid.

While Ferrari have made the biggest improvements (even Massa has been better, even though one race a season does not make) it seems McLaren have surprisingly made the biggest backwards step. In Melbourne they had the quickest car and they romped to a comfortable 1-2 and many wondered if they were going to have a Red Bull type domination season, but Button hasn't won since that race and Hamilton hasn't won at all even though he has 3 pole positions so far (2 if you discount the one in Spain) but while Hamilton has made the best of a bad job on the Sunday it has gone even worse for Button who is struggling to even make the points and his performances are a shadow of his 2011 form. Hamilton has improved considerably but surely the pit stop problems and other issues will be getting to him if it costs him a shot at the title, it'll be 5 years since he won the title if the 2012 title slips away and with contracts soon to be under negotiation it could play a part in what he decides to do.

If the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix is even half as good as the 2011 race we are in for a treat, I dont think there will be a race like the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix ever again and ranks up there as one of the best I have ever watched and the 4 hour marathon was certainly worth the 2 hour rain delay in the middle. But even in the dry Canada serves up great racing with recent years being a testament to that and with the unpredictable nature of 2012 so far this seasons race will not be an exception and while overtakes in Monaco were only just in the teens, there could be nearly 10 times that in Montreal. Some say that this seasons unpredictability can be a bad thing, but really, it's so much better than the Schumacher years of the early 2000s and even better than 2011 as while there was very exciting racing in 2011, for a lot of races so far this year that action has been extended to the very front as well which is where the casual viewer could determine the entertainment value of a certain race.

For Galahad 's superb circuit write up - http://cliptheapex.com/pages/circuit-gilles-villeneuve/
 
Should they really have taken the gamble, whats wrong with 2nd and 3rd? Gambling means risks equals potential to screw it all up
 
Brilliant race, very entertaining.

Hamilton was brilliant all weekend, didn't put a foot wrong, he deserved the win. Grosjean and Perez were both excellent and lucky, the only reason that their one stoppers worked was because they switched from their Super Softs to the Softs considerably later than Alonso and Vettel, still Perez was blisteringly fast. Not too bad for Vettel with a solid 4th place. Alonso was very lucky to get 5th, another lap and I think he would have been 8th. A dissapointing day for di Resta outside of the points in 11th. What do I even say about Button? His team-mate lapped him on merit and has almost twice as many points, his title challenge is over in my opinion...

As much as I'd like to say it I still can't look forward to Valencia...
 
I am not sure how Ferrari threw away a win here, they got Alonso out on track who was unable to keep Lewis behind

Alonso was not going to win this race and so his team took the only option available to grab the win, it didn't work

end of

LH leads the WC, he has been the best driver all season despite his teams errors

Ferrari for me have been the best team for providing Alonso the support that saw him top the table despite not having the best car
 
Grosjean and Perez were both excellent, period. Both drivers posted blistering lap times in the latter stages of the race and their sides of their team garages were better strategy-wise than Red Bull and Ferrari. Top three steps of the podium were raced for and achieved on merit.

There was no safety car, inclement weather or bizarre characters walking onto the track to protest against seal culling, glacial melt or excessive global worming by anglers. Just how many races have we had this year where "luck" has had so little to do with the results?
 
Just how many races have we had this year where "luck" has had so little to do with the results?

We could say this is the race were the natural talent has shone without distortion from weather, SCs, etc. The tyres and conditions and regulations have been the same for everyone, they have had 6 races to prepare, there have been no acts of God to affect the competition today

and there can be only one winner which there was

this is F1 racing at its best
 
I dont understand why Vettel and Alonso pitted during the window for a 2 stopper yet didnt follow it through? Did they not think how bad their tyres were going to be at the end?
 
Off topic posts have been moved to the Lewis vs Jenson thread.

A new thread has been created Speed v Strategy for the other strategy discussions.

Can we please keep this thread on topic, Thank you.
 
It was a rare occurance. A proper race not influenced by weather, safety cars or steward decisions, the outcome determined by strategy and good driving.
I thought it showed people in their best light.
McLaren got the strategy right for once, Lewis was absolutely solid & at his best as he 'pushed' most of the race & didn't have to sit nursing tyres.
Red Bull did the sensible thing, they took a gamble but when it wasn't working they thought on their feet & salvaged a decent result.
Romain & Sergio asserted their positions as real contenders (for the future if not right now) & shows just what a strong field of drivers we have right now.
Hats off to Ferrari in my opinion for not playing it safe & trying a risk, risk is what formula one is about. Massive respect to Fernando for keeping going for 50 laps on one set of tyres & still finishing 5th.
There were some not so good performances. Jenson...oh dear, what can be said??? Hardly looked like a world champion.
Did anyone find out if it was mechanical problems or just a bad day at the office?
Never thought I'd say this but poor Michael, & how dangerous was that DRS. Surely they should never have sent him out at the pit stop with it open :o

So here's to the next exciting race...Silverstone perhaps??!
 
Was the issue with the DRS in Canada the fact that it was coming out of the hairpin so a very slow corner. The cars are then still accelerating into the opening zone and the one with the DRS open has an even bigger advantage? Perhaps better on the back straight next year so they have to brake into the hairpin to pass?
 
Activating the rear wing outside the DRS zone is against the rules so I'm still confused as to why Mercedes thought they were OK to send him out after his pit stop.

Not to mention the safety aspect.
 
I thought the regs also state that the drs must fail in the closed position? It will be interesting to see if there are any further repurcusions.
 
I dont understand why Vettel and Alonso pitted during the window for a 2 stopper yet didnt follow it through? Did they not think how bad their tyres were going to be at the end?


Probably not. Hamilton gave them the hurry up and Redbull in particular probably pitted earlier than they would've liked.

Despite him sliding around like ice skates, you've got to hand it to Alonso. Anybody else would've tumbled down the grid and out of the points. We saw what happened to Kimi a few races ago. I still think Ferrari were a bit greedy but I guess they got to where they are thanks to these high risk strategies.
 
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