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/
 
I don't think he left the pits with it open, we just saw a replay and then him in the pits. They closed it the first time.

As for the fail-safe, that only applies to the electrics, if the mechanism was jammed open, possibly with rubber, the fail-safe would not work.
 
I have to say my opinion on DRS has somewhat changed after this race. I think at circuits such as Canada they just simply shouldn't have a DRS zone. Because it was so easy to pass with the DRS it meant that I don't think I saw a single overtaking move at any other point on the track. So all drivers didn't risk a move anywhere else because they knew it would be so easy in the DRS zone.

Having easy overtakes due to the DRS is one thing but then having little to no overtaking at any other point on the track is a whole new equation that I think needs looking at very seriously.
 
Another thing, looking ahead, I am really excited about Silverstone this year as we have a realistic chance of a British winner again. In the past few years McLaren haven't really been strong in high speed corners and Red Bull have dominated Silverstone. This year, so long as McLaren keep up with development, they should theoretically be favourites as they were fastest at Barcelona (in qualifying at least). They have self-confessed that their car is best suited to mid-high speed corners requiring aerodynamic efficiency, so I expect them to be very strong in Valencia sector 3 and at Silverstone, Spa, Suzuka, etc!
 
Grosjean went past Alonso before the DRS zone. Rosberg made some non-DRS overtakes, too. I'm not sure if I was impressed or disappointed that Vettel made no effort to defend against Hamilton. It would ultimately have been fruitless but I don't think Lewis or Alonso would have made it so easy - in fact, Alonso didn't.
 
A hearty "well done chaps" to Lewis and McLaren... a solid race, and some "rubbing his hands together moments" when he realized his car was 2-4 seconds faster than everyone in front of him in the last dozen laps... how much fun that is for an F1 driver we will never know... but we can only guess...
 
ExtremeNinja Alonso did let Vettel past into the hairpin though. Also I'm pretty sure Vettel pitted on the same lap that Hamilton overtook him so trying to defend against him could have created a dangerous situation at the end of that straight so he did the smart thing imo.
 
Lewis Hamilton did an amazing job and took a deserved win. McLaren finally got it together and assisted properly. Button is the other side of the coin, is he really having a hard time with the tires? or is something else. Ferrari rolled the dice and lost a handful of points, probably they won't be gambling again in a long time, but is nice to see they learned from 2010.
 
I think the first stop was Hamilton's problem as the anti-stall kicked in - probably not enough revs.

The second problem was a rear wheel once again.
I thought McLaren had switched to the same design as Mercedes with the nut affixed to the wheel?
 
ExtremeNinja - Alonso and Ferrari are looking ominous in my book right now... they appear to have their car comfortably up with RBR and McLaren... and obviously still have not figured it out properly... to me, Alonso is consistently the best driver in the field...
 
Chad Stewarthill Pastor Maldonado!:snigger: in all seriousness though Hamilton or Vettel will win Valencia they're the fastest in qualifying unless Mercedes use double DRS to get another pole and I think we all know Valencia is usually won on Saturday.
 
To avoid spoilers, I haven't read this thread.
I just wanted to share that I finally have the time today to watch F1 Canadian GP race.
Boy it's a hot day, all the long shots are wavy/blurry.
Some great pit stops, it's amazing to see some of these tricks, hold ups, and pit stops.
Interesting to see as well how the extra soft vs new soft tires are holding up (or not! I am at lap 26).
Okay, break time is over, back to the recording. (from sky sports hd btw)
 
I will say I think the DRS to was too easy in Canada, however this was made to look worse by with the fact that much of the passing we saw was on cars that were on old tyres and had very poor track out of the hairpin. I'd like to see the DRS zone limited to the pit straight next year or perhaps into the third chicane.
 
Back
Top Bottom