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/
 
The only reason I want Canada to get here quickly is so that I can get that god awful Monaco race out of my mind, If I never have to suffer a race like that again it will be too soon....
Soon you'll have Valencia to look forward to. It's likely to be the same as Monaco without the history and not as pretty to look at. :whistle:
 
Ten-day forecasts are rarely a good indication but for what it's worth most forecasts I've just had a look at point to an unsettled weather period over there with chances of precipitations over the GP week-end... to early to tell of course so we'll see.
 
I think the much-publicised mistakes committed by the team at McLaren this season have somewhat masked something which in my opinion has been of bigger concern: apart from the opening race this season and Hamilton's qualifying excellence, I can't say I have found any indication of particularly impressive race pace from a McLaren this season...
 
The circuit most likely plays into the hands of Mercedes, Lotus, and Sauber. Toro Rosso is also fast in a straight line and could get themselves back in points positions without having to rely on odd strategies. McLaren and Red Bull have low top speeds and like the high downforce turns and there definitely arent any of those here. And none of the tracks actually suit Ferrari, Fernando Alonso just tends to drive his butt off every race. My prediction is Rosberg first, Raikkonen second, and Grosjean third with Kamui right behind in fourth. That would shake up the standings pretty good!
 
A Schumacher or a Raikkonen win will do for me :)

But I think Mercedes will run away with it due to the cold conditions, plus Ferrari are never bad around here since thier car is always an all round one, average top speed, average this average that.

I personally thought Leiws Hamilton would win this race but, since Soccerman's put:
McLaren and Red Bull have low top speeds and like the high downforce turns and there definitely arent any of those here.
I'm not quite sure :thinking:

Hopefully the track will deliver a great race, 99.99999% of the time, it does.
 
Is Canada cold in June? The average tempreture in Montreal that month is 17 and the usual high is 24. I know I'm a Brit but I don't think its coat weather and don't think it can have been much hotter than 24 in Monaco or Spain could it?
 
Yes the McLaren's race pace has been poor this year, as was mentioned on another thread Lewis has gone backwards from his starting position at every race this year except for Spain and that only because he was dropped to the back of the grid.

If you look at the lap times this season McLaren are doing very poorly indeed at Bahrain for instance Lewis's fastest lap was 1.354 seconds slower than the fastest lap set by Vettel, and in Spain he was more than 2.6 seconds slower than the fastest lap It's shocking isn't it and going by these figures I can't see them winning in Canada but I expect them to sort this issue out though...
 
Mephistopheles - The major reason Hamilton has gone backwards in every race is because he has qualified better than he has raced, which was a common theme when McLaren were frontrunning in 2007-08 as well.
 
I was just trying to illustrate how poor the McLarens race pace has been this year not have a go at Lewis.

I say this just in case anyone thought that was my intent...
 
Okay but I still think there is a definite downward trend in McLaren's race pace since Australia here is a table showing McLaren's lap times against the fastest race lap time so far this year in case anyone is interested.

VenueFastest LapHamilton's LapButton's Lap
Australia1'29.187 (Button)1'29.538 (+0.351)NA
Malaysia1'40.721 (Raikkonen)1'41.539 (+0.817)1'42.100 (+1.378)
China1.39.960 (Kobayashi)1'40.530 (+0.570)1'40.422 (+0.462)
Bahrain1'36.379 (Vettel)1'37.733 (+1.354)1'38.046 (+1.667)
Spain1'26.250 (Grosjean)1'28.918 (+2.668)1'28.624 (+2.374)
Monaco1'17.296 (Perez)1'18.806 (+1.510)1'19.923 (+2.627)
Interesting that only two drivers have set the fastest laps and have won a race this year them being Vettel and Button
 
If it's that cold then Lotus will struggle, we saw in Monaco how Raikkonen's pace was with the front runners until the clouds came over with the threat of rain temperature dropping, and that's when Alonso and Schumacher's pace started to pick up, and those both cars work well when the temperature drops. While Hamilton's pace dropped when the track changed a few degrees.

This really must frustrate teams, especially teams like Lotus, where their car excels in hot weather, but every other given time it's just "meh", reminds me a bit of the Ferrari in 2008.
 
I have been looking at the lap times and it seems to me that when a team gets it right they are simply miles faster in race trim than anyone else which is the reason we have so many different race winners these tyres just seem to be far to sensitive to track conditions and either car set up or chassis types...

Surely it would be better for them not to be so knife edge? But maybe eventually the teams will get to grips with them..
 
Last year, the pole time for Canada was quicker than Monaco, but the Mercedes double DRS should help them here, a lot. Schumi to win (famous last words)
 
I think a bit too much is being made of the importance of straight line speed on that long straight. Vettel still grabbed pole last year despite the Red Bull traditionally recording some of the lowest top-speeds.
Sure Mercedes should have an overtaking advantage, but the right set-up and grip levels on the low speed sections should still be where the lap-times will be coming from.
 
Talking of the Mercedes 'double DRS', does anyone know if any of the other teams have developed their own versions yet, or aren't they bothering?
 
I know that Sauber have ruled it out as too expensive and that Lotus are considering it also there are reports that Ferrari are close to running it, but that's all I know...
 
Back
Top Bottom