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/
 
Hardly any running for Jenson in either sesson his fortunes do not seem to be improving do they...?

A good reason why they should have a T car I think...
 
Hence my edit - if he doesn't revert to his original gearbox then it will be a 5 place drop.

I presume they're trying to rule out the cause of any issues, but he didn't exactly get many laps with the new gearbox to rule it out one way or the other.
 
It was a seal first, then a change of gearbox.

Apparently there's a fierce storm over the circuit now, with monsoon type winds and rain.
 
We will never have another four hour race as it is against the rules and because the drivers are not allowed to race if it is a bit slippy there won't be a Canadian grand prix...
 
It's going to be dry on Sunday (according to Jos the Boss)

I'm excited for the dry (although rain is always fun) because I want to see what pace the Ferrari is actually picking up. From practice results they are looking set for a nice weekend. McLaren looks fast (as usual), but I think their race pace will falter. Ferrari 1-2?
 
Looks like another close qualifying/race - 0.7s covering top 13 cars.

Soft (Prime) tyre looks pretty good, too; Raikonen (FP1), Rosberg, Hamilton (FP2) all did 20 laps uninterrupted with no drop off in time
 
F1 Shift.net I wouldn't rule out the Mercs either. They had an understated practice, focussing on race pace, and their DDRS will work well in qualifying.
 
The organizers of the track, at least gave some consideration to make holes in the walls that border the circuit, for those errant critters who may wander across the track......:thumbsup:

 
mjo It's hard for me to pick the Mercs because one week they will take a step forward and win (like China), but the next week take two steps back and be out of the top 5. But I agree the Double DRS could work magic for them in Qualy.
 
HRT may have taken a step forward with De La Rosa being ahead of the Marussias in both Practice sessions and being fastest of all cars through the speed trap in Practice 2.
 
Lots of bites being taken out of Bruno Senna at the moment. I say give him time. Ayrton always spoke very highly of him, but hey, what would he know. :snigger:
 
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