Grand Prix 2013 Canadian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The Grand Prix du Canada has been part of the F1 calendar since 1967. First hosted alternatively between at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario (not far from Toronto) and Mont-Tremblant (sky paradise in Quebec) between 1967 and 1977 and then moved permanently to Montreal from 1978 onward. Among the races that took place in the early 70s, one of the most memorable has to be the Canadian Grand Prix in 1973, probably one of the craziest races of the 20th century; to this day the rightful winner is still in dispute. You can read an account of that eventful race here: http://8w.forix.com/cdn73.html.

Originally called Ile Notre Dame Circuit, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve debuted in the F1 calendar in 1978 and the Richelieu native of course took the honors and became its first winner (and to date only Canadian). Even though the track looked somehow unexciting compared to those of Mosport and Mont-Tremblant, it has nevertheless delivered some very exciting races.The 1991 race no doubt a memorable one for Piquet and Nigel Mansell. The British driver dominated the race and was so far ahead that he thought he would wave to the crowd to thank the support, only for his Williams’ to stall. His nemesis Piquet went through to win (his last career race by the way). Piquet was for sure excited as he reported after the race ended:

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In 1994, following the deaths of Ronald Ratzemberger, the Ayrton Senna at the Imola race track, the Droit du Casino curve was turned into a chicane. Michael Schumacher would win there for the first (but not last) time. He would go on to win 7 times there. However his dominance was interrupted in 1995 when Jean Alesi won, his one and only Grand Prix victory. It was a truly popular win, held the day of his 31st birthday sporting the number 27 on his Ferrari. It was so popular that mechanics from all teams came to congratulate him. A rare sight in modern F1 racing:

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And who can’t forget 2007, when a young Lewis Hamilton clinched his first F1 victory. However it was almost eclipsed by Takuma Sato’s probably best drive to date. Fighting and overtaking cars left and right and finishing 6th after a pit stop error. That was the same year when Robert Kubica had his horrific accident but walked away after. Unfortunately he wouldn't be so lucky in 2011 when he almost lost his life rally-racing. Some highlights of the race

After the hiatus that the race took in 2009, it came back in 2010 and it will continue for the foreseeable future to the benefit of Canadians and foreigners alike. This is the event the motorsport world looks up to Canada for some serious entertainment and this year promises to deliver an exciting race as we haven’t seen a clear pattern in terms of a dominating driver or team. Having said that, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull continue to be the ones to beat at the end of the day and they have slowly but surely affirm themselves on the top spots as it seems there’s no clear challenger among the other drivers or teams.

 

[Il_leone]

Incubus
I remember Alesi's car went smack into Nannini's car

 

[Lewywo4]

It was not a yellow flag. It was yellow and red striped on the display. Go and watch the video in HD...

The Artist.....your post #255 is correct, and reasonably addresses the problem regarding a flashing yellow light, and not a highly visible red light flashing at the same time........... Charlie just needs to have brighter red lights installed, to answer this problem and end this confusion.

 

[Slyboogy]

Quite an uninspiring race, having been told by a friend who's a casual viewer and another fanatic that this was a 'cracking race' I was revving up for it.

Turns out it was one of the worst of the season.

Think qualifying contributed to that massively, with the rain getting heavier and no one improving on their times, meaning that drivers where out of position, leaving Vettel unchallenged.

Vettel drove lights to flag, no trouble at all, you could say he 'lucked' into pole, possibly did, but the car seems to run well in the rain compared to the Ferrari and Lotus. He's pulled away quite a bit from his nearest contender, along with pulling away from Alonso. Fortunately, history has shown, Vettel struggles in the middle part of the season, and with no misfortunes coming his way recently, we still can have some hope.

Alonso was out of position, seemed to play the long game as he took his time to pass the cars infront. Second was the best he was going to get, damage limitation for him, and moves into second for the championship.

Hamilton drove well, hung on to second for a long time, but he wasn't going to kep Alonso behind him for long.

Webber was 'meh' as usual, hampered by the incident with Van der Garde.

Rosberg seemed to be hampered strategy, as he was on the option tyres on both of the first stints. Wasn't a great race from him, but points are points, and it puts Mercedes ahead of Lotus in the constructors.

I didn't see Vergne throughout the race, qualified well and did a good one stop strategy, and didnt inherit any places, just pure pace. Best result for the team in a while, the teams pulling away from Sauber and Williams, but Force India and McLaren look a little too far, their car is looking good,

The best strategy of day goes to Force India and di Resta, starting on the mediums and doing 50+ laps on them to execute a great one stop strategy, started from 17th and finished 7th without any mishaps in front of him. He'll still find a way to moan about it, but good effort and the teams pulling away from McLaren.

Massa provided some excitement, 8th isn't a great result though, seemed racy and with good speed,

Problems for Raikkonen right from the start, first with qualifying then the penalty, and so on. A weekend to forget, if he doesn't win anytime soon, he'll be out of the championship, already is in my opinion.

Sutil get a point after having an eventful race, should have finished much higher, didn't seem to happy with the drive through penalty, at least he got a point for all his efforts.

Seasons hit a bit of a low for me, the fields not close, there's a bit of a spread, Ferrari and Lotus seemed to have lost thier way a bit, championships looking a bit weak at the moment.

Sad to hear about the Marshall, just unfortunate all the way round, can't blame anyone in my opinion.

 

[downforce]

Out of interest does anyone have the autosport ratings for the drivers, it won't let me on for some reason despite being subscribed.

 

[Dario Resta]

I thought the race was awful, and a marshal being killed made it tragically awful. I know it was an accident, but if they can crane cars away at Monaco without bringing those things onto the track then they can at Montreal. Brundle's words about them giving him the shivers turned out to be quite prophetic unfortunately.

 

[Tacitus]

Slyboogy Nice review, Totally agree with it.

 

[Mephistopheles]

More marshals and spectators have been killed in F1 than drivers, three marshals have died to my knowledge since the death of Senna, one in Monza, one in Australia and the latest one in Canada, if three drivers had died in that time there would be outrage and calls for action to be taken to stop it happening....

 

[Olivier]

Mark Robinson is the name of the marshall that unfortunately died. For him f1 was much more than a hobby, it was his passion; almost like a 'religion'

RIP

http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/friends-...at-grand-prix-as-a-major-racing-fan-1.1319544

 

[KekeTheKing]

Meph - The only way to completely eradicate freak accidents would be to refrain from physical activity altogether. Hundreds of people die every day in completely avoidable, incredibly unfortunate accidents that go largely unnoticed by society. All the outrage in the world will not bring these people back, nor will it prevent the next freak fatality. Aside from discontinuing Motorsport altogether, you will never be able to ensure complete safety to anyone at a racing circuit.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I watched the marshals running towards the stricken car they seemed completely disorganized and off balance the CAT was steaming in and the marshals were in the line of fire, I'm not saying that it can be made completely safe but the problem is that these people are volunteers they don't get paid and I am willing to bet that they do not get the necessary training to do the job safely, this particular marshal turns up once a year because he loves the sport, how many days training did he get for the rest of the year?

How often have we seen a marshal run onto the track to kick a piece of debri to the side of the road? Does that seem like professional behaviour to any one of you..? Because it sure doesn't seem like it to me....

 

[F1Yorkshire]

What requirements are needed for someone to become a marshal? Are there certain FIA standards or is it down to the individual circuit? I know the standard of marshalling in Britain is very high due to the large range of Motorsport we have in the uk, possibly only the Monaco marshals are better.. Our marshals are used in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi plus possibly other countries.

For the likes of Korea, Singapore & other new countries to f1 with minimal Motorsport heritage how much training does a marshal actually get? Are they given a days training, shown how to use the extinguishers and flags and then issued a pass?

 

[Brogan]

I watched the marshals running towards the stricken car they seemed completely disorganized and off balance the CAT was steaming in and the marshals were in the line of fire

That's not when the accident happened though.
It happened when they were calmly escorting the car back to the pits; if the marshal hadn't dropped the radio in front of the vehicle and then subsequently tried to retrieve it whilst the vehicle was still moving, he would still be alive.

How often have we seen a marshal run onto the track to kick a piece of debri to the side of the road? Does that seem like professional behaviour to any one of you..? Because it sure doesn't seem like it to me....

That is just part of a marshal's job
Would you prefer they red flag the race and wait until all of the cars are stationary before removing any debris?

 

[MCLS]

Unfortunately things like this happen, even with the safest equipment available there are always going to be accidents, even with the best training no-one is perfect, it's sad to see but occasionally things do happen

 

[Road of Bones]

I seem to remember a foolhardy marshall trying to remove some debris during the wet race in 2011, and nearly falling over on track as Massa(?) bore down on him...
At our steelworks they are very big on limiting the potential for accidents between FLTs and pedestrians, by mandating a 5m exclusion zone between any moving plant and people on foot, and machines have to be switched off and handbrakes applied before anyone can approach an FLT or other vehicle. Accidents still happen, whether through negligence or mechanical failure. In this instance, it seems like a brief lapse in concentration placed the IP in a dangerous position. Some form of rear-facing sensor or collision alarm on the FLT might have prevented it, but sadly these things happen when you have vehicles with restricted viewing and bystanders not totally alert to the dangers associated with them.

 

[teabagyokel]

Slyboogy - I don't think Vettel lucked into pole as such, but he was lucky to be in a position where he had Hamilton-Bottas-Rosberg behind keeping all the competitive opposition out of the way.