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:
.

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:
.

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.
 
A fascinating session but difficult to draw any major conclusions from it, FP2 should be good though
 
Drivers Press Conference
Questions about Perez' overtaking at Monaco..............
Replies....'I know nothing, nothing'
 
Theyre not even showing Practice 1 in the States. Best P1 time all year but they'll wait for FP2 at 2:00

Guess I have to watch Sky...

NBCSports is just like SPEED, in not broadcasting both P1 or P3, but Sky comes to the rescue by showing those sessions with better all around programing.
 
I'm just watching the rerun of the P1 and P2 on the Beeb red button. It interests me that the commentators seem to be two weeks behind Clip The Apex on the Test-gate story. They seem to have made no effort at all to enlighten us on the intricacies of the story. When one considers the depth of ideas and discussion in the http://cliptheapex.com/threads/mercedes-and-ferrari-in-secret-pirelli-tyre-tests.6253/ thread, I am ever more impressed by the quality of membership on this forum.
 
Only 0.012 separated his and Alonso's fastest times in P2 and if I my eyes did not deceive me Alonso got a slip stream on the run up from Casino. Race pace looks off a bit so it may be "normal service resumed" for Mercedes - i.e. lock out the front row and slide back in the race. In which case another win for Alonso with Vettel cruising onto the podium with Kimi maybe the fly ointment. Third practice and qualifying will be interesting, especially if this patchy weather continues. It's going to be a tense Saturday, methinks.
 
I think it was Gary Anderson a few races ago who said that the pattern at Ferrari in the past 5 years or so it that when they produce a poor car they are brilliant at making the most of what they have but when they have a good car, as seems to be the case this season. then they show a remarkable propensity to shoot themselves in the foot.What's the betting that Alonso wins he most races this year but loses the title because of Malaysia-type happenings?
 
Well, luckily no-one crashed during p3 so the time lost between the two sessions shouldn't be much of a penalty.
 
Fenderman - or alternatively having to push qualifying back by 30 minutes???

Now, I'm not wanting to sound like a sourpuss, but at the end of the session, there were yellow flags flying through sector 2... A large number of drivers set their fastest sector 2 at this point... Hopefully, none of them fall foul of the stewards!
 
Back
Top Bottom