Grand Prix 2014 Canadian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

The "European" Season continues in Canada at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Last year Vettel took pole and the win, somehow this season it doesn't look likely that there will be a repeat, rather we will see the two Mercedes drivers battling things out for win seven out of seven as Hamilton and Rosberg share the races out between them.

After Monaco Rosberg has returned to the top the drivers championship but is 4-2 down to Hamilton in race wins. Lewis likes Canada so perhaps this race will see things tip back in his favour. The big question will be the inter-team dynamic after Monaco. Rosberg's pole appears to have rankled Hamilton and he questioned the team tactics regarding the safety car. Perhaps a pole to flag win for the Englishman will put these things to the back of his mind.

Red Bull and Ferrari will battle to be the best of the rest, with Daniel Ricciardo proving that the decision to give him the "second" Red Bull seat has been more than justified. Force India, Toro Ross and McLaren will, almost certainly, be battling for the final places in the top 10 in both qualie and race with Hulkenberg and Perez likely to come out on top but pushed hard, especailly by Danial Kvyat who is looking to be a genuine talent. Quite how Lotus will perform remains to be seen with both cars and drivers blowing hot and cold in the first races of the season.

Marussia are unlikely to repeat their points scoring antics in Montreal but the lift the result in Monaco will have given them will hopefully propel them forward and bring interest from new sponsors. Sauber and Caterham will be at the back, or perhaps they will create a shock and suddenly find some pace.

So another Mercedes win, almost certainly. Which of the Mercedes drivers takes the win could have a huge effect on the rest of the season. Let's hope the for a good race. As well as your top 3 predictions I'd welcome your suggestions for victims of the Wall of Champions 2014.
 
I always find these graphs very difficult to interpret. Usually the effect of fuel load on laptimes is clearly visible (causing the graph to look like an upward parabola), but in Monaco the fuel consumption (80 kg) and the effect of fuel consumption on laptimes was very limited, so in this case the graph looks more like an m instead. In fact, the laptimes remained nearly constant throughout the race (around 1:20). The Mercedes' started to lose pace from lap 57, while Ricciardo's laptimes continued to improve until he was right behind Hamilton. Ricciardo seemed to have much lower levels of tyre degradation, so his pace naturally increased as his fuel burned off, while tyre wear was the dominant factor for Hamilton and Rosberg. Maybe they had been pushing too hard early on.

Red Bull was indeed very close to Mercedes in Monaco, but for the moment I think it has to do with the track characteristics. In Canada the Renault engine is of course a much bigger handicap.
 
Ricciardo finished behind two Mercedes cars which had their wick turned down with one of their drivers having a vision problem. Just when did he look like getting anywhere near an overtaking move?
 
Lewis while pursuing the pole position in Canada next weekend, and hopefully if he wins, will have enough fuel on board to complete the cool down lap, so as not to repeat again what happened during his pole winning performance in 2010.....:)


 
Here's a nice shot of seven time Montreal winner Michael Schumacher (Hamilton's got some way to go yet to catch up, with only three wins so far), just to show that even the best can make mistakes:

 
I watched the 2010 race last night (awesome race!) and Schumacher was truly awful that weekend. Beaten in qualifying and the race by Rosberg, crashing into people left right and centre, taking penalties and over the grass half the time.

Seven time winner, you would never have guessed it.
 
That Canadian Grand Prix was arguably the best race of the 2010 season, with a lot of overtakes and mixed strategies, as the tyres gave an element of surprise. Schumacher was quite unfair and battling clumsily indeed, but his strategy was crippled by a puncture, so he really had to defend nearly the entire race.
 
Seven time winner, you would never have guessed it.

Lets be honest the real Schumacher hung up his helmet at the end of 2006. The one that came back in 2010 for 3 years was Schumacher-lite and I'm hoping they get forgotten by the history book.

The idea that Rosberg can state he beat Schumacher as a team mate 3 years in a row bites at me if I'm honest.

As for Canada - last years Canadian race was an absolute stinker and I don't think 2012 was much better. Maybe we got all our action in 2011.
 
2013 was boring, but 2012 was great because of the different tyre strategies and the stunning performances of Grosjean and PĂ©rez. 2011 was really a thriller (but the race took 4 hours or so and therefore I could only watch the first laps :teary:). 2010 was major chaos, 2008 was Kubica's first (and sadly only) win, 2007 was Kubica's crash, Hamilton's first win and Sato's terrific drive, and so on...
So the Canadian Grand Prix is usually extreme and one of the best races of the season. I'm really looking forward to it!
 
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