Yesterday's practice sessions reminded me of a famous children's song, '10 green bottles'. Except in Friday practice 1 and 2 it was Grand Prix drivers who were falling. In the later session, Adrian Sutil crashed his Force India at Turn Seven and although it was not significant enough to bring out the red flag, a few minutes later Kamui Kobayashi's shunt out of Turn Four halted the session. Yet incredibly once the session was restarted the red flag was brought out for a second time. On his first flying lap after the restart, Virgin's Jerome d'Ambrosio crashed in exactly the same place as Kobayashi bringing yet another stoppage to a disrupted session. Lewis Hamilton also limped back into the pits with a right-rear puncture caused by debris from the accident. However, Friday's biggest shunt occurred earlier in the day as the infamous 'Wall of Champion' claimed yet another scalp. Sebastian Vettel was the latest name to push to hard into the final chicane and added his name to a host of champions who have slithered into the wall in Canada.
Vettel's crash, along with many others, typify how unpredictable the Canadian Grand Prix is. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has a habit of causing plenty of chaos, not to mention the form guide, and this should offer us an exciting race this weekend. Moreover, with possible showers for qualifying along with the race tomorrow will give the drivers something else to think about. Those who are desperate to overhaul Vettel and his Red Bull will be buoyed by the latest weather forecast. Even Mark Webber, in the sister Red Bull, will see this as his best opportunity to get the upper hand on the 2010 world champion.
This will be the first time in Canada that KERS and DRS will be used and in truth I do not think it is really needed. We saw from last year how less durable tyres, which provided the model for Pirelli this term, can affect the amount of on track action in Montreal. I found last year's Canadian Grand Prix the most fascinating of the season as although the positions were affected by the levels of tyre grip, it was up to drivers to manage them. Grand Prix drivers need to be fast, but also thoughtful and adaptable. Those who benefitted most from last years race, such as Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastien Buemi epitomised how tough it is to succeed in F1.
Going back to DRS, it has been rather a long time since we saw its full use. Overtaking in Spain and Monaco has always been challenging, and the fact that DRS could enhance it was telling. However, expect it to be a useful tool this weekend, particularly as the drivers will be able to use it twice. Drivers are expected to use it down the back straight before the final chicane and down the pit straight. This could problems for the leader if he is being tailed in the immediate laps, as because of the double DRS zone he could fall down the order. Could this make overtaking too easy? Overtaking with the DRS has always be easy.
According to a statistic from Mercedes GP, drivers will spend approximately 20% of a lap using the brake pedal. This is a huge amount for a Grand Prix circuit and in the early laps following cars closely drivers will struggle to cool their brakes. Montreal is also a very low-downforce circuit and this is also adds to the drivers' burden of managing their brakes. The low level of downforce in Canada will also level the playing field somewhat and I can envisage up to eight potential winners on Sunday.
Qualifying well is still integral to finishing well in the race, but unlike previous years it will not rubber stamp your final position. Do not be surprised to see somebody 'do a Webber' in tomorrow's race and spend the majority of the time on the super-soft tyres. The Red Bulls still boast a significant pace advantage in qualifying but in the race, with more fuel onboard, the Mclarens are more than able to keep up. Hamilton and Button see Monaco as a race win lost and will be gunning for Vettel this weekend. The same applies to Fernando Alonso, who looked the most likely to challenge Vettel after jumping Button following the safety car periods.
Prior to practice, Button suggested that the Red Bulls would not be their biggest rivals in Montreal, but in fact the Mercedes' of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg would be their closest challengers. Rosberg secured top spot in FP1 while Schumacher was third, and although the Mercedes' struggled with the super-softs in Monaco they arguably boast the best DRS system in F1, which should prove decisive if in touch with the leaders in the opening laps.
For the first time this season, I am not even convinced Vettel will be on pole this weekend such as this unpredictable nature of the Canadian track. As for the race win, it is anybody's guess. Now this is how F1 should be.
Josh.
No comments:
Post a Comment