By Simon Baggus
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| The wall of champions says it all, it has cost many a champion their race |
The Canadian GP was introduced onto the calendar in 1967 but did not move to its current location, on the Ile de Notre Dame, a man made island in the St Lawrence River, Montreal, until 1977.
Designed by a man named Roger Peart, it contains long, fast straights and tight, slow corners and chicanes and although it is not an over-demanding track for drivers alike, it presents a problem for brake-wear. The track has ample overtaking opportunities at the hairpin and down the long straights in-particular, with the DRS activation zones.
The race itself produces some exciting, action packed battles, with many experienced champions having been caught out by the circuits characteristics, including the 'wall of champions'.
The first Canadian GP held at here, in 1978, was won by non other than, Gilles Villeneuve, the home grown talent, who, on his own, sparked the Formula One love in Canada in the 1970's. It was his first win of his career also.
1982 brought tragedy to Gilles Villeneuve, who sadly lost his life in the 1982 Belgian GP qualifying. This is when the Canadian GP circuit was renamed in his memory.
Robert Kubica, who is deeply missed by most of the F1 community, won here in 2008 for BMW Sauber which brought to an end Montreal's 31 year run as a Formula One circuit, as it was dropped in 2009 to make way for the newly built Abu Dhabi GP in 2009.
It returned in 2010 with backing from the Canadian government.
Two highlights of recent years that stand out for me are that of 2007 and a fresh faced Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton had been on the podium every race since the beginning of the season in his debut year and this was his first win of the season, holding of the challenges of 4 safety car periods, wet weather, dry weather and obviously the drivers. He held the championship lead right until the last race, only to lose by a single point to Kimi Raikkonen.
The second one was that of Jenson Button in 2011, finding himself in last place and much work to do, his team mate at the time, Lewis Hamilton had retired from the race, but he romped back up through the field and with half a lap to go, had his sights on Sebastian Vettel. Applying pressure on the current champion he forced Vettel into a mistake, which sent the crowd, the drivers, the pits and everyone behind the T.V wild. He went onto win a race which will go down as a great in modern history.
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| Your podium in 2013, Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton |
This years Canadian GP then, i can't see being much of a thriller, sorry F1 fans.
The fact is Mercedes are still the class of the field and with Canada rewarding straight line speed, expect Hamilton and Rosberg to be in a race of their own, far far away in the distance. Their battle will resume from Monaco, still hot and fiery, with revenge in Hamilton's eyes and a smirk on Rosberg's face, both have determination and desire, but are very different in their approaches.
I do expect Hamilton to have the edge on Rosberg, he seems to light up the circuit in front of him here and has great success winning three times since 2007. He will be looking to add a fourth, to close the gap in the championship, whilst Rosberg will be looking for his first here, to extend his gap in the championship.
Red Bull have come out second best across the first lot of races, but that doesn't mean they are in for an easy ride here in Canada, with their engine still down on power, they could be sitting ducks to Mercedes power.
Ricciardo seems to be in the form of his life in this years Red Bull and will be looking to carry the momentum forward and build on a strong third place from Monaco. Sebastian Vettel will just be looking to have a problem free weekend, to get to the finish and score some decent points, maybe he will swap his chassis on the sly, who knows!
Ferrari have under performed to their standards, but Alonso once again has kept them in the mix. Raikkonen has improved in the last few races but got off to a slow start. Ferrari come here with a brand new package, a new car practically, in the search to rescue their season before its too late.
Force India have quietly gone about their business, plucking away at every race to score decent points, that put them fourth in this years constructors championship, behind the top three that have been mentioned.
Hulkenberg, like Ricciardo, has been outstanding and has scored points at every race so far this season in his Force India, he is a contender for driver of the championship in my eyes and will be looking to bag some big points this weekend, in his Mercedes powered car. Perez has been less consistent, although he was on the podium in Bahrain. He has been at the lower end of the points compared to his team mate, but has contributed non the less.
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| Hulkenberg in Monaco, his third 5th place finish of the year |
McLaren have been like Ferrari, very poor all season, failures, non point finishes and under performing at all levels. Magnussen had so much hype and began strong but has looked more like a rookie as the season goes on, Button has complained about him on more than one occasion and Button himself has not lived up to his world champion status.
McLaren seems to be the slowest of all Mercedes powered cars also and this doesn't do themselves any favours in the constructors. Canada will be a place they hope to have a turning point, being Mercedes powered they hope to capitalise on their opponents and have a decent run just like Australia and Button will hope his experience will help the team to better things.
Williams have been battling it out mid pack all season with Ferrari,Force India and McLaren and will be hoping for another strong showing in Canada. Williams sit level on points in the constructors championship with McLaren heading into Canada and Bottas has been great all season sitting ahead of both McLaren drivers and his team mate Massa in the drivers championship. Massa has come into Williams and has had problems compared to Bottas, he will be hoping for a good showing in Canada but the top ten will be very close for all non works Mercedes powered cars.
Torro Rosso may see themselves outside the top ten in Canada even though they have been a consistent pairing in Kvyat and Vergne and have been pretty equal throughout the year, bagging points finishes between on a few occasions so far. Their power unit may succumb to that of Mercedes power and with Lotus stepping up their game, could find themselves even further behind.
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| Grosjean finished 8th in Monaco |
Lotus have finally gathered momentum, well Grosjean and Lotus have. Maldonado is an exception who should not be on the grid, he has had crashes, failures and dangers that no-one on an F1 grid should be experiencing anymore. Except him to be somewhere at the back or retired before the end of the race, Grosjean has scored the only points for Lotus so far and you can expect him to be up their and in the points once again in Canada.
Marrusia scored their first ever points in Monaco and will no doubt give them a massive financial benefit come the year end, was it a one off, absolutely, Monaco is that type of track, with so many retirees and mechanical issues, they picked up the left overs. Can they repeat it in Canada, absolutely not, Bianchi as good as he is and i think he is good, who deserves to be in a much better team, will not be able to repeat Monaco and i'm sure they will be fighting with Caterham once again, if not just ahead of them at the rear of the field. One thing Max Chilton will be clinging onto, keeping his name to fame, is a 100% finishing record, apart from that he cant deliver much else.
Sauber are just awful this year, a car they claimed to get better after upgrades is still slumped at the bottom of the constructors with no points to their name. Sutil and Gutierrez wont be able to pick any points up in Canada either as their car is still one of the heaviest on the grid, which will surely slow them down, with Canada rewarding speed, this looks grim for the Sauber outfit, although Gutierrez has been the better of the two.
Caterham lay dead last with no points, a rookie who is not ready for F1 and Kobayashi, who can't do much with the car either. This team looked to be on their last legs. Tony Fernandez has put the team up for sale, he has had enough, will they be on the grid next year, only time will tell. All they can hope for in Canada is to get both cars home and a miracle for the rest of the year.
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| Title protagonists |
So tension builds with these two title protagonists, what will be the outcome on Sunday afternoon, will team orders be put into place? will a collision occur? will their be any bad sportsmanship again? tune in to find out. All i can say is it will go down to the wire this year and the double points at the last race of the year could just be the title decider.
See you back here for the review of the Canadian GP early next week.
Simon baggus
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