The Circuit de Gilles Villaneuve has always been a conundrum of sorts for all the Formula One teams. The track is notorious for being harsh on the brakes, and engineers must find the perfect balance between straight line speed and handling. The cars need a low downforce set-up with just about the right amount of grip to keep the car from smashing into the wall.
Used only once a year, the track is green when the F1 fraternity rolls into town. Thus, running during the practice sessions will be of paramount imporatance. All the data gathered will then be used to try and conquer the Montreal circuit.
Friday and Saturday practice sessions saw familiar names on top of the leaderboard. Saturday saw Lewis Hamilton top the time sheets and claim his 44th career pole, owning the circuit that gave him his 1st win during his rookie year with McLaren back in 2007. Following the Brit was teammate Nico Rosberg and, surprisingly, the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen slotting in 3rd, ahead of Valterri Bottas in the Williams and both the Lotus’ of Grosjean and Maldonado. Notably, Sebastian Vettel was absent for most of Q1. His car’s motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K) was to blame for his very late track appearance. When the team finally managed to get the car going and try to salvage a good start postion, it was too late. Sebastian Vettel missed the cut and was relegated to the back of the grid. This was a bitter pill to swallow for the four time defending champion.
Sunday saw a record crowd head to the island circuit. As the lights went out to start the 70-lap race, Lewis Hamilton raced out to lead the pack into turn 1. Rosberg made a lunge but failed to overcome Lewis’ good start and he was left to contend with the fast starting Raikkonen. It was a clean race start, with no position changes for the top 10 runners. But at the back, a certain German was hounding all cars in front of him. Vettel was on a mission to overcome the deficit brought about his failure to make the cut in Q1. Sebastian disposed of Felipe Nasr, and Carlos Sainz Jr., with relative ease. By lap 4, Vettel was up to 13th.
Lap 7 saw the Ferrari of Vettel head straight into the pits for what team thought would be a quick tire change. But a problem of the left rear meant that Sebastian sat on the pitbox a few seconds more than needed. If Ferrari was trying to get Vettel out of traffic and into some clean air, that slow stop was not the way to go about things. Vettel now had to do everything all over again. Lap 19 saw Vettel run alongside the “problematic” McLaren of Fernando Alonso. Sebastian had the assistance of the Drag Reduction System on the back straight, but Alonso, ever the racer, didn’t make passing him easy. Even after a slight touch on his rear, Fernando gamely held on till the second DRS zone, where he had no choice but to yield to the more porwerful Ferrari. It is really going from bad to worse for the Team from Woking. Fernando was even heard over the radio refusing an order from the pit wall to save fuel. “ I don’t want, I don’t want” was the frustrated reply of the Spaniard.
Up in front, Kimi pitted from 3rd on lap 27. The Finn came out just behind Bottas who got position over Kimi. Raikkonen had to establish fast lap times to try and salvage position when the Williams comes in for his tires. Well, that was the plan. At the hairpin, Kimi spun as the turbo kicked in and lit up the back tires, losing precious seconds that he needed to gain on Bottas. Kimi was frustrated.
From race lead, the crowd saw Lewis pitting on lap 30 and taking on a fresh set of primes. Mercedes pit crew had him out in just 2.8 seconds, ensuring Hamilton came out ahead of the Williams. Rosberg, for his part, tried vainly to post insanely fast times to jump his teammate, but locking up at the hairpin meant that Rosberg came out after his tire stop behind Hamilton. It might not have visible, but underneath the helmet, Nico must have been devastated. He can only hope that lightning strikes twice and hope for a repeat of the Monaco GP faux pas.
Lewis for his part, kept his composure even when Nico knocked down fast sector times. Hamilton just had an good enough lead to ensure that Rosberg couldn’t attack even if he was in fuel saving mode.
Fernando Alonso went into retirement on lap 47 owing to a lack of power, while teammate Jenson Button parked the MP4-30 a few laps later. This unglamorous exit of McLaren didn’t sit well with both former champions, but both Button and Alonso are still optimistic that their fortunes will change soon.
Kimi Raikkonen running in 4th place behind Valterri Bottas was keeping the other Finn honest by running up his exhaust in the closing laps. Bottas for his part kept his cool and would eventually finish on the podium; his best result so far for this season.
The expected battle for the top spot didn’t materialize. Nico just followed Lewis to the flag, as both Mercedes were running low on fuel. An order was given to coast in some sectors to ensure that they have some fuel left over for the stewards to test.
The win is Hamilton’s 4th in Canada, making him the 2nd winningest driver in Canada, just behind Michael Schumacher who holds the record with 7 wins. Lewis maintains his grip on the championship with 151 points, with Rosberg 17 points adrift. Sebastian’s fantastic drive today got him 10 valuable points for a total of 108, which is good enough to retain 3rd in the standings.
F1 now moves back to Europe for the Austrian GP. Will Red Bull be a factor in their home race? Can the once fabled McLaren team get its act together and get their cars out of the backfield? Or will it be Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes and score some valuable points to make it more interesting at the top?
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