Canada F1 GP Update from the iSport F1 Pitstop: iSporter and Ferrari writer Maharshi Vaishnav believes that Ferrari has the pace this weekend to claim the top spot at the Canadian F1 GP.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, the venue for this weekend’s Canadian F1 GP is one of the most unusual yet exciting circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. I feel it is as if the designer picked up a Monaco or a Melbourne and rehashed it with a Monza. A not so unique blend of long straights, low-speed chicanes and the unforgettable merciless concrete barricades, I strongly feel it is definitely better than any modern day circuit.
Named after the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, the Ferrari ace from Canada who died a premature death at a horrific racing incident at the Belgian GP in 1982, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve also has the infamous “The Wall of Champions,” which forced many a brilliant drivers like Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button etc. to lose their races.
With the weather expected to be stable, the onus will be on the set ups of the cars. Because the lap is relatively small – just about 4.36 kilometers, the trade off between flat out speed and brake / tyres conservation will be the highlight of most strategies. I feel Montreal will provide the drivers with a much needed liberty to use almost negligible downforce – probably the lowest downforce so far in the year after Monza.
Race engineers will have to rely on wing combinations to ensure outstanding straight line speeds. And then of course there are the slow chicanes where the drivers are forced to reduce their speeds from over 300 km/hr to just about 100 km/hr. This makes Circuit Gilles Villeneuve a great test for drivers and a great spectacle for the viewers.
Ferrari, for a change is looking good. Fernando Alonso was more impressive of the two Ferrari drivers timing 7th and 2nd fastest while Felipe Massa managed 12th and 5th fastest in the 2 practice sessions on Friday.
Barring the F-Duct confusion, things seem to be improving for Ferrari with some good news filtering in the last few days. Stefano Domenicali has publicly admitted that the team management’s persistence with the pursuit of developing the F10’s F-Duct has compromised the F10’s overall development.
It is noteworthy here that except Red Bull (who has almost abandoned the F-Duct development) all other teams have failed to emulate the McLaren’s F-Duct mechanism. The F-Duct is said to be drag reducing thereby providing superior straight-line speeds. Ferrari did demonstrate an indigenously designed version in the last few races, but despite this, they were ridiculously off the pace.
The good news includes confirming Felipe Massa till 2012, Valentino Rossi hinting that he would not mind joining Ferrari if the circumstances are conducive and lastly the signing of a 11 year old boy wonder Laurence Stroll (Winner of 2 Canadian National Championship in the Rotax Mini Max category, a 6th place finish in the 2009 Karting World Finals and one who actually split Alonso and Massa on the podium in a Karting Challenge in Montreal last week) for their super prestigious drivers’ program at Maranello.
With this, all speculations about Robert Kubica joining Ferrari have ended and Massa can concentrate on his performance. This also means that we may be privileged to see another Schumacher / Yamaha redux with Ferrari being resuscitated one more time. And finally, we may see a home bred winner at Ferrari.
The Canadian F1 GP provides an ideal setting if Ferrari were to ever revive their almost sinking fortunes this season. They can halt their downward spiral here and resume the 3 way battle with McLaren & Red Bull that was predicted at the beginning of the season. Though practice pace is rarely an indication of race pace, I am feeling quite confident about the Ferraris having a decent outing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
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