Canada never fails to produce a fantastic race. With just
five laps to go anyone of five drivers could have taken the win. The down on power
Nico Rosberg continued to head the field as he had done for most of the day
ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez bravely trying to go through the race
on a one stop strategy. The Red Bulls were climbing all over the back of Perez
with Daniel Ricciardo heading Sebastian Vettel. Behind Williams’ Felipe Massa
was on substantially fresher tyres and had caught them at up to a second per
lap. It was anyone’s race.
It all started out much like we’ve seen so far this year.
The Mercedes duo of Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton had locked out the front row
with Rosberg grabbing his second consecutive pole position. That was actually
quite a significant moment. As the F1 circus arrived in Montreal it was
expected that Lewis would stamp his authority on the race. He’s a three time
winner here and has always excelled around this circuit.
That Rosberg managed to outpace him despite being slower in
practice and in the first two qualifying sessions showed at least that the
Monaco win has given him added impetus in this title battle with his team mate
and at most showed that he is quite as capable as Lewis at pulling a lap out of
the bag. So far this championship has seemed to me at least that it’s Lewis’
for the taking. He was only behind because of mechanical failure in Australia
and after rolling out four consecutive victories it looked like Rosberg was
going to eventually be crushed. Monaco and Canada have changed all that.
For now at least tensions between the two drivers look to
have reduced. The events of this race might change that again going forward as
it was every bit as significant as what took place two weeks previously.
From the start Rosberg was determined to keep control. Lewis
got the better getaway but Rosberg held the inside line and simply ran Lewis
out of road which was slightly rude but certainly something that many drivers
would have done given the opportunity, this allowed Vettel to sneak through
into second. The field was held by the safety car for several laps as marshals
cleared a first lap accident between the Marussia’s, Max Chilton clattered into
Monaco hero Jules Bianchi to end their day early.
After the restart Hamilton was soon ahead of Vettel and
chased after Rosberg. Yet again the two Mercedes cars were joined in battle,
Lewis hunting Nico down quickly before the gap ebbed and flowed through the
first stops until about half distance. The fight wasn’t without controversy,
Rosberg straight-lined the final chicane after locking up as Hamilton charged
at him in the DRS zone. He had been just half a second behind but ended up over
a second back. Rosberg didn’t slow but the stewards issued a warning to not
exceed track limits again. Suddenly both Silver Arrows were running two seconds
a lap slower, both drivers reporting power loss. The Kinetic part of the energy
recovery system had failed losing them over 160hp and leaving their top speed
reduced for the rest of the race.
Still the battle continued, but the rest of the field behind
suddenly sensed an opportunity and they were catching quickly. After the
Mercedes cars both stopped for a second time they exited behind Massa who the
Williams team attempted to stop only once. Lewis had come out ahead of Nico
after the German had a slow stop but immediately gave up the place as his
brakes began to fail. He went off a couple more times before having to retire
the car for the second time this year on lap 48 and with Massa needing to pit
again in the end it left Rosberg leading and staring at over a race victory
worth of points in the championship.
The MGU-K, the Kinetic part of the energy recovery gets its
energy harvested
from the rear braking system. It helps to slow the car down,
so this year the teams are using smaller brake discs. When it’s not working
though, it puts a lot of pressure on the brakes and this could well have
contributed to Lewis eventual retirement from the race. Rosberg put his brake
bias forward and hoped.
Perez with the Red Bulls just behind closed on the stricken
Mercedes quickly and with 20 laps left it seemed as if Rosberg would be picked
off quickly and a non-Mercedes scrap for the win would break out. But they
haven’t been winning everything this year without their car being simply
exceptional. Even with the loss of power Rosberg drove superbly, with just a
few laps to go he still held the lead. Across the finishing line Perez would be
as little as four tenths behind but Rosberg used the Mercedes brilliantly in
the first two sectors pulling out a second gap before the DRS zone. It left
Perez unable to activate his wing, if he had he would have flown past as he
closed quickly even without DRS.
However, the Red Bulls were snapping at the gearbox of
Perez, the Force India had only stopped once and couldn’t keep up the pace with
his less than fresh rubber. His Mercedes engine though was running fine and
kept him out of reach. With just five laps left Daniel Ricciardo who had got
ahead of Vettel in the second pit stops after the world champion had been held
up by Hulkenberg in the middle of the race made a sublime move which risked
all.
The outcome was worth it though. Into the first corner he
dived through, trimming the grass as he just scraped to the apex. He
disappeared fast after Rosberg, hunting the ailing Mercedes down. The Red Bull
is just as good a chassis as the Mercedes and he had no problem cutting his
lead in the first few sectors to deploy his DRS with three laps left to run and
take the lead.
On the penultimate lap Vettel attacked Perez in the DRS zone
passing him into the final chicane, it gave Massa the opportunity to attack as
well. He’d fought back brilliant after his late second stop, passing Bottas and
Hulkenberg in quick succession. With eight laps left he’d caught the leading
four and if he’d managed to pass them straight away I think he would have won
the race such was his pace.
But he had managed to make a move stick but he was
clambering all over them, so when Vettel made his move on Perez, Massa grasped
at an opening, he charged down the inside into turn one but clattered in to the
Force India’s left rear wheel ending both their races and almost taking out
Vettel as well. Watch the in car footage from Vettel’s car, it’s heart in the
mouth stuff.
Perez was judged to have caused the accident by moving his
line to the left and will suffer a five place grid penalty for the next race in
Austria. It brought out the safety car for the final lap, clinching a debut win
for the brilliant Daniel Ricciardo. Rosberg held on for second with an equally
great drive. If the Mercedes can still get on the podium with their problems
then lets not get carried away with any thinking that this result might see a
tide change. Vettel completed the podium and was extremely sporting with his
actions toward Ricciardo who at this moment is leading what was once Vettel’s
team.
Jenson Button had a great last charge picking off Jean-Eric
Vergne, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg in the dying laps
to finish fourth. Normally in a race like this you’d expect to see Alonso up
their looking to capitalise on any misfortune for the front running team, but
it seems Ferrari can’t even do that at the moment as he spent most of his day
fighting with Force India’s and Toro Rosso’s, in the end he finished behind
Hulkenberg in sixth, with Bottas and Vergne behind. Kevin Magnussen gave
McLaren their second consecutive double points finish with ninth while Kimi
Raikkonen suffered another wretched day which encompassed a spin to at least
grap a point.
There were two big disappointments for me today. One was
that Hamilton retired and Rosberg didn’t. I don’t mean that in bad way either,
I just want to see this championship won on the track not by retirements, and
at the moment its 2-0 to Hamilton on that front. In seven races Rosberg has
only beaten Hamilton properly once which should at least give Lewis a positive attitude
as he fights to get back the 22 point deficit over the next 12 races.
The other is that Williams once again flattered to deceive.
They really looked like they had the pace to challenge for a podium and so
consequently the victory. Massa is driving pretty nicely this year but he’s
been unfortunate to be involved with a number of incidents which haven’t been
of his own making. Race winning opportunities won’t come for many this year and
this was a golden one that got dropped.
But let’s not dwell on that, someone who is taking all their
opportunities at the moment is Ricciardo. If you had to name a driver coming
into this race who you thought could take advantage Mercedes troubles you’d
have had to go with him. He’s been driving sublimely, is prepared to take risks
as demonstrated by his move on Perez, he knew he had to make it stick as the
tantalising prospect of a win was just a few seconds away. He’s grasped his
chance at Red Bull and he did the same when the first genuine prospect of a win
came his way. He’s going to win many more without the dose of luck he got in
Canada and is surely a future world champion. Vettel is certainly going to have
to go some to re-establish himself as the man of Red Bull.
He won’t be world champion this year though. That honour
falls to Rosberg or Hamilton. It’s advantage Rosberg at the moment, but Lewis
won’t be broken this year, he’ll be back stronger. If everything had played out
as normal I think he’d have had the win in Canada. After two winless races when
Formula 1 returns to Austria we’re going to see Lewis take this fight up a
notch.
Final Result:
1. Ricciardo - Red Bull
2. Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Vettel - Red Bull
4. Button - McLaren
5. Hulkenberg - Force India
6. Alonso - Ferrari
7. Bottas - Williams
8. Vergne - Toro Rosso
9. Magnussen - McLaren
10. Raikkonen - Ferrari
11. Perez - Force India - Accident
12. Massa - Williams - Accident
13. Sutil - Sauber
14. Gutierrez - Sauber
R. Grosjean - Lotus - Rear wing
R. Kvyat - Toro Rosso - Drive train
R. Hamilton - Mercedes - Brakes
R. Kobayashi - Caterham - Suspension
R. Maldonado - Lotus - Power Unit
R. Ericsson - Caterham - Turbo
R. Chilton - Marussia - Accident
R. Bianchi - Marussia - Accident
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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