Hamilton takes confident win in Canada

Star of the race

I had various favourites as the race went on. I thought Williams' Felipe Massa was a hero in the opening laps as he charged up the field after he suffered a power unit problem in qualifying. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus was having a very composed mature showing running fifth until he had a touch of brain fade and hit poor Will Stevens Manor Marussia.

Nico Hulkenberg made an outstanding start with a fantastic move around Pastor Maldonado in the opening couple of turns. Maldonado himself scored his first points of the year which is good, all the more impressive as he finished a race without even a hint of contact. Which sort of makes me want to re-watch the race as that surely can't be right?

Sebastian Vettel suffered a poor qualifying and took a penalty for passing under red flags in the third practice session. He charged his Ferrari from 18th on the grid all the way to fifth. But surely this was to be expected, the Ferrari is quite clearly the second best car and on its day a Mercedes challenger.

Which brings me to my actual star of the race. Canada was Lewis Hamilton's fourth win of the year and a star in none, such was his superiority in his other wins he was almost anonymous. Despite beating his team mate Nico Rosberg to the flag by just a few seconds, there was barely any reason to doubt his victory was assured the moment he took off from pole position and held the lead, unless his team were about to call him in for an unexpected pit stop. After the trials of Monaco this was the perfect riposte to anyone who thought Rosberg was gaining momentum. Not this race, probably not this year.

The Winner

Hamilton had Rosberg under control all race, pretty much like he has all season apart from perhaps Spain. Rosberg kept Lewis in sight but that's all he can do at the moment, hoping for an error that rarely comes or a mechanical failure. There was a lot of radio chatter from Mercedes about saving fuel or the brakes, but this didn't affect the result. It was a simple Mercedes 1-2, the order it should have been in Monaco.

Behind Valtteri Bottas took third after a power surge sent Kimi Raikkonen into a spin dropping him to fourth. Vettel climbed to fifth ahead of the recovering Massa, while Maldonado drove a strong race to seventh. Hulkenberg got himself into a spin while fending off Vettel but kept eighth with Daniil Kvyat the stronger Red Bull in ninth and Grosjean just tenth after his moment of madness.

The Battles

The best fight was the lap and a half Fernando Alonso held off Vettel for, sending the Ferrari over the kerbs at the final chicane. Despite the McLaren drivers woes this year, he can still battle with the best of them when called to arms.

Massa's duel with the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson was a tasty scrap too, a little rubbing of bodywork on wheels got the Williams driver through in turn three after sitting behind for several laps.

Things of note

Daniel Ricciardo feels like banging his head against a wall so he says. Red Bull are having a torrid season, they are absolutely nowhere. Despite Kvyat managing some points, Ricciardo could only struggle to 13th having started in the top 10. Last year he won this Grand Prix and looked like the man who could take a fight to the Mercedes. 

He still is that man, but the Renault power unit is useless. Down on power, still atrocious reliability. What have they been doing? They really pushed for these new engine regulations and despite a year and a half of racing experience with the units they've actually gotten worse. I feel for Ricciardo who was the coming man, and Kvyat who thought he'd jumped into the big time. It's rumoured that Renault are threatening to quit in 2017 because of the engine development ban, perhaps instead of whining about rules they agreed to they should focus more on fixing their problems.

Of course what might be worse is having the Honda engine McLaren have saddled themselves with. The actual chassis is rumoured to be at or near the level of a Ferrari, so Honda have a lot to answer for. Yes these units are very advanced technologically, and it is of course only their first year, but to be so woefully under prepared is shabby, and that's being generous. It's unreliable and down on power by nearly 100bhp. It's just not good enough.

On the outside McLaren drivers Alonso and Jenson Button are still putting a brave face on it. Podiums are still the target this year but that's as likely as finding a polar bear in the Sahara. The truth is what Alonso said on the radio. When asked to save fuel he replied 'I don't want. I don't want. Already I have big problems now. Driving with this and looking like amateurs. So I'd like to race and then I concentrate on the fuel'.

'Looking like amateurs' is the interesting part. That's exactly what McLaren look like, even if it wasn't meant like that. It's the first signs of frustration of a driver who is renowned as being a bit of a difficult character when things aren't going well. This frustration might not help, but it's only natural because Honda have made possibly the best driver in Formula 1 no faster than a Sauber, and sometimes even they are quicker.

After numerous problems over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, McLaren retired both cars. With the next two circuits relying on a powerful engine things won't improve any time soon.

In other news there was more talk of how F1 is destroying itself. I've read rumours of the European Commission looking into the sport because of how the funds are divided up. It can't happen soon enough, this sport needs cleansing fast.

But lets end on a positive note. After the disaster of Monaco, Williams came back strongly to almost be within touching distance of Ferrari. With updates coming and the next two tracks in particular favouring a car with slippery aero, Bottas and Massa might well feature on the podium again sooner rather than later.

The title chase

There's a title chase? Oh I suppose there is in name, but Lewis potentially could and maybe should have won six of the seven races, and there's even a decent argument for all seven. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points with Vettel 43 behind the leader. Vettel is an obvious outside bet, but if Ferrari start improving more you never know. Rosberg though? Despite his run of two victories I really feel he's fallen into the Mark Webber role of 2011. Webber had his title shot in 2010 and then just couldn't match Vettel a year later. Read Rosberg in 2014 and 2015. I'll let you know when a title chase develops. 

Result

1. Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Bottas - Williams
4. Raikkonen - Ferrari
5. Vettel - Ferrari
6. Massa - Williams
7. Maldonado - Lotus
8. Hulkenberg - Force India
9. Kvyat - Red Bull
10. Grosjean - Lotus
11. Perez - Force India
12. Sainz - Toro Rosso
13. Ricciardo - Red Bull
14. Ericsson - Sauber
15. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
16. Nasr - Sauber
17. Stevens - Marussia
R. Mehri - Marussia
R. Button - McLaren
R. Alonso - McLaren

all photos taken from autosport.com

Ricciardo scores debut win to break Mercedes domination

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

Vettel crushes rivals in Canada

This season has seen some pretty comprehensive victories but no one has dominated a race quite as brutally as Sebastian Vettel did today in Canada, even cars up to 6th place were lapped, that hasn’t been seen for a long time. The tyres were also lasting well in Montreal leaving Vettel to exploit the Pirelli’s and his Red Bull to the full at last to take his third victory of the 2013 campaign.

He made a fantastic start from pole position and was ahead of fellow front row starter Lewis Hamilton by over two seconds by the end of the first lap, it didn’t get any closer than that. It was like 2011, pushing to create a gap before the DRS was activated then pushing again when needed.

At the end of lap 7 he was 4.3 seconds ahead and for all the world it looked like he was cruising. He wasn’t of course, a wall at turn 4 bearing shades of his right rear tyre and a trip across the run off at turn 1 is testament to that, but despite this it never looked anything less than being in control of the race; only for three laps did he not lead the race as he made his first stop

He stretched his lead up to 20 seconds before backing off near the end, even putting a cheeky fastest first sector in on the final lap to stress his team out just a little bit, he’s always tempted by the fastest lap.

So not the hat trick of pole, win and fastest lap but a glorious display of precision driving that left everyone trailing. Even if title challengers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen had started higher up, I don’t think anyone could have touched him today.

I wrote before how the likes of Alonso and Kimi had to start reeling Vettel in again this weekend. There are still 12 races to go, but Vettel has not finished outside the top four this year, he’s also won three times, all the while Red Bull are complaining about the tyres.

The tyre compounds are not due to change only the construction, so the degradation we have seen so far this year should return at other tracks unless Pirelli go all conservative. But if Red Bull can win so convincingly even with the tyres not how they’d like them, then the other teams will not be looking forward to the rest of the year.

Now I’m not saying Vettel and Red Bull are about to go on a winning streak, but while teams such as Lotus and Ferrari have fantastic race pace, they have shown an inability to qualify well enough to exploit their advantage with the tyres.

Even when they haven’t had the outright pace to win, Red Bull, especially in the hands and feet of Vettel have consistently been up there getting the best result they can.

Vettel’s title challengers have a lot to fear, and a lot of work to do if they are to get back on terms with the potential four time champions.

Jean-Eric Vergne and Paul di Resta take starring roles

Vergne took a fantastic 6th place this weekend for Toro Rosso. Starting from 7th, he made a good start and had good pace too. He passed the out of position Valtteri Bottas’ Williams in the early laps, and from then on ran a fairly lonely race with no one really to play with.

He wasn’t going to catch two Red Bulls, two Mercedes and a Ferrari without a dash of precipitation so 6th was a well-earned result and the best he could have achieved. He ran a two stop strategy and despite the alternative one stopper strategy being run by Paul di Resta behind, he had that covered too stopping a lap after Paul to cover his fresh tyres.

After Daniel Ricciardo looked to have gained the ascendency within Toro Rosso (the Aussie could only manage 13th after starting 11th and running high in 7th at one point) Vergne has produced two consecutive great performances. They’ve been nothing flash, but they got the job done. If he can continue this form maybe Red Bull will start to look at him instead of Ricciardo to replace Mark Webber should he leave…and if Kimi decides to stay at Lotus.

Paul di Resta is coming alive this year. After two fairly impressive seasons under his belt, albeit scoring less points than his team mates, he is finally becoming the number one in this team even though he’s had two fairly poor qualifying sessions in the last two rounds due to team decisions which Paul is keen to make clear to the press.

His recovery drives after being knocked out of Q1 have impressed. He was the only driver to really make a one stop work and keep up a great pace. He just got faster and faster, his Force India is generally kind on its tyres but after the displays of both Lotus’ this afternoon I think it could be said that this team have the kindest car to their contact patches.

Anyway after 57 laps on the medium compound tyre he finally pulled into the pits and re-joined where he left off in 7th. He was out of reach of the rest of the top 10 and could happily cruise to a superb six points in the closing laps.

As di Resta commented after the race if they can just get a clean race then a really decent result is on the horizon. I’m sure a podium can’t be too far away.

Valtteri Bottas shines

Yes, I know, he finished only 14th after starting 3rd, but what a fantastic 3rd. In a wet/dry qualifying he was on the pace all through the session. A top three start was nothing more than he deserved. Mixed conditions are always a great leveller; it’s where drivers in perhaps lesser cars can show what they can do. The likes of Max Chilton and Esteban Gutierrez also looked quite handy at times during the Saturday qualifying hour, even if it didn’t work out for them in the end.

Of course those lesser cars still need to be good on a wet track, and it did help that Bottas had a high down force set up in anticipation of rain that never came on Sunday. So really he was a sitting duck, but I found this even more impressive.

He did lose a lot of places, but the way he defended at times was extremely impressive. Holding off Alonso for a lap, the fight with Vergne and Sutil, it was good driving, not careless, and he didn’t hit anyone. It was very good for a rookie and showed he was tough but fair, something some of the other drivers have yet to learn.

It’s been a quiet start for him this year, but he’s regularly been on the pace of his race winning team mate Pastor Maldonado and beat him a number of times too. Bottas is a star of the future.

Filling the podium…

Fernando Alonso rose up from 6th on the grid to 2nd by the end while Lewis Hamilton fell from 2nd to 3rd. I think both will come away fairly happy from the weekend.

Alonso got by Bottas quite quickly, but it took him a while to move up the order. He didn’t immediately attach himself to the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Webber but calmly caught them. It wasn’t until Webber passed Rosberg in the first DRS zone that he had his chance. Rosberg was left vulnerable and the Ferrari was instantly through in the second DRS zone, sweeping past into turn 1.

It took damage to Webber’s front wing for Alonso to really get on terms with the Red Bull and he passed him on lap 42. Ten seconds up the road was the second silver car of Hamilton. Everyone may have been able to push this weekend on the tyres but some cars will always be better than others with them.

Ever since they were warring team mates at McLaren in 2007, it’s always something to look forward to when these two battle on the track. They’re never anything but fair with each other but you know that despite their present easy going relationship, they enjoy it when they put one over the other. Lewis defended brilliantly, but it was inevitable eventually in a DRS zone the Ferrari was going to get through and it did on lap 63, seven from the end.

Alonso needed Ferrari to be back on the pace and they were. They’re still lacking something in qualifying, but for that I think he could have been a bit closer to Vettel at the chequered flag. But they need more if they’re going to actually challenge for the title. Being 37 points adrift is not a challenging second place, it’s just second.

Still, Vettel was 40 points behind last year so all is not lost. Alonso is never one to give up, but they need to roll off some back to back victories because I can see Vettel scoring heavily in every race unless they have a problem.

Lewis will be glad to have got the better of Rosberg who was beginning to look increasingly dominant within the team. He says he still finds it difficult to brake the way he likes, but with time that will come.

Lotus suffer another poor weekend

If the rumours are true and Kimi Raikkonen is being courted by Red Bull then displays like this might convince him to make the move away from Enstone. A lowly 9th after starting 10th with no real signs of consistent pace was a poor return after a pretty rubbish Monaco.

They tried to make a one stop work, but it was no good and he was well off the pace in the first stint particularly, possibly down to having to work the tyres so hard when he was battling Ricciardo. This leaves him 44 points off Vettel in the title race. They need to step up their game quickly.

Lotus also dropped to fourth in the constructors, not helped by Romain Grosjean suffering another poor weekend. He started last after a grid penalty from Monaco, and eventually had to concede a one stop wasn’t working and that lost him any chance of a good points finish. For a team which prides itself on looking after the tyres, this was not good at all.

Rest of the top 10

Mark Webber potentially could have had a podium. Once he’d passed Rosberg he set about catching Lewis and pulling away from Alonso, but a clash with Geido Van der Garde’s Caterham while lapping him lost Webber a bit of front wing and after trying to stay with it he faded to a still decent fourth.

Rosberg’s shot at a podium dived when his rear tyres were over-heating, he was the only one to do a three stopper, so in the end fifth was pretty good.

Massa battled with everyone but the leaders and eventually got himself up into the points to take eighth. He suffered a qualifying ending accident, so at the British Grand Prix he’d probably not like to make it three weekends in a row with a big crash.

Adrian Sutil got the final point after surviving a spin while trying to get passed Bottas and being savaged by Maldonado in the other Williams.

Reflection and Future

It was a good race, not a great one. I wonder if we consistently got races like this if people would stop moaning about the tyres degrading all the time. It wasn’t helped by Vettel being so in control, however it was nice to know they were all going flat out for most of the race.

British Grand Prix in three weeks, Vettel has over a race win advantage now, if anyone is going to mount a challenge, Silverstone is as good a place as any to start it.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

The Canadian Forecast

It’s the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, so it’s time for a Pablo’s forecast. First of all at the time of writing, it looks like it could be a gloomy qualifying with rain likely, but the race is likely to take place on a dry track. Of course that’s all subject to change as ever.

Canada is a track full of long straights and not overly fast corners, meaning good traction and a good top speed are essential requirements around here. In years gone by we’ve had races dictated by the tyres, not least the 2010 race which served as a benchmark to how the FIA wanted the Pirelli tyres to behave. Canada has a lot to answer for! But in general it has a low grip surface and because of the lack of fast corners the tyres should hold up well, a 1 or 2 stop race is generally the preferred strategy in years gone by.

Pirelli are bringing the medium and super soft tyre to this race, they are not bringing any new compound or construction to be raced. With tyre wear not expected to be too critical this could mean Mercedes are again a major factor. They have been renowned for their straight line speed for a long time now, I fully expect a Mercedes driver to be on pole position again.

However, I’m not sure they’ll have it their own way like they did at Monaco. There it’s never easy to pass so they could dictate the pace, which was very slow in the early laps. In Montreal it’s a much easier place to pass, in fact there probably isn’t any need for a DRS zone, so it's annoying there's two; one on the back straight after the hairpin and the second on the start finish straight.

So with that in mind, if they can’t choose the pace they want to run at I don’t expect the silver cars to be still heading the pack by the end of the race. I do think Lewis Hamilton will show improved form this weekend. He’s been out-qualified by his team mate for three consecutive races and comprehensively out performed for the last two.

He needs to show some form, he was expected to come into the team and dominate it, but Nico Rosberg has already shown one world champion he wasn’t to be messed with, he’s doing the same to Lewis at the moment.

Hamilton is the current king of Montreal though, three times a winner and he always goes well here. If there’s any place for him to start reasserting himself, it’s here. If Nico continues his recent pole run, then the questions which are already being asked about Lewis, will get louder.

Lotus and Ferrari had poor weekends last time out and both will desperately want to get back to the top of the podium. Of these two teams, I see Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen as the one most likely to take victory.

As I’ve said it’s easier to pass around here, the Lotus is good on its tyres as always so potentially could make a pit stop less than its rivals, and I think judging from past performances would still have the pace to hold any late two stoppers off. Having said that though, Hamilton proved last year making an extra stop was the way forward rather than trying to get to the end. It'll be interesting to see how Lotus approach this, I still think they'll have the edge on race pace as they'll be able to push the tyres harder even if they make the same amount of stops as everyone else.

While we're talking about Lotus expect to see Romain Grosjean bounce back after a torrid weekend in Monaco where he suffered no less than four separate incidents including mounting Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso. The Frenchman went well in Montreal last year when he finished second, if the race had been a few laps longer he probably would have won.

He needs a complete fast trouble free weekend, and despite the close proximity of the walls around there, this is the track he can do it on. He seems like a decent guy, and extremely fast, it would be a shame if he threw his Formula 1 opportunity away.

Fernando Alonso seemed subdued in Monaco, yes there were a few debris issues hurting the aerodynamics but he was caught out three times by passing moves which normally he would have seen coming.

He’s won once before in Canada but not since 2006. Alonso is more than capable of grabbing a podium here and he needs one if Ferrari is to make use of their best car in ages, they need to cut out the mistakes they weren’t making last year too. They didn’t have the pace in Monaco, they’ll be hoping that that was just blip. They’ll also not want any inexplicable crashes for Felipe Massa.

Of course the chances of a safety car here are extremely high, it’s not often a race in Canada doesn’t have a road going Mercedes heading the pack, and in this case that’s the only way I see Sebastian Vettel winning, or maybe even on the podium. However, he’ll almost certainly be near and definitely in the top 5, he’s been the most consistent out there this year, and I expect this to continue. He’s learnt something from Alonso last year and he just keeps on getting better.

Red Bull has never won here, and I don’t think they will this year either. It’s not a track that requires the huge downforce that an Adrian Newey designed car brings to the table, often over the last few years this is when other teams can come to the fore to steal their glory.

McLaren won’t be winning this year, they’ve taken the last three wins but I don’t think they have a chance. They’re getting better and I think they will again get both cars in the top 10 in Q3, but they’re not going to be repeating past glories any time soon.

Sergio Perez getting the better of Jenson Button again thought? That’s an interesting question and one I shall answer conclusively. No, Button is good around here, he should be the lead driver but I think Perez will be close, maybe even close enough to try a cheeky move which I’m sure will please Button no end.

Perez I’m sure will be talked about again in the drivers briefing but I don’t think he’s done much wrong, perhaps a little over exuberant but nothing dangerous.

My final race prediction is that a Force India will end up on the podium. I know I said this last time but historically in previous guises this team have done well in Montreal and in their current guise they have always been good at fast tracks. I’m going to go with Paul di Resta to take their first podium since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix.

They’re in a similar situation to Lotus with tyres and could make a one stop work. We’ll see what happens there.

Of course tyre testing will still be a major talking point over the weekend, especially as Ferrari have now been brought into the debate, but seen as they were using a two year old car with a completely different suspension layout I don't really see they have a case to answer like Mercedes who used the current car, and who apparently altered their approach to the tyres after the test in Barcelona. It'll be interesting to see just how well they use the tyres in Canada.

Finally, here’s a few extra teasers, a Marussia or Caterham will finish last, Sauber will improve, a Toro Rosso will get into Q3, Williams will not improve and the title race is set to close up again. Should be an interesting and very open race this weekend, but one I feel Kimi will not be disappointed with.

all photo's from autosport.com

Lewis Hamilton takes thrilling win in Canada

McLaren told Lewis Hamilton to charge and charge he did. At the start of lap 51 he pitted from the lead for his second pit stop. He’d wanted clarification that Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel would also pit, he was assured they would; but as the laps ticked by it became clearer that they were trying to make it on just one stop.

Lewis wasn’t going to give this one up though, he went on full attack mode and the race for victory came alive. In truth, it was more a matter of when he caught and passed them rather than if. The Ferrari and Red Bull tyres were waning and on fresh rubber he was catching them at well over a second per lap.

Exiting the pits he was around 14 seconds back, but fastest lap after fastest lap, bouncing off the kerbs going flat out brought him on to the tail of Vettel in just 11 laps. He waited for the DRS zone on the back straight and activated. He swept pass, Vettel not even offering a defence. The Red Bull pitted a lap later.

Within a lap Hamilton had caught Alonso, on lap 64 he challenged him all the way round the circuit, dancing in the Ferrari’s mirrors, and into the hairpin looked for the lead. He was aware though that the DRS zone was just round the corner and backed out of it.

Onto the straight Alonso defended but it was no use, the McLaren was way past before the final chicane, and McLaren breathed a sigh of relief as there’d be little doubt Hamilton would have been pretty annoyed if victory didn’t come his way this time.

In the end it was a good thing he had stopped a second time as Alonso and Vettel dropped out of podium contention. It was a great drive by Hamilton, he shadowed Vettel in the early stages, those two and Alonso often covered by under three seconds, before passing him during the first round of pit stops by staying out a lap longer.

Alonso went two laps further, pitting on lap 18 for the soft tyres and exited ahead of both Hamilton and Vettel, but Hamilton was too strong passing the Ferrari in the DRS zone before pulling out a fairly comfortable gap.

Then came the charge back to the front to secure his first victory of the year and become the seventh different winner in seven races.

His early race rivals couldn’t even stay on the podium, Alonso persevered on a one stop but fell back to fifth as his tyres died, while Vettel eventually resorted to a second pit stop and gained on Alonso at up to four seconds per lap to take fourth but couldn’t quite get back on the podium.  Vettel’s pole lap had been truly brilliant, but didn’t quite have the pace to win today even if he’d pitted earlier.

This was Hamilton’s day and it was about time too, he probably could and should have won earlier in the season, but his consistency has deserved a victory and it’s taken him back to the top of the championship standings.

One stop strategies executed well

Romain Grosjean for Lotus and the Sauber of Sergio Perez showed a one stop strategy could actually work, but both strategies were quite different.

Grosjean stopped only two laps after Alonso, switching from the super-softs to the softs. He’d been stuck behind Nico Rosberg for a long time in 7th, but exited ahead and just let the race come to him from there. 

Despite having run 50 laps on this set of tyres by the end he was actually not that far away from the winner. His pace was astonishing given how early he stopped, and once Lewis had taken the lead it didn’t take long for Grosjean to take Alonso for second place just a lap later.

The way he kept his tyres together shows both his and the Lotus’ qualities in conservation, and he exploited this brilliantly. He’s really taking his second chance at Formula 1 well, despite the number of collisions he’s had. If he survives the first few laps he’s proving he can deliver great results.

Perez differed slightly with his strategy. He’d started on the soft tyres from 15th and didn’t stop until lap 41 to switch to the super-softs. He’d been stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen but one lap extra before pitting brought him out ahead, but he just lost out to Rosberg.

However all was not lost as the two stoppers got out of his way. Lap 57 Felipe Massa was losing all his grip in fifth, entering the final chicane Rosberg tried to go round the outside, but was too fast and cut the final chicane. He had to give the place back, Massa retook as Perez latched himself onto the back of the Ferrari on the start finish straight. Rosberg couldn’t close the door and around the outside into turn 1 went Perez.

A good opportunistic move that allowed him to pass Massa as well at the end of the lap, he banged in a few fastest laps while he was at it and started to catch Vettel and Alonso. After Vettel pitted he began the charge on Alonso and made the move he wished he could have done in Malaysia to secure his second podium in third.

So a one stop was the way to go if your car allowed it, McLaren knew they couldn’t do it, Ferrari and Red Bull were optimistic, but Lotus and Sauber with star drives from Grosjean and Perez made it work.

Struggling World Champions

What’s going on with Jenson Button? He has only scored two points in four races now; he just can’t make the tyres work for him. While others were working a one stop, Button’s McLaren pitted three times, and each time the situation failed to improve. 

Being lapped by your winning team mate will be hard to take, but what’s worse is that he has no idea why he can’t get the same performance?

Meanwhile at Mercedes, the other struggling world champion had been confident of a good weekend. It all fell apart as bad luck struck again for Michael Schumacher. His qualifying had been compromised by not quite starting his final lap in time leaving him ninth. He ran close in the pack, but pitted too early and got stuck in traffic unable to pass.

He certainly wasn’t going to lose a good result this time, but it would have been galling none the less to have his DRS stick open resulting in retirement while his team mate Rosberg ran relatively trouble free to finish sixth. Two points from seven races is certainly not a fair reflection, Mercedes have apologised to him but must offer him a reliable car sooner rather than later.

Rest of the top 10

Rosberg had quite the train behind him at the start but once he switched to softs his pace came, but he couldn’t quite keep it up, and whereas Perez passed him only 12 laps from the end and ended up on the podium, Rosberg could not take advantage of the flailing front runners.

Seventh was Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, he ran fourth early on but got stuck behind one stoppers after his first pit stop. From there he was never really a factor especially after his second stop, but did well to hold off Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus who finished eighth.

Kimi looked to be strong, but he certainly didn’t have the pace of his team mate today. He ran the same strategy as podium finisher Perez but just couldn’t keep up. He’s only two points ahead of his team mate now. I wonder if the steering he’s complained about before is still bothering him as after a positive start to the season he’s waned a bit the last two races.

Kamui Kobayashi started four places ahead of his team mate Perez and ended up six behind. Another to never really have clear air and be stuck behind Paul di Resta’s Force India like Schumacher, didn’t get the breaks, but still two points isn’t so bad.

Felipe Massa’s point for 10^th will be classed as bad. He made easy work of Rosberg on lap two to be fifth, but spun it away at turn one a few laps later. From then on he was stuck in traffic for a long time, but was running fifth again when attempting to get to the end on just the one pit appearance.

His tyres screamed enough and after losing places he pitted to at least get something from the race.

Paul di Resta looked good up until his first pit stop. He passed Rosberg and after Massa’s spin was lying fifth, but once new tyres were fitted he was another to run in traffic and his pace faltered and he ended up 11^th, still ahead of his Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg though.

It was a day to forget for Williams even though Pastor Maldonado gained nine positions to finish 13^th after a gearbox change forced him to start from 22^nd. Toro Rosso again didn’t show good pace, while Caterham managed to bring both cars home, Marussia got one back while HRT failed with both.

Brief reflections and looking ahead

Canada certainly came alive towards the end of the race as the tyres and differing strategies collided to spark it into life. Perhaps if the DRS zone had been less easy to pass on, it might have made Hamilton’s charge back a bit more difficult and track position might well have been king.

Unfortunately for Alonso and Vettel though their tyres were just not capable of withstanding any attack anyway. No, today McLaren finally got it right again and Hamilton was there for the win to now lead the title race by two points from Alonso, and three from Vettel, with Webber only a further six behind.

It has again sparked questions about whether the tyres have too much influence over the racing, Sky guest pundit Jacques Villeneuve was quite forthright that the tyres give up too quickly and don’t offer the driver enough warning to perhaps alter strategy in time.

However, we’re back to Europe now and the European Grand Prix in Valencia and if any race needs unpredictability it’s this one. Still the tyres will continue to throw up random results, but it’s the guys you’d expect at the top of the points table. Surely by now we’re running out of new 2012 winners, it’s time for someone to double up and steal a march on this year’s championship hunt.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Is F1 2012 as random as you think?

2012 is turning out to be one of the most mixed up seasons Formula 1 has ever had, or at least that’s how it appears to be. A cursory glance at the championship table tells a slightly different story.

To me at least a top four of Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton seems like the kind of drivers you’d expect to be heading up the standings after six races.

It’s good that other teams are having a chance to shine, Sauber with Sergio Perez was awesome to watch in Malaysia as he just failed to hunt down Fernando Alonso while Pastor Maldonado’s triumph for Williams was a real fillip. 

Lotus will certainly continue to challenge, in former guises they were championship winners. But it’s the current team of the moment Red Bull and the decades of championship winning of Ferrari and McLaren which are making their experience tell with Mercedes holding on.

As much as unexpected teams may fight for top results and this takes away points from the top teams, it’s their ability to maximise whatever result is available to them on a given race that sees them ahead in the points.

But having said that, a quick scan of the results so far this year shows that of the 18 podium positions that have been available from the first six races, only five have been taken from teams who didn’t finish in the top four of the 2011 constructors championship.

And three of those came from Lotus, who as Renault last year finished fifth in the constructors championship. No matter what the rules throw at them, the best teams even if they appear to struggle will always rise to the top. 

It’s just they’ve all had a go from the off and no ones managed to hold on to a race winning pace from event to event which is why we’re hearing how much of a lottery it is, but they're all still lurking near by.

The racing has been brilliant, but its interesting to note that despite the excitement the winner of five of the six races has either lead into the first corner or started from pole position.

It’s still a very open season, but as I touched upon in my Monaco race report, we have our championship contenders and there’s no real surprise with who they are. Although you do have to say with Ferrari looking so poor at the start of the season, the fact he leads the title race is all the more impressive, but it goes back to what I was saying, damage limitation and maximising whatever you can get out of a weekend if it’s not going right for you.

Something that McLaren must get back on top of. Lewis Hamilton has been very consistent but surprisingly hasn’t actually scored a victory and he's seen his teams race pace slip away since the start of the season. He’s begun to criticise the team a bit after their pit stop failings, something that still hasn’t been cured, so there’s little wonder there are suggestions he might be on the move at the end of the season.

Jenson Button has slipped away despite a win, he’s only scored two points from the last three races as he struggles with the lottery inspired Pirelli’s but obviously it’s way too early to rule him out, he's only just over a wins worth of points away from Alonso, but this year is that already too much?

Red Bull are the only team to have scored two wins so far this year but despite their relatively poor qualifying form, they have had great race pace which has brought them back into play. Vettel and Webber are a lot more evenly matched than last year with the absence of blown diffusers, which Webber could never quite get on top of as well as Vettel.

Question mark about Red Bull is how the intra-team rivalry will shake out as 2011 was calm as Vettel obliterated everyone, but with a more equal footing will we return to the tense infighting of 2010? It’ll be interesting to see how that goes down.

There could still be a surprise championship winner though.

The only ones to me that realistically could spring one are Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus who has been tremendously consistent mostly, and probably should have had two wins already. Nico Rosberg has a win and is only four points back from Hamilton, and is generally a fairly consistent driver too given the equipment.

And that’s it this year, consistency is key, Alonso has scored points in every race so far including his win, while winless Lewis has done the same but is only thirteen points off, despite Mark Webber saying wins will be key, which of course they will be, but scoring points when you can’t win will be essential too.

Canada Preview – Seven from seven?

Canada is next up and it’s not unrealistic to think of a seventh winner from seven races. Michael Schumacher was strong in Monaco and Mercedes should be good in Canada where he’s won seven times already.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has long straights and slow corners, with Mercedes double DRS they’re sure to be on for at least pole position, and as they proved in Monaco, they’re not bad with traction out of slower turns.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are always worth a bet this year, and are due a win given their competitiveness in general, although you’d have to side with Kimi to be the one who’d actually bring the car home.

Lewis Hamilton needs a win too, he’s always been strong in Canada. But who is most likely to double up for the first time this year?

Mercedes are the most hotly tipped for Canada, so if not Schuey, then Nico Rosberg looks to be the favourite for a second victory of the year. Then again, anything can happen, there was lots (and lots) of rain last year and that can throw up an even more unpredictable result than even Pirelli could try and provide.

It'll also be interesting to see how Red Bull do now the hole just before the rear wheels which directed air and exhaust gases towards the diffuser has been declared illegal by the FIA. That area of the car must be impervious, although slots that come to the edge of the floor are allowed.

But after the FIA had declared it legal before and the stewards have passed the car for several races, it's a bit of an odd decision, but it's happened before and it'll happen again.

Whatever happens the main contenders will all be there scrapping for points, making the title fight close and exciting but not quite the mixed up lottery that we’re lead to believe.