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.

Moving teams, TV and half a car

There’s been lots of driver move chatter in the Formula 1 press this week, particularly focusing on Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber.

Hamilton is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the season, but what are his options? I can’t see him going to Ferrari to partner Fernando Alonso for obvious reasons, nor Red Bull where it may upset Sebastian Vettel’s equilibrium, although having said that rumours are that Red Bull boss Dieter Mateschitz thinks Hamilton’s image would fit well with the Red Bull brand.

Mercedes looks to be the most likely option if he moves but only if Schumacher retires, which I don’t think he will. So to me at least I think he’ll stay with McLaren.

The most interesting move, and I think entirely more probable is Mark Webber to Ferrari. Let’s face it, even with the improvement in form in Monaco, Felipe Massa’s days at Ferrari are probably numbered unless he somehow wins the title.

Webber is coming to the end of his career, he’s on a rolling one year contract with Red Bull. I think he’d expect to play second fiddle to Alonso, but we know he’s more than capable of upsetting the pecking order occasionally as seen in 2010.

I think if you’re going to end your career in a top car, why not with Ferrari? Webber and Alonso are great friends, and I think would work well together. Also I believe after four years of the same driver line up at Red Bull, they might believe it’s time for a change too.

They also might want to make sure a star is established such as Hamilton or a new coming star from their young driver programme in the event of Vettel leaving at the end of 2013 to go to Ferrari. Rumours go that he’s signed a pre-contract agreement with Ferrari depending on various performance clauses for next year, so Red Bull will want to combat that.

At the moment though, it’s all just rumours.

BBC vs Sky

Quick mention about the television coverage, the BBC have broadcast the last two races live and their quality has shown. Switching between them and Sky, you’re left with the impression that the only thing that holds Sky’s race coverage together is the large contingent of ex-BBC personnel, especially Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz.

The BBC have a great sense of camaraderie with their presenters, while Simon Lazenby for Sky is still coming across as nervous and prone to a few gaffes and not quite sure what to say or do. I’d quite like to see Georgie Thompson take the helm for a few races as she seems a much more natural presenter.

Lee McKenzie, the BBC pit lane reporter, will be taking over from Jake Humphrey for four of the next five races as Humphrey covers the European Championships and Olympics which is good for her as I still feel she’s under used in the coverage and has an obvious depth of knowledge.

BBC also seem to be a lot more relaxed with their sharing of the coverage typified by  the opening of the Monaco F1 forum on the red button. The opening shot was of the Sky team before you hear Jake Humphrey telling the cameraman he’s looking at the wrong presenters! I can't imagine Sky doing that at all.

Half an F1 car

Finally, it’s been in the press a bit, but if you missed it, below is a five minute video of a Sauber cut in half, showing you just how complex and compact a Formula 1 car is. It’s well worth checking out.