Canadian GP 2013 - An exhaustive preview

After a two week break, Formula 1 heads to Montreal and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which hosts the universally popular Canadian Grand Prix. The proximity of the barriers, the threat of rain and an electric atmosphere contributes to make the race one of the fan favourites, as well as one where an upset can occur. But in 2013, the race may well be overshadowed by the news that Mercedes face an FIA international tribunal following their controversial tyre test with Pirelli last month.

Sebastian Vettel arrives in North America with a comfortable lead in the championship, but Red Bull has yet to win a race in Montreal. The characteristics of the circuit has never played to the team’s strengths, although Vettel came close to winning in 2011. Mercedes arrive as the form team, after Nico Rosberg’s dominant performance in Monaco. Will they be able to secure a fifth successive pole position? Rosberg may well face a greater challenge from Lewis Hamilton, who has won three times in Montreal. But with the Brit admitting struggles with his brakes, will Rosberg continue to stamp his authority at a circuit notorious for braking prowess?

History

Mosport Park and Mont Tremblant hosted a few Formula 1 races before the series found a permanent home at the Ile Notre Dame in 1978. That race was won by home hero Gilles Villeneuve and the circuit was named after him following his death in 1982. But that race, too, was marred by tragedy as Riccardo Paletti was killed after striking the stalled car of Didier Pironi. The track was modified to its current layout in 1987 after the race was cancelled for a season following a sponsorship dispute. The remodelled layout has played host to some iconic moments in Formula 1 history: in 1991, leader Nigel Mansell’s Williams crawled to a halt on the final lap while four years later Jean Alesi claimed his only Grand Prix win, doing so in the Ferrari #27 that had been immortalised by Villeneuve. Gilles’s son Jacques never won in Montreal, but he was one of the victims of the ‘Wall of Champions’. Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill also crashed at the tricky final chicane, giving the corner its nickname. Jenson Button and Vettel have also fallen foul to the chicane in recent seasons. The 2007 event is remembered not only for Hamilton’s maiden win, but also Robert Kubica’s horrifying crash and Takuma Sato’s heroic run to sixth for Super Aguri. Kubica recovered from his accident and later secured his sole Grand Prix win at the circuit a year later. Two years ago, Button stormed from the back of the field to secure an astonishing win after a race that had been suspended due to heavy rain.

Facts and information

The circuit has been tweaked slightly since last season as grass on the exit of turn eight has been replaced by tarmac. There will be two DRS zones: the back straight and the start/finish straight. There will be only one activation point, which is located 110 metres after turn nine. The FIA driver steward for this race will be Martin Donnelly. On the driver front, Lewis Hamilton is the most successful active driver in Canada having taken three wins – and retired on the other two occasions. Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have each won the race once.

Timetable (Local time, GMT-4)

Friday 7th June

Practice One – 10:00 Practice Two – 14:00 Saturday 8th June

Practice Three – 10:00 Qualifying – 13:00 Sunday 9th June

Race – 14:00

2012 Canadian Grand Prix

As required by the qualifying regulations, the top 9 qualifiers all started on the faster red-banded super soft tyres, with 10th placed Jenson Button, who did not set a time in Q3, choosing to start on the yellow-banded softs. The remaining drivers had a choice of tyres; Kimi Räikkönen, Nico Hülkenberg, Sergio Pérez, Pastor Maldonado and Pedro de la Rosa opted for the softs, the remainder for the super softs.

The race got off to a clean start, with Sebastian Vettel taking the early lead from pole. There were no big changes behind him with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa all staying in their respective places. Pastor Maldonado made up a few places after starting 22nd. Massa passed Rosberg for fifth soon after, with the latter soon losing another spot to Paul di Resta. Di Resta was unable to keep the pace of the top 5, and a gap formed up between the first 5 and the rest of the pack. Massa had started closing in on Webber after passing Rosberg, but he then spun and dropped down to 12th, at the tail of the second group led by di Resta. At the head of the field, Vettel built a two second lead in the first four laps over Hamilton, but then Hamilton slowly started reeling him back in as the super softs slowly began to wear out. Before the first round of pit stops, Hamilton closed right up to Vettel and started to get held up, with Fernando Alonso taking the opportunity to join the leading two. The stops started as early as lap 13 for Massa, and on lap 14 for di Resta and Michael Schumacher. Vettel stayed until lap 16 before pitting, handing the lead to Hamilton who came in on the next lap and rejoined ahead of Vettel, despite a slow pitstop.

After starting in fifteenth place, Sergio Pérez conserved his tyres to finish in third place and take the second podium finish of his career. Alonso stayed out two laps longer than Hamilton and, helped by a quick pitstop was able to rejoin in second place, ahead of Hamilton and Vettel and only behind temporary leader Romain Grosjean who was yet to pit. Hamilton immediately attacked him in the DRS zone on the same lap and succeeded to take 2nd place, which became the lead two laps later when Grosjean pitted. Webber was unable to keep up with the leading trio in the first stint and thus, after his stop rejoined behind the yet to stop Sergio Pérez and Kimi Räikkönen, and got held up behind the duo. This left the leading trio of Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel with a gap around 15 seconds to the rest of the field, with the McLaren driver being able to edge out a lead over his two pursuers. On lap 24 Narain Karthikeyan was the first retirement after spinning on turn 1 and pulling over shortly afterwards. Shortly afterwards, his HRT team-mate Pedro de la Rosa stopped in the pits with worn-out brakes and didn’t re-emerge.

Fernando Alonso led for 17 laps of the race, but his tyres degraded near the end and he quickly lost four places, slipping to fifth. Räikkönen and Pérez, running 4th and 5th having started on the soft tyres both had a long first stint as they tried to make the race on a single stop. With Webber being held up behind the duo, this allowed both Grosjean and Nico Rosberg to close up on him. Rosberg made his second stop on lap 40, one lap before Räikkönen made his only stop. Räikkönen rejoined in front of Rosberg, but Rosberg was able to pass him in the DRS zone on the same lap, just as Hamilton did on Alonso earlier. Pérez made his stop on lap 42 and rejoined in between the duo, in 8th place. Michael Schumacher’s run of bad luck continued when he left the pits on lap 43 with his DRS flap open was running 9th. He returned to the pits but the team were unable to close the flap, forcing his retirement. Hamilton was able to open up a four-second lead over Alonso, with Vettel being initially held up by the Spainard, but unable to keep up with him as the Ferrari driver found the grip in his tyres. As the stint wore on, Alonso was able to pull clear of Vettel and close down Hamilton’s lead to just over two seconds, and Hamilton decided to make a second stop for new tyres. He rejoined in third, 9.5 seconds behind Vettel and 13 behind Alonso, and just ahead of Webber and Grosjean who were fighting for 4th. Both Alonso and Vettel realized that they do not have enough of a gap to make another stop and rejoin ahead of Hamilton, so they stayed out and attempted to complete the race without stopping again in an attempt to win.

Lewis Hamilton took the race victory to become the seventh different winner from the opening seven rounds of the 2012 season. The battles continued to rage behind the leading trio, as Grosjean started to attack 4th placed Webber. The Red Bull driver decided to make a second pitstop for new tyres and rejoined in 8th place, behind Rosberg and Pérez, but ahead of Räikkönen. Felipe Massa, who was unable to regain the places he lost due to his spin, was now back up to 5th place as he too attempted a one-stopper. That did not work out however, and Rosberg had closed right up to him by lap 55, and brought Pérez, Webber and Räikkönen along. Rosberg attacked Massa on the DRS zone, but overshot the last chicane and had to give the position back. Pérez took advantage of this and was right behind Massa, which meant that he too was able to get the jump on Rosberg when he handed the place back to Massa. He then passed Massa on the same lap, with Rosberg also going through – this time doing the job cleanly. The Brazilian had enough, and pitted for a new set of tyres and rejoined in 10th place, where he stayed till the end.

Hamilton on his newer tyres was rapidly gaining on Alonso and Vettel at the front at over a second a lap. As the race entered the latter stages, the tyres of Alonso and Vettel had begun to totally wear out, and their lap times now dropped by three seconds a lap. Hamilton passed Vettel on lap 62, and Alonso two laps later to take the lead, but the tyres of the latter two were so worn that they were vulnerable to the rest of the field. Vettel decided to stop for new tyres on lap 64 and rejoined fifth behind Grosjean and Pérez, who had broken away from the battle between Rosberg, Webber and Räikkönen. Alonso decided to stay out on his totally worn tyres and was passed by Grosjean on lap 66, Pérez one lap later, and a charging Vettel on the penultmate lap. Lewis Hamilton had no trouble reeling off the last 6 laps once he had taken the lead and became the 7th different winner in seven races. Grosjean and Sergio Pérez achieved their 2nd career podium finishes as they finished second and third respectively. Vettel recovered to 4th, only 2 seconds behind Pérez at the flag. A frustrated Alonso dropped to 5th ahead of Rosberg who had an up and down race finishing 6th, fending off Webber and Räikkönen. Kamui Kobayashi finished a respectable 9th place in the other Sauber with Massa getting the final point in 10th.

Canadian GP 2013 Preview

After two races in Europe, Formula One once again moves into flyaway mode, travelling to Montreal and the Canadian Grand Prix. The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve hosts the seventh round of an enthralling 2013 FIA F1 World Championship.

Canada never fails to provide an entertaining grand prix. The high speeds and heavy braking zones make it a paradise for overtaking, while the unforgiving walls which hem in the race track on all sides provide a drama all of their own. Additionally, the weather rarely fails to play a part in the race: searing heat and tremendous downpours have both been commonplace in recent years – either of which can serve to turn race strategy on its head.

While the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve creates a host of challenges for engineers, the standout problem around its 4.361 kilometres is braking performance. The long, thin course is a stop-start race track, with a succession of straights broken up by chicanes and a hairpin. The combination of heavy braking zones and relatively short straights sees pads and discs pushed to their limits but denied decent intervals in which to cool down. It means brakes are pushed harder here than anywhere else on the Grand Prix calendar.

F1 comes to Canada with the familiar sight of Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing leading their respective World Championships – but neither the German driver nor his Anglo-Austrian team has demonstrated any conclusive superiority this term. Four teams have recorded victories in the opening six races of the season, and despite each proving itself capable of dominating under the right circumstances, none has reached the top step of the podium without being made to work exceptionally hard for the privilege. The Canadian Grand Prix promises no less.