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The Canadian Grand Prix is one of the most celebrated races in the Formula one calendar but the grand prix has had its own ups and downs. In 2005, the Canadian grand prix was the most watched Formula one grand prix in the world and was also the third most watched sporting event in the world after the SuperBowl XXXIX and the UEFA Champions League final. But the race was dropped from the 2009 Formula one calendar after no proper agreement could be reached between the Government and the formula one governing body the FIA. But then after a lot of talks, finally an agreement between the two was reached for a period of 5 year from 2010 to 2014 after the Canadian government agreed to pay 15 million dollars to the FIA for holding races in Montreal, Canada.
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This track also has a bit of history attached with it. This was first circuit ever when two brothers in the formula one history grabbed the 1st and 2nd when brothers Ralf and Michael Schumacher took the podium finishes in 2001. They both once again produced the same results in the year 2004 as well. This is also the circuit where the British Lewis Hamilton won his first ever formula one victory in 2007.
And as they say there are two sides to every glory, the circuit also has its dark history of crashes. The wall on the first corner of the circuit became well known for its crashes with the list of victims involving the world champions, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg, Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya , Jenson Button and its latest addition the current world champion Sebastian Vettel. The wall is now popularly called as the Wall of Champions.
As far as the first two days were concerned, the practice sessions and the three qualifying sessions of the Canadian grand prix were fully action packed, days that ne yearns for in the Formula One. These were one of the most difficult conditions for the drivers so far in this season, the track was very slippery and drivers were finding it hard to find proper grip even with the super soft tires. Even the slightest mistakes from the drivers saw them crashing into the side walls, as we saw the defending world champion Sebastian Vettel and team Sauber driver Kamui Kobayshi hitting the kerb and smashing the wall and putting them out of the practice sessions on Friday. The practice session saw the two Ferraris topping the chart with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa getting the best practice session result so far.
But nothing much can be judged from the practice session result as the teams are only trying to gather the maximum information from the track, checking the car balance and testing the best tire combination. And this is what exactly happened on the qualifying sessions. Felipe Massa was topping the charts up until the 2nd qualifying when Sebastian Vettel pushed the RB07 to the limit and drove flawlessly to produce an unbeatable lap timing of 1:13:014 in the final shoot out and took a well deserving pole position. A lot more was expected from Fernando Alonso who was looking very confident after the practice sessions, he was good but maybe was not good enough to beat the time set by Sebastian Vettel which seemed like a colossal task for the other drivers to overcome.
Things were also looking pretty good from force India’s point of view. Paul di Resta had brilliant practice sessions, found the right balance in the car when the other drivers were really struggling to do so. He finished a very impressive 6th in the practice session but again as they say, nothing much can predicted from these results, he was unable to get into the top 10 drivers of Q2 to further qualify for the final shoot out. He had to finally be content with an 11th position on the grid.
Team Sauber had their own set of problems when their frontline driver Sergio Perez after the first qualifying session declared that he was not 100% fit and would not be able to participate in the following qualifying and race day until he was fully fit. His place has been duly filled up by their test driver Pedro del a Rosa. The Sauber team did a fantastic job in getting all the changes done for their new driver within the required time to get the car ready for the afternoon practice session. Del a Rosa did not try to fancy things too much and just tried to run maximum number of laps to get accustomed to the car as much as he could before the qualifying sessions and the race day.
The final line up for the Sunday race day is Vettel, then Alonso, and then Massa on the pole positions. And then Webber, Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Button, Schumacher, Petrov and Nick Heidfeld constituting the other top ten drivers on the starting grid. It is definitely going be a tough battle the Red Bull, Team McLaren and Ferrari and going away with a victory will not be easy for Sebastian Vettel. We also expect a much better performance from the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton who won the race last year. The spectators would love to see it rain here today to make things even more exciting. This race is going to be full of drama and emotions and we just cannot wait to see all the red lights going out for the Canadian grand prix.
