Canadian Grand Prix - Race Preview

The infamous ‘Wall of Champions’, the boat ride to get to the paddock, the atmosphere of the passionate fans and the name of a truly great Formula 1 driver – The Canadian Grand Prix is here. Conducted at the 4.36 km-long Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve at Montreal, it is the seventh race in the Formula 1 calendar.

Last year, Lewis Hamilton won the race followed by Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez. This year we can expect anything but the same result. The Mercedes of Hamilton will be back struggling with tyre-issues, considering the temperature and the track in Canada. Grosjean needs to pull himself together to have any realistic chance of securing a podium finish and Sergio Perez is driving a McLaren this season. I needn’t say more.

Many long straights mean high speed would be the talk of the track, along with relatively lower-downforce compared to Monaco due to the lesser amount of gravity-testing turns. The continued dependence on preserving the tyres will be the key to winning at Montreal.

After going through hell at the Principality, Ferrari will look to bounce back and their car is probably the best suited to take on the challenges of this track. Red Bull come in second followed by, unexpectedly, Force India.

Force India participate in their 100th Grand prix this weekend and for all you know, they might actually win a podium place. The team’s car has an incredible top speed, notching fastest speeds in almost all the races so far. They also have a good setup that favours the quick-degrading Pirelli tyres, meaning they have a chance of grabbing headlines come Monday morning.

Red Bull, after a very positive weekend at Monaco, will look to give Sebastian Vettel his first ever win at Canada. The triple world champion hasn’t yet won on the circuit but has followed in the footsteps of legendary champions by de-facing the last turn of the track a.k.a ‘Wall of Champions’.

The tyres could play a major part, as always, in the outcome of the Canadian GP.

Mercedes have a great top speed, too. They also have a good aero package that helps in the downforce but they haven’t solved their tyre problems yet, despite controversially testing with the Italian giants in April.

McLaren are on a rise; their performances have improved significantly over the past couple of races but them challenging the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari could be termed optimistic. Sergio Perez is proving his mettle, Jenson Button continues his love for complaining on the radio and the team as such are beginning to ponder as to why they let Lewis Hamilton leave.

Kimi Raikkonen and his team at Lotus could manage another podium for sure but it’d probably be just one driver. The other driver, who I needn’t name time and again, will be hoping for a ‘clean’ race, to safely put it.

Raikkonen has won on this track during his McLaren days and has otherwise performed well on the circuit. His test would be to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull, which at this point of time, given their cars and their drivers, could be hard. Lotus are known to be extremely light on their tyres and with Pirelli expecting a minimum of two stops this race, it could work in the favour of the Finn.

Overall, it could be an incredible race to watch. As always, it’s amongst the most watched races in the year and that is because of a reason.

Given the drama in Monaco and the way the drivers (especially Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo) reacted to it, Canada will surely excite.