Canadian (Montreal) Grand Prix Preview

Will Mark Webber make it two in a row in Montreal?

The F1 circus heads to North America for the seventh round of Formula 1 world championship, and with six different winners from six races, the prospect of a seventh winner in the upcoming Montreal grand prix is quite an exciting one.

The Monaco Grand Prix proved to be a dampener as it was quite boring to see the cars circling around the track in the same order for much of the race. If we take into consideration the first six races, the Monaco grand prix seems to have performed the worst in terms of entertainment for the F1 fans.

The Montreal Grand Prix is a complete reverse of Monaco as the track has many places where drivers can overtake. Also, it must be taken into fact that before the arrival of Pirelli tyres, Montreal grand prix provided the largest number of overtakes every year, most notably in 2010, when we had the ever lasting Bridgestone tyres.

Montreal circuit is a street circuit and the track layout features two long straights and many medium to high speed corners. All this should play into the favour of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team, as with their double DRS, the speed advantage on the two long straights will give them a huge boost in terms of lap time. Michael Schumacher proved it in Monaco that he is still among the best drivers on F1 grid, so a possibility of Michael taking the win is always there. Also, the statistics look increasingly in favour of Michael as the Monaco Grand Prix is the seventh race of the season, Michael’s car number is 7 and he is a seven times F1 world champion. Therefore, a seventh different winner cannot be ruled out. Nico Rosberg has been the highest point scorer in last four races, so the young German will also be looking for a second win of the season after a strong second place in Monaco.

Coming to Red-Bull team, the chances of a win in Canadian Grand Prix doesn’t look too good as the two long straights will hurt the Red-Bull in terms of lap-time as they lack top speed. So the chances of a Red-Bull driver stepping on top of the podium are very slim. Lotus-Renault team are also in a similar position as Red-Bull as their car seems to be temperature sensitive, and when the temperature range drops of that window, the car seems to be a handful to drive. So, how the Lotus team fares out in Canada will depend on how they adapt their car to varying temperatures.

Mclaren-Mercedes team continues to be in dilemma as they have failed to get pace out of their car in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. Considering where they were after first three races, it is a huge surprise as Mclaren clearly looked the dominant car up-till China. Lewis Hamilton is still in the hunt for the championship and has been scoring points consistently this season, but he desperately needs a win. On the other hand, Jenson Button looks like he has reached a dead-end as he seems to be unhappy with whatever setup the team gives him. So he will have to sort out those balance issues quickly or will get bogged down by the immensly competitive 2012 F1 grid.

At Ferrari, the things are to get better and better with both of their drivers performing at their best. Felipe Massa’s return to form will be a relief for the Ferrari team as they need both of their drivers in points to fight for the constructor’s championship. The team will obviously be hoping to fight for podium or even a win after strong perfomances in the last two races.

Coming to midfield bunch, Sauber and Williams have shown strong pace in the last two races but have failed to transform it into results, so they will be hoping to mix up again with the top guys and get a decent haul of points. Sergio Perez drove an impressive race in Monte Carlo and he was the only driver to have attempted some legitimate overtaking moves. Pastor Maldanado will also be hoping for a repeat of Spanish Grand Prix perfomance after a disastrous Monaco Grand Prix.

Force India managed to get decent haul of points in Monaco and they will be looking to continue their impressive form in Montreal.

For Caterham, Marrusia and HRT Montreal Grand Prix will again be a race against themselves as they try to close the gap to the midfield bunch.

Pirelli is again going to bring supersoft and soft tyres and with abrasive street surface of Montreal track, tyre strategy is going to be very crucial.