Canadian Grand Prix : 8 June '08

Kuali Baba SG

Track: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal
Laps: 71
Race start: 0100 HRS SIN (Monday morning)

The F1 circus heads across the pond for what is now the only race in North America. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is set on an island in the Olympic rowing basin, on the former site of the World Expo. It is a fast circuit punctuated by chicanes and slow corners, and the racing, the atmosphere and the crowds usually good.

The cars will be set up using low downforce settings in order to avoid getting passed during the race. Of all the tracks on the calendar, this one is the toughest on the brakes, and brake failure here is not unheard of. It also punishes the rear tyes with plenty of hard acceleration, and the drivers will not be helped by the lack of traction control this year.

The tarmac provides little grip as it is not often used for racing throughout the year. Overtaking is thus difficult, compounded by the high number of "marbles" left off the racing line by the tyres. However, rain is predicted for this weekend and if it happens, it will help to clear the dust and debris.

Lewis Hamilton returns to the venue of his maiden F1 victory as championship leader. The McLaren is known to ride the kerbs well and it should be a tight contest between the frontrunning teams once again.

Kuali Baba SG

Montreal free practice session one times

1. MASSA Ferrari 1m17.553s
2. KUBICA BMW 1m17.809s
3. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m18.133s
4. HEIDFELD BMW 1m18.182s
5. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m18.292s
6. HAMILTON McLaren 1m18.303s
7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m18.712s
8. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m18.809s
9. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m18.971s
10. ALONSO Renault 1m19.005s
11. ROSBERG Williams 1m19.093s
12. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m19.228s
13. GLOCK Toyota 1m19.346s
14. TRULLI Toyota 1m19.568s
15. FISICHELLA Force India 1m19.815s
16. SUTIL Force India 1m19.888s
17. PIQUET Renault 1m20.091s
18. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m20.173s
19. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m20.541s
20. BUTTON Honda 1m21.542s

566117 SG

Montreal free practice session two times

1. HAMILTON McLaren 1m15.752s
2. KUBICA BMW 1m16.023s

3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m16.093s
4. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m16.331s

5. MASSA Ferrari 1m16.413s

6. HEIDFELD BMW 1m16.589s

7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m16.604s

8. ROSBERG Williams 1m16.767s

9. VETTEL Toro Rosso 1m17.019s

10. TRULLI Toyota 1m17.068s

11. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m17.242s

12. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m17.334s

13. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m17.462s

14. FISICHELLA Force India 1m17.508s

15. GLOCK Toyota 1m17.549s

16. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m17.559s

17. ALONSO Renault 1m17.644s

18. SUTIL Force India 1m17.813s

19. BUTTON Honda 1m17.842s

20. PIQUET Renault 1m18.076s

Kuali Baba SG

Final Practice:

1 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:16.555 16
2 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.589 0.034 22
3 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.725 0.170 17
4 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:16.787 0.232 19
5 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:16.898 0.343 16
6 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:16.946 0.391 20
7 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:16.952 0.397 16
8 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:17.060 0.505 19
9 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:17.062 0.507 16
10 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 1:17.085 0.530 16
11 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:17.109 0.554 17
12 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:17.282 0.727 17
13 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:17.322 0.767 20
14 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:17.557 1.002 19
15 12 Timo Glock Toyota 1:17.557 1.002 20
16 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:17.608 1.053 24
17 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:17.683 1.128 16
18 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:17.766 1.211 17
19 16 Jenson Button Honda 1:18.178 1.623 19
20 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:18.424 1.869 21

Kuali Baba SG

Canadian GP provisional starting grid

1. HAMILTON McLaren
2. KUBICA BMW
3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
4. ALONSO Renault
5. ROSBERG Williams
6. MASSA Ferrari
7. KOVALAINEN McLaren
8. HEIDFELD BMW
9. BARRICHELLO Honda
10. WEBBER Red Bull
11. GLOCK Toyota
12. NAKAJIMA Williams
13. COULTHARD Red Bull
14. TRULLI Toyota
15. PIQUET Renault
16. SUTIL Force India
17. FISICHELLA Force India
18. BUTTON Honda
19. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso*
20. VETTEL Toro Rosso

*Drops 5 places for unscheduled gearbox change

566117 SG

Canadian GP result - 70 laps

1.  KUBICA       BMW
2.  HEIDFELD     BMW           +16.4s
3.  COULTHARD    Red Bull      +23.3s
4.  GLOCK        Toyota        +42.6s
5.  MASSA        Ferrari       +43.9s
6.  TRULLI       Toyota        +47.7s
7.  BARRICHELLO  Honda         +53.5s
8.  VETTEL       Toro Rosso    +54.1s
9.  KOVALAINEN   McLaren       +54.4s
10. ROSBERG      Williams      +57.7s
11. BUTTON       Honda         +67.5s
12. WEBBER       Red Bull      +71.2s
13. BOURDAIS     Toro Rosso    +1 lap
R.  FISICHELLA   Force India   +19 laps
R.  NAKAJIMA     Williams      +24 laps
R . ALONSO       Renault       +26 laps
R.  PIQUET       Renault       +31 laps
R.  RAIKKONEN    Ferrari       +51 laps
R.  HAMILTON     McLaren       +51 laps
R.  SUTIL        Force India   +57 laps

Fastest lap: RAIKKONEN 1m17.387s (lap 14)

Kuali Baba SG

Very pleased with the result as a Kubica/Kimi/Rubinho/Heikki fanboy, but what was Hamilton paying attention to?!

kajagugu SG

couldn't quite catch what the commentators said...but why was the pit lane red light on when the lane was open? they mentioned about the stupid rule.

a viewer asked in the post-race show and Alex Yoong mentioned it's a human error was it? the light controller forgot to switch to green?

dragg SG

both hamilton and rosberg penalised. 10 place relegation at the french race.

566117 SG

both hamilton and rosberg penalised. 10 place relegation at the french race.

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=42937

By the way, 4th consecutive fastest lap for Kimi. Wink

Kuali Baba SG

couldn't quite catch what the commentators said...but why was the pit lane red light on when the lane was open? they mentioned about the stupid rule.

a viewer asked in the post-race show and Alex Yoong mentioned it's a human error was it? the light controller forgot to switch to green?

The red light comes on when the safety car convoy is passing near the pitlane exit, and any driver that runs it gets disqualified. That's why Kimi and Robert stopped to wait for it.

The team may remind the driver about the lights, but it is the driver's duty to look out for them - and pretty much anything that is happening in front of him! Massa, Fisichella, Barrichello and Montoya have fallen afoul of it in the past..

Gedanken SG

I always said Hamilton was overrated. Now he doesn't even know what every L-plater knows:red means stop, green means go.

Like father, like son, I suppose. Daddy Hamilton crashed a $600,000 Porsche into a playground last week while showing off to his mates: "My boy's a racer - look where he got it from!". Thank God he didn't kill any toddlers with his stupidity.

Between Daddy and Junior, what with that stupid wire harness gag a few weeks ago, the flop of a seriously-premature autobiography, and stupid mistakes behind the wheel in Canada, China and a British playground, they're seriously taking F1 into the low-rent neighbourhood. Fucking suakus.

Still and all, it's about time a real class act like Kubica moved to the top step. I'vebeen waiting for this for a long while.

dragg SG

couldn't quite catch what the commentators said...but why was the pit lane red light on when the lane was open? they mentioned about the stupid rule.

a viewer asked in the post-race show and Alex Yoong mentioned it's a human error was it? the light controller forgot to switch to green?

it was a silly rule but nonetheless a rule.

the red light was on cuz the safety car was nearing.

kajagugu SG

thanks for the replies!

no matter what happens, it's always the drivers who get disadvantaged.

but even Rosberg couldn't stop in time, maybe the red light really hard to spot?

Gedanken SG

If the red light was hard to spot, there wouldn't have been a stationary car there for Hamilton to run into, would there? For that matter, said stationary car says "stop" more clearly than any red light.

Rosberg's already admitted he was at fault. It's just Hamilton who won't grow up.