A combination of tyres that did not quite suit the conditions, a track that was being constantly cleaned by overnight rain, and differing strategy calls gave us the best dry Formula 1 race in many a year in Canada. In the end it was an inspired gamble by the McLaren boffins, that was almost over-ridden by Martin Whitmarsh, that gave Team Britannia their second one-two finish in succession. The Red Rags chose a different strategy and went the other way to finish fourth & fifth. But many, many things happened along the way.

Hamilton celebrates his victory in a classic race

  With the surface of the Ile Gilles Villeneuve circuit being super smooth, the decision by Bridgestone to bring the super-soft and medium compound tyres was always going the prove interesting. Considering that, if the conditions proved to be unfavourable, which is precisely what they were, this was a brave decision by Bridgestone which should be applauded. To the uninitiated, it would have appeared that Bridgestone tyres were so bad that they couldn’t last more than a few laps. To others, the tyre choice was in the best interests of the sport as the unsuitable tyres made for differing strategies and great racing. A VERY large debt of gratitude is owed by F1 to Bridgestone for this. Even taking this into consideration, it was only the constant overnight rain that made the tyres unsuitable at all. The rain kept washing away any of the rubber that had been laid down the previous day so that even on race day, the teams went into action on a “green” track which will always cause graining on the softer tyres. By the end of the race, when the track had “rubbered up” graining was much less of an issue. Indeed, Webber ran the entire last twenty laps on the super-soft compound, which had only lasted five to seven laps at the beginning of the race.

   Team Britannia gambled on two fronts. One – that the super soft tyres would last just long enough to build up a decent lead over the medium shod Red Rags and; Two – that there would be a safety car in the first few laps and they could get onto the mediums under yellow flags. Neither of these things happened and the McLarens had to pit under race conditions along with Ferrari’s King Fernando the first and this left the Red Rags running one-two on their mediums. At this point it appeared that it was going to be another red-wash, making up for the disharmony of Turkey. This theory held for about another six laps but by then the mediums had also gone off and the leaders were piling into the pits for new boots. This left the astonishing sight of Sebastien Buemi’s Toro Rosso leading a Grand Prix. Just for a little while, he soon joined the others after his moment of glory and changed rubber.

   With the Hoon back in front things were now looking better for Team Britannia as everyone now needed another two stops. The Red Rags split their strategy putting Vettel on the Super-soft for this stint and Webber back on the mediums. The hope was that one or the other would get past the McLarens but neither did. Webber looked the most likely as he had a healthy lead after Vettel, The Hoon, Button and Alonso had pitted a second time and if (if being a VERY big word) he could build a lead of about 17 seconds he theoretically could make his stop and rejoin in the lead. He managed to stretch it out to 12 seconds before the pack began to reel him in again. With his final sting being on the super-soft he couldn’t come in too early so he had to hang on until there were just twenty laps to go and by then he had just lost the lead. Mark rejoined in fifth and there he stayed.

   While all this was going on the highlight of the race was also being played out between the Hoon & King Fernando. The pair battled furiously for a few laps before the Hoon’s second stop but always gave each other just enough track room. This fight was Grand Prix racing at it’s most exhilarating. Two of the top drivers of the era in a classic duel that unfortunately lasted too short a time. The Hoon dived into the pits as the pair battled side by side down the back straight and King Fernando immediately put in a lap 1.5 seconds quicker than his previous pace. Unfortunately on his in-lap Alonso got held up behind a back marker and lost possibly two seconds. Naturally he rejoined back behind the Hoon and as the race drew to a close he was also passed by Button to finish a fine third.

   An equally spirited, but not so polished, scrap was the race long duel between Vitantonio Liuzzi and Felipe Massa who seemed to spend the entire race locked in battle. It was all a bit messy and the pair came together three times before turn two was finished and resulted in Liuzzi visiting the pits early for a new nose. A change of tyres at this point helped though and once the race long dice was over the Italian had scored points while the Brazilian didn’t.

   The reason he didn’t was the utterly contemptible performance by the Unter-Ubermensch. While showing absolutely none of his former skill he displayed all of his former thuggishness and ran several drivers off the track in a drive that ended, deservedly, outside the points. He began by pushing the vastly quicker Robert Kubica off, only to be passed by the Pole a lap later. His supreme moment came when he drove his former “friend” and team-mate, Felipe Massa into the wall on the fastest part of the circuit. Massa had to pit for a new nose which is why he scored no points. It was pure justice that he lost the final few point scoring positions in the last lap. Unbelievably he was not given some sort of penalty by the FIA for this appalling behaviour.

    Oh yeah, it’s so good he’s back…….I think I’ve said that before. The good thing is once again he was blown to the weeds by Nico Rosberg who finished a handy sixth after a steady race in a Mercedes that is just not on the front-running pace. Sixth was the best that could have been achieved and sixth he got. The final point scorers were Robert Kubica in seventh, after another fine drive in the Renault, Sebastien Buemi in eighth in the Toro Rosso after his moment of glory in the lead and the Force India pair of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil.

 For the full results go to;

 http://www.mmmsport.com.au/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=150&dir=ASC&order=name&limit=5&limitstart=10 

Sam Snape 

16-06-2010

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