2011 Canadian Grand Prix Discussion Thread

[Jeroen Krautmeir]

Think three-car teams are dead? Well take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_Grand_Prix

[DanielPT]

Think three-car teams are dead? Well take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_Grand_Prix

So, that Red Bull link was just a cover. Could've been first points for HRT...

[tommykl]

Think three-car teams are dead? Well take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_Grand_Prix

For posterity:

[TomWazzleshaw]

Think three-car teams are dead? Well take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Canadian_Grand_Prix

At this rate it'll be the only seat left for him

[Jeroen Krautmeir]

[Mister Fungus]

Those are some quick times he made in HRT, give this bloke a top team car!

[Ed24]

Ah yes, Wikipedia, where reject dreams come true

[mario]

I'm bumping this back up because there have been some quite interesting photos on the F1Technical forum from a forum member who attended the race. One advantage of the heavy rain is that the resultant flow of dirty water over the cars has behaved quite similarly to flow-viz paint - no doubt of some interest to those within the paddock as well as outside observers.





And the water on track did have another advantage, showing how the exhaust gas from the R31 spreads out (someone spotted this before the race began, when Petrov was doing a practise start at the end of the pit lane).

[Peter]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd. Can we just give him a Ferrari seat already? If Kamui got his tyre strategy right, 2nd place could've been his, or at least a podium spot.

[DonTirri]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd. Can we just give him a Ferrari seat already? If Kamui got his tyre strategy right, 2nd place could've been his, or at least a podium spot.

I am strongly on the opinion that the only thing Kamui needs is improved qually-pace so he doesn't need to fight through half the field to get within a shot of the podium. He's shown that once he gets up there he can stick there for a long time... Imagine if he didn't need first GET there...

[Ed24]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd. Can we just give him a Ferrari seat already? If Kamui got his tyre strategy right, 2nd place could've been his, or at least a podium spot.

Kamui was on a pretty high downforce setup (read James Key's comments on Autosport from a few days back), so he was always going to be fast in the wet and drop back in the dry, regardless of tyre strategy. Of course Massa was on a full low downforce setup as well, and stayed within 1/1.5 seconds the whole time, even before DRS was switched on. I wouldn't read too much into Vettel's gap either, there wasn't much need for him to push in those conditions with a Sauber behind him and a high likelihood of another SC anyway.

It was a good gamble from Sauber, and it almost paid off.

[mario]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd. Can we just give him a Ferrari seat already? If Kamui got his tyre strategy right, 2nd place could've been his, or at least a podium spot.

I am strongly on the opinion that the only thing Kamui needs is improved qually-pace so he doesn't need to fight through half the field to get within a shot of the podium. He's shown that once he gets up there he can stick there for a long time... Imagine if he didn't need first GET there...

I have to agree that, over a single lap, Kobayashi isn't the quickest of drivers - OK, that may be in part due to the characteristics of the car and his driving style, but whatever it is, whilst he can be quite dramatic (thinking of him powersliding the car out of the final turn in Canada), it isn't always the quickest route over a single lap. Or, perhaps it is because he tends to slide the car around in qualifying that his laps are slightly slower - most of the field seem to be less aggressive since the current tyres are more prone to overheating, it seems, so perhaps he is pushing a little too hard?

Overall, whilst Perez and Kobayashi have had their difficulties in qualifying, from Malaysia onwards Perez has been the faster of the two in qualifying, often by several tenths of a second, and normally his fastest lap in race trim was quicker than Kobayashi's too. In some ways, you'd have to say that whilst Kobayashi has been doing very well, Perez, equally, probably deserves more than two points after some rather bad luck in recent races - so Kobayashi might find himself under a little more pressure when Perez returns to the cockpit.

[dr-baker]

I am strongly on the opinion that the only thing Kamui needs is improved qually-pace so he doesn't need to fight through half the field to get within a shot of the podium. He's shown that once he gets up there he can stick there for a long time... Imagine if he didn't need first GET there...

Imagine what he could do in a McLaren alongside Button then. Button from last to first in less than half a race...

[Ferrim]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd.

That was because Vettel was trolling around for the whole race. It costed him the win in the end. It's okay to pace yourself, but at least do it when you are more than 10 seconds ahead.

[Peter]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd.

That was because Vettel was trolling around for the whole race. It costed him the win in the end. It's okay to pace yourself, but at least do it when you are more than 10 seconds ahead.

I doubt that. I don't think even Vettel is that senseless. Even he should know not to ever back off, even if a Virgin is in 2nd and 3rd. Not the racing driver instinct at all.

[Ferrim]

Kobayashi was doing a fantastic job though. His pace was very good. In a bloody Sauber, he was on Massa's pace, if not better, only the DRS kept Massa on his tail. And Vettel never really flew away from him in the race, the gap was always around 3 seconds, never more than 4 for the duration he was in 2nd.

That was because Vettel was trolling around for the whole race. It costed him the win in the end. It's okay to pace yourself, but at least do it when you are more than 10 seconds ahead.

I doubt that. I don't think even Vettel is that senseless. Even he should know not to ever back off, even if a Virgin is in 2nd and 3rd. Not the racing driver instinct at all.

Then explain me these lap times in the final part of the race:

Lap Time
61 1'21.152
62 1'20.450
63 1'20.307
64 1'20.797
65 1'20.347 (Button passes Schumacher)
66 1'19.474
67 1'17.837
68 1'17.380
69 1'17.217
70 1'21.858

He was running in the 1m 20s until Button started pushing from behind and closed the gap, then he was able to lap three seconds faster. In every restart he pulled away very fast, first from Alonso, later from Kobayashi, but after a couple of laps the gap stabilised in five seconds or less.

In fact Vettel himself acknowledged his mistake after the race: "I think I was probably too conservative when I was in the lead after the last safety car; I didn't open the gap enough and was trying to hold the gap to the cars behind."

[DanielPT]

That was because Vettel was trolling around for the whole race. It costed him the win in the end. It's okay to pace yourself, but at least do it when you are more than 10 seconds ahead.

I doubt that. I don't think even Vettel is that senseless. Even he should know not to ever back off, even if a Virgin is in 2nd and 3rd. Not the racing driver instinct at all.

Then explain me these lap times in the final part of the race:

Lap Time
61 1'21.152
62 1'20.450
63 1'20.307
64 1'20.797
65 1'20.347 (Button passes Schumacher)
66 1'19.474
67 1'17.837
68 1'17.380
69 1'17.217
70 1'21.858

He was running in the 1m 20s until Button started pushing from behind and closed the gap, then he was able to lap three seconds faster. In every restart he pulled away very fast, first from Alonso, later from Kobayashi, but after a couple of laps the gap stabilised in five seconds or less.

In fact Vettel himself acknowledged his mistake after the race: "I think I was probably too conservative when I was in the lead after the last safety car; I didn't open the gap enough and was trying to hold the gap to the cars behind."

He will learn from this, so expect higher pace from Vettel while leading until a certain gap (higher that the current one that he leaves).