Canadian Grand Prix Review

Because of the difference in time zones we were unable to follow the free practice and qualifying sessions live, but suffice to say that Michael Schumacher's pole lap was simply stunning. To be half a second faster than anyone else these days is unheard of, and to have only used up 7 of his allotted 12 laps was quite remarkable. That Ralf got up to 2nd on his harder Michelins was also a great effort, and suddenly Michael's predictions of the Williams threat in this race looked on the money.

David Coulthard would have been disappointed with 3rd, while Jarno Trulli recorded his season-best in 4th. Rubens Barrichello may have been higher but for his qualifying smash, while Olivier Panis slaughtered his team-mate and home-town hero Jacques Villeneuve, who, admittedly, had a troubled weekend, the highlight of which was playing pushy-shovey with Juan-Pablo Montoya in the drivers' briefing. Talking of slaughtering, Nick Heidfeld mustn't have been feeling too great, down in 11th while teammate Kimi outdid even Mika Hakkinen by qualifying an unbelievable 7th.

Zonta was more impressive in two days than he was in two years with BAR. Trulli's time was a stunner in itself, but the Brazilian was within a second of the Italian's time. With nothing to lose, he then drove a quick and steady first half of the race on Sunday, staying comfortably ahead of Hakkinen. A collision while attempting to overtake Raikkonen set him back, and subsequent brake difficulty left him just 7th. But for someone who had arrived in Canada as a spectator, it was a fine drive, deserving of points.

Plenty of action at the start of the race, though, with the Schumachers pulling out right from the beginning. Benetton's worse-than-disastrous season continued, with Jenson Button jumping the start, and then Fisichella damaging his front wing on the first lap at the hairpin. Then, as the Italian tried to enter the pits, he found his team-mate in the way, clouting the Englishman, knocking his front right wheel askew, and was forced into retirement.

Up front, Barrichello on light fuel had blasted past Trulli and Coulthard, and was up with Ralf and Michael when he spun on the exit of the hairpin. It looked strange, and it was strange, in this era of traction control which is meant to alleviate the effects of an over-eager right foot. Had Rubens made it past Ralf, Michael would probably have let him through, and it would have been interesting to see how a two-stop strategy would have fared.

Instead, the Ferrari found itself stuck in a long snake stretching from an ill-handling Coulthard, including Trulli, Panis, Jos Verstappen once again being a meaningless interloper in his Arrows on light fuel, Raikkonen, Zonta, Hakkinen, a disappointing JPM, Barrichello, de la Rosa and an equally pathetic Villeneuve. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's nature, full of straights laced with tricky chicanes, has a habit of creating slipstreaming trains in which passing is nonetheless difficult, and really Barrichello's chances were shot then and there.

Firstly, he got caught up in the verbal (and then physical) altercation with Villeneuve after the Canadian accused him of blocking in practice. As competitive as Jacques is, he is a principled man like his father with a good sense of driving ethics. I wouldn't be surprised if Montoya has been doing some blocking in practice, it seems in keeping with his rather more brazen competitive spirit.

But you can overlook that if he gets results on the track. Most expected Ralf to have a slight edge by dint of experience, but, in truth, Montoya has been soundly thrashed by his team-mate, and nowhere more so than in Canada. Montoya was a non-entity in qualifying and the race, and then made what was ostensibly his second silly driving error in two races, once again resulting in a bent motorcar. Sir Frank Williams will not be impressed. One finish in 8 races for JPM is a very poor return. He had no competition for our 'Reject of the Race' award.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Juan-Pablo Montoya
Two crashes in two races, all while getting his butt kicked by Ralf

It was great to see Mika on the podium, but the fact is for 60% of the race, he was once again terrifically uninspiring. That's now 12 races now without a pole or a win for the Finn. By his standards, 8th was a shocking grid position. Yet again he looked completely disinterested whilst stuck behind Zonta in the early parts of the race. The slight aerodynamic disadvantage of having his fuel lid sticking open would have cost him little. There appears little hunger in Hakkinen at the moment, so let's hope he's not going to start wavering like Damon Hill about whether or not he wants to continue driving. If his heart's not in it he should give up (and give test-driver Alexander Wurz a go?).

By comparison, there's a new flying Finn in Raikkonen. He got elevated to 4th when the unlucky Trulli's brakes started to fail, but in truth Kimi's brakes had started to go even sooner, yet he made them last. That's real mechanical sympathy. Raikkonen has proven to be neat, tidy, exceedingly fast and very level-headed. Montoya could do worse than to take a leaf out of his book.

Prost and Jaguar celebrated yet more points after their Monaco successes. Jean Alesi has had a very consistent season, yet to retire from a race. A lot of that can be put down to his experience, which came in very handy in a traditionally tough race like Canada. However, it may also have been a sign of real improvement from Prost ­ this was the first race this year where Alesi has not been lapped. Meanwhile, after a difficult few races, Pedro de la Rosa was both forceful and fast despite a two-stop strategy, and deserved his point. Jaguar has now scored more points this year than in 2000!

Verstappen had been 6th after Trulli's retirement, but he was an accident waiting to happen, the amount of black dust streaming from his front left wheel late in the race a sign that his brakes were out to lunch. That Trulli slowed down and retired was a sign of maturity. That Verstappen pressed on unabated and eventually crashed was foolhardy. Arrows desperately need to find a way of making their car competitive in real terms, rather than resorting to low fuel loads which catapult Jos amongst the leaders early on.

Michael had the ascendancy in the first sector, but Ralf would claw back in the second. In the third, Ralf would catch the slipstream behind Michael, and almost get close enough to pass. On occasions, Ralf could possibly have been more brave in diving inside at the final chicane, but quite sensibly and thoughtfully considered his own race-winning ambitions, his brother's championship aspirations, and probably their family stability in hanging back a little.

But ultimately, it always looked as though the Williams was faster. JPM eat your heart out. Once the Ferrari came in first, as long as Ralf could deliver some quick laps, and as long as the Williams pit work was sound, the race would be his. It would have been interesting, and probably a lot closer, if it was Ralf who came in first. For the first time in living memory, a Williams actually won a race over Schumacher rather than losing it to him on pit strategy, and it was thoroughly well-deserved.

Apart from Michael, Ralf is now a definite threat at every race for a podium if not the win itself. BMW has proven to be potentially the most powerful engine in F1. Mercedes will be hurting after giving their championship hope (Coulthard) an engine failure at Montreal. Heidfeld now has a very competitive steed, and will not want to be taken to the cleaners by Raikkonen again. Plus Frentzen will be hoping to return with the right sort of bang.

Amongst other teams, Jaguar do finally look to be on the up and up, with new aerodynamics in the pipeline for France. Benetton also claim to have massive improvements coming up for Magny-Cours, and pigs might fly. Prost will no doubt be bolstered by having points on the board while, sadly, Minardi finally seem to be losing touch after a spirited start to the season. By a few accounts, the Nurburgring may also be Tarso Marques' last race with the Italian-Australian team.