Canadian Grand Prix Review

Occasionally Canada has had the habit of bringing teams and drivers undone, and on this Sunday afternoon it was over at Renault, which up to his point had relentlessly built up nearly insurmountable points leads, that the first signs emerged that the trip across the Atlantic had done funny things to people. Their superior traction control had allowed Giancarlo Fisichella and Alonso to jump into a 1-2 position from the second row, but it was not long before Fernando started griping over the radio that Fisi was holding him up.

Well, what was Renault to do? Team orders are banned by the FIA, it wasn't looking like McLaren were going to make Juan-Pablo Montoya move over for Raikkonen, and here was the chance to maximise the Spaniard's championship advantage. If they had planned it well enough in advance, then a simple code phrase or a subtle hint might have been enough to prompt Giancarlo to move over of his own volition, without the need for a blatant and illegal order.

And yet, given Fisi's poor run since his Melbourne victory, even though Renault had prompted him by letting him know that Alonso behind was going faster, it seemed as though the Italian was in no mood to co-operate. His anger at his eventual retirement said as much, as did his claim that he had lost a sure victory that was within his control. This had the potential to be inflammatory, 'Jones-Reut' material, for those who can remember what happened at the 1981 Brazilian GP.

As it was, Fisichella's DNF alleviated the situation, but Alonso had been worked up into one of those moods where his determination borders on petulant arrogance. We'd seen it at times last year, but in 2005 there had been none of that so far. Who knows how long he had been complaining over the radio? From one of the curt responses the pit wall gave him that was broadcast - "Just overtake him!" - it seemed as though he was sorely testing the patience of his own team that could do little more than what it was doing.

But the question is, even after Fisi fell out, why was Fernando in such a mental state that he felt it necessary to push as hard as he did, all the way to slapping the wall and retiring from a broken suspension? Even if the McLarens might have been slightly faster, the lead he had over them already would have been hard to overcome in a pit stop sequence. There was no need for his risk-taking. With that, he watched a near-certain first world title slip back into up-for-grabs territory. It was inexplicably strange stuff.

For a while it looked as though McLaren weren't going to suffer from the same Montreal malaise. Having dispatched Michael Schumacher off the line, they were not flustered in following pole-sitter Jenson Button in the early stages, knowing that once the BAR took itself out of contention by its three-stop strategy, then the real race was down to themselves and Renault. But then it started to unravel in the most spectacular way, particularly for Montoya.

Juan-Pablo could be partially forgiven for running the red light - even the ITV commentators didn't realise at the time that he had to wait until the whole snake had passed. But the point is, on several instances, when clear-headedness was needed it was sorely lacking, and it earned JPM a disqualification and cost him a win. Similarly for Alonso; for their hot-headed antics in muggy Montreal, Alonso and Montoya share our 'Reject of the Race' award this time around.

What made it worse for JPM was that, for the first time this year, he slightly had Raikkonen's measure. There was not much to say about Kimi's drive. There was no sign of the dominant pace we had seen from Imola onwards. He simply picked up the crumbs as Fisichella, Alonso and Montoya fell in front of him, and towards the end he held the gap comfortably to a chasing Schumacher to ensure that he picked up the ten points, cutting the championship deficit to a manageable 22 points with eleven races to go.

But even Kimi's race was not without its moments. After his stop under the safety car, he pulled out into the pit lane right in Coulthard's path, forcing the Scot to brake heavily to avoid hitting the McLaren. For a similar deed Ralf Schumacher had been given a 25s penalty at Imola, and it seemed somewhat inconsistent that Raikkonen wasn't even investigated in that regard. Was it simply too inconvenient to delay the podium, or to have a man stand on the top step only to be stripped of his place later?

The expected almighty Ferrari revival has not happened, and may not happen at all. But they have climbed inexorably into a position where, with advantageous qualifying slots, decent grid positions, and a consistent-enough race package, they are now slightly more than just there or thereabouts. Barrichello has now had two consecutive 3rds, and Schumi, although he has now gone nine races winless, has come 7th, 5th and 2nd in the last three. Maranello has scored more than half their points in the last two events...

It's not exactly ominous - everyone was too quick to describe Michael's Imola performance as such - but it should be enough to start getting their rivals slightly concerned. The same cannot be said for BAR, which continued their bizarrely surreal season here. From midfield nonentities at the Nurburgring, three-stop strategies and very low fuel qualifying runs leapt Takuma Sato up to 6th on the grid and Button all the way to his second ever pole position. Unreal - quite literally.

Whilst Taku suffered the ignominy of two separate mechanical failures as he stopped, lost 24 laps in the pits and went out again, leaving his stuttering season with zero momentum, Button's three-stop plan was never going to place him higher than 5th had both Renaults and both McLarens survived. So many top drivers have crashed on the so-called 'wall of champions', one can't criticise Jenson too much for that, except that there was a podium for the taking and BAR have not scored a point as yet...

REJECT OF THE RACE
Montoya/Alonso
Hot-headed gaffes proved costly for both

If the heat was tripping up the likes of Alonso, Montoya and Button, then the irrationality was also heading up Williams way as well. Before the weekend came the amazing, unbelievable media attacks on BMW and Mario Thiessen by both Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head. Showing that their irreverent lack of diplomacy is not limited to their dealings with their drivers, Williams accused BMW of finger-pointing, while Head went so far as to brand Thiessen's chassis-blaming approach as dishonest.

In truth there was some justification to what they were saying. By word and deed, BMW have publicly shown dissatisfaction at Williams' performance this year. True, the FW27 has had a difficult conception, but there has also been no doubt that the BMW is no longer the most powerful engine in F1, nor has there been any guarantees that it could last two races. To prove the point, here in Canada the aero package could not generate enough heat into the tyres, but Nick Heidfeld retired with an engine failure.

Still, for a team that's no stranger to doing its dirty laundry in public, this very open mudslinging seems to confirm that Williams and BMW will go their separate ways in 2006. The Sauber-BMW deal looks like a fait accompli, while one suspects that Williams and Head would not have been as unrestrained without a new contract for next season in their pocket already. Whether it be with Cosworth, Toyota or Honda, as rumours would have it, it would not be a step back except for the lack of continuity.

Webber though had another mediocre getaway, and made at least three or four mistakes during the race that cost him positions, including at the restart after the safety car where he lost places to both Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Without that, he would have taken the 3rd vacated by his team-mate. Although Williams clearly believe their long term future lies with this rough diamond, right now it seems rather unfair that the expendable Heidfeld seems sure to be cast back to Sauber along with the BMW motors.

Speaking of the Swiss team, they would undoubtedly be over the moon with Massa's brilliant 4th place that with luck may also have been a podium place. Given his huge accident at the hairpin last year, this was a fine drive from the Brazilian, who like Heidfeld took his chances throughout the race, didn't put a foot wrong, and assuredly held off Webber at various times during the event. In so doing, he made team-mate Jacques Villeneuve look decidedly sheepish.

Along with Williams, it was Villeneuve and Sauber generating the pre-race headlines, when Peter Sauber accused Jacques of being too slow (shock horror!) and the Canadian retaliated by claiming that the team wasn't listening to his experience. Though the hatchets were temporarily buried when Villeneuve qualified a very creditable 8th, it's only a matter of time before the knives come out again. After all, JV started 8th and finished a lapped 9th; Massa started 11th and came 4th on the lead lap. Enough said.

There is no doubt that, comparatively, Toyota and Trulli in particular are not as competitive as they were at the start of the year, whereas Ralf Schumacher has always been a step behind his Italian team-mate anyway - and this on a track where Ralf has traditionally been very strong. Trulli on 27 points now appears to be very vulnerable to the two Williams and two Ferrari drivers, who are all within 6 points of him and ready to cast him aside, unless Mike Gascoyne finds that extra something he's been promising.

You can't help but be impressed by Red Bull this year. Here they were not really on the pace, but they still came 7th and 8th and took home three more points, thanks very much. This is what they've been doing all season, either running strongly in the points or somehow tiptoeing into them when they haven't been quite up to speed. Neither Coulthard or Christian Klien, nor young American third driver Scott Speed, did much to catch the attention though.

In Klien's case, it ought to be blamed on the fact that he had to sit out four races while the rather meaningless Liuzzi experiment ran its course. Being out-qualified by a Minardi on the Austrian's return was rather embarrassing. But on the positive side for the team, as long as they keep scoring consistently, even if Sauber occasionally gets the bigger results, Christian Horner's men should emerge on top. That Cosworth engine must be half decent, and it's reliable enough. You taking note, Sir Frank?

A dour start to the season has degenerated in the weeks since Monaco into an endless stream of dramas. All this while Karthikeyan's aggression keeps getting him into trouble, while Tiago Monteiro keeps plodding along extending his rookie record finishing streak, and while a new aero package is meant to come online for France which is meant to boost their fortunes. So Midland is spending money on this year's campaign after all? Jordan are not far behind BAR in the bizarreness stakes at the moment.

Minardis and Dutch drivers must be well-suited to Montreal. Jos Verstappen qualified 15th here in 2003, and Albers did it again this year. It was an all-the-more greater achievement because he even went quicker than Klien's Red Bull, in the process reversing the recent trend and putting one over team-mate Patrick Friesacher. Christijan even out-dragged Webber off the line, but from there it was the usual story, as the Minardis and Jordans dropped further and further back from the pack.

Still, for the likes of Minardi they have to take whatever fillips they can get, and just being able to match and beat Jordan on occasions at the moment must be as big a carrot as anyone can dangle in front of them. Race pace is still lacking, though. Minardi must find a way of defeating Jordan not only over one lap but also over a whole race distance. That's going to be an even larger challenge if Jordan's improvements come as planned in time for Magny-Cours.