Canadian Grand Prix Review

There were four crucial factors that decided the outcome of the most chaotic F1 race since the wet and wild Brazilian GP in 2003. By far the most important factor was the question of pit strategy under the new safety car rules. There were four safety car periods in total, even though they were conveniently grouped into two pairs, but for ease of convenience throughout this review we will still refer to them as the first, second, third and fourth SC periods.

It has always been an advantage to pit before a safety car period. All the time you had lost in pitting, you gain back under the safety car. Better still, in days gone by, was to pit as soon as the safety car was scrambled, when the pit lane was not closed. This was because your rivals may have started to ease off as the train behind the safety car starts to form. So, in effect, you would lose less time to begin with, as well as gaining it all back under the safety car. It was a double advantage.

Now the latter option has been prohibited. Presumably this was in the interests of safety, so that cars weren't sprinting for the pits whilst others were dawdling to form the queue. That makes some sense, but it does have the effect of penalising anyone who intends to pit and does so just after the safety car is called, as was the case with Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg here. If you still go ahead and pit, you face a penalty for doing so when the pits are closed - and you may have missed the cut by a split second.

As Ron Dennis pointed out, the new rule also puts someone who is running low on fuel at risk of running out of fuel behind the safety car simply because the pits were closed. But, most of all, the new rule massively penalises anyone who was due to pit shortly afterwards, who now cannot make use of the safety car to adjust their fuel windows and come in straight away. They now have to wait for their rivals who have already previously pitted to gain time and track position on them first before they can pit.

Now, it should be said that Champ Cars and the IRL have had the 'pits closed' rule for pace cars for a long time - and, as a result, final positions can vary markedly from race to race. Perhaps the rationale is that you win some, and you lose some. The pace car might stuff your race one week, but it might just propel you to victory the next. The difference is that pace cars are a certainty in US races but a rarity in F1, and what happened in Montreal may have a telling impact on the outcome of the championship.

Under this year's rules, strategists therefore need to gamble. Do you pre-empt a safety car around your pit window and pit early to take advantage of that, but risk being leapfrogged by someone running longer on low tanks if no safety car eventuates? Or do you gamble that there won't be any safety car interventions and try to extend your stints as long as possible, but risk that if a safety car emerges after your rivals have pitted but before you do, that you will lose completely in terms of time and track position?

The one further point to make is that, if you have fuelled to run long and been caught out by a safety car, you can either choose to pit behind the safety car when the pit lane opens, or wait until the race 'goes green' again. Your net position will be the same, i.e. you will fall to the back, but if you pit under the safety car at least you will be back on your opponents' tails rather than 20 seconds behind. It seems obvious, but that point was missed by Red Bull in Webber's case, and by Honda in Rubens Barrichello's case.

Apart from pit strategy under the new safety car rules, the second factor affecting the outcome of the race was the Montreal circuit itself. Being little used, it tends to get dusty and 'green', and the impact for going off-line is as if it's a street circuit. Plus there are some severe bumps under braking, a few high kerbs, and walls close by, but it is also considered a low downforce track with overtaking opportunities. If ever there was a recipe for incidents, the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is it.

And finally, there was the fourth factor of tyre strategy, under this year's rules that obliged teams to run both compounds during each race. Many feared that the super-soft would not last for any appreciable distance. Especially in the case of Alexander Wurz, the question of who was willing to nurse the super-softs to run longer stints was a major contributor to the final positions. But conversely, so was the question of who was willing to exploit the rules to get rid of the super-softs as quickly as possible.

Vitantonio Liuzzi pitted under the first safety car and put on super-softs. He then took advantage of the second safety car that immediately followed, to get rid of his super-softs and fuel to the end, in effect turning his race into a one-stop strategy in which he would run virtually the whole race on the harder, more preferable tyre. Towards the end of the race, Takuma Sato made an extra stop simply for the purpose of doing away with his super-softs, and he had a performance advantage as a result.

There is nothing to say that both compounds must be used under green flag conditions. The moral is, if one compound is distinctly unfavourable, and you have been caught out by a safety car before you have had a chance to pit, why not pit twice under the safety car on consecutive laps, and simply tour around for one lap on the less-preferred compound? Your track position will be roughly the same, but you will have the advantage of being able to run your preferred rubber for the rest of the race.

Taking all the above factors into account, it is worthwhile carrying out an analysis of how each driver in the field fared, and how they ended up where they did. This may seem cumbersome, but the interesting point is this: apart from first and second, up to nine or ten drivers were, at various times, in line for third place, as incredible as that seems. Rarely do you see a Grand Prix where the majority of drivers in the field have a 'what might have been' story to tell.

Nick Heidfeld was in virtually the same situation as Hamilton. He had been fast all weekend, but he was fortunate to start 3rd after just making it into Q3 with moments to spare, and then starting his flyer in Q3 with only two seconds left on the clock. He made a better start than the McLarens, although he didn't have the pace to challenge Hamilton. Like Lewis, he made both his stops before the safety cars, so his 2nd place was safe. On other days, his shorter first two stints could have put him in trouble.

Alexander Wurz deserved credit in qualifying, not for missing the first cut again, but for putting his hand up to admit that it had been his own fault for not going fast enough, even though he was just over a second off the fastest time, such is the closeness of the field in 2007. He survived his early assault by Scott Speed, but it left the side mounting of his rear wing missing and the edge of his right endplate flapping. One dreads the thought of what would happen if the wing fell off at full speed, with the walls so close by.

In the end, the central mounting of the rear wing on his FW29 held, but Wurz otherwise drove with immense skill. He had made his one and only stop on lap 30 under the second safety car, and put on super-softs which he ran for the rest of the race. This was a day when his experience and mechanical sympathy came to the fore, on the 10th anniversary of his F1 debut. Even if inherited, his 3rd place was deserved. He is now Williams' leading points-scorer even though there is little doubt that Rosberg is quicker.

Heikki Kovalainen was favourite for 'Reject of the Race' after his crashes in practice and qualifying. But, to his credit, he rebounded early in the race with several incisive passing moves, but he lost time by failing to pit before the safety car. However, he pitted on the same lap as Robert Kubica's accident, put on super-softs, and stopped again on lap 44. If his first stop effectively put him back to where he started, his race was effectively converted into a one-stopper, which left him behind Wurz at the finish.

He then tapped Massa in the first few corners, hard enough to damage his front wing in what could have been a disastrous incident for Ferrari. But, in one sense, his poor start turned out to be a godsend. Both Ferraris were caught out by the first safety car period. When the pit lane open, they came in together, such that Raikkonen had to queue behind Massa. As Felipe then sped through the red light at the end of the pits, something Kimi would probably have done as well, he saw Kubica stopped, and held station.

When racing resumed after Kubica's shunt, Raikkonen ran wide at the hairpin, repeating what he did last year, losing his place to Takuma Sato. Kimi was then again hurt by the third safety car, and his crew were jumped in the pits by Alonso's McLaren. Only through a combination of Sato's unscheduled extra stop, Liuzzi crashing, Alonso going off at turn one, and Barrichello pitting did Raikkonen inherit 5th place. Of the myriad of drivers who could have finished 3rd from mid-race on, he was not one of them.

The Finn is coming up with no answers of his own, and he can no longer even rely on Ferrari being faster than McLaren in race trim, for that seems not to be the case any more. With 11 races remaining, Raikkonen is now 21 points behind Hamilton in the championship. If he wins every race from now on, and Hamilton finishes second in each, Kimi will only pip Lewis to the title in the very last round. With 11 races to go in 2005, he was 22 points behind Alonso, and came nowhere close to catching the Spaniard ...

Not only did Sato pass Raikkonen on the track, but the Japanese driver also made his second and supposedly last stop a lap before the third safety car came out. Had the stop been clean, he could have emerged ahead of Wurz, with both on super-softs in a straight fight for the last podium spot. On fresher tyres, Sato would have been the favourite to claim a podium for Super Aguri. As it was, the stop was bungled, and even then he still came out ahead of Kovalainen, behind Liuzzi and Wurz.

Therefore, instead of being on super-softs and having to stave off Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Alonso, he was now on softs having to pass them. He disposed of Ralf Schumacher, before putting that defining move around the outside of Alonso at the final chicane, although Fernando did concede the place, having a title to think about. So Sato scored Super Aguri's best ever finish in 6th and declared it the Òmost beautiful dayÓ in his racing career. On the above analysis, it could, and should, have been even better.

Fernando Alonso's weekend can only be generously described as being a shocker. He should have taken pole, but for errors in sector three on his final lap. He then tried to make a statement to Hamilton at the start and only ended up looking like a fool, especially when he almost slew into the side of Hamilton, which was compounded when he went off at turn one twice more during his first stint, losing a position to Raikkonen. He and Rosberg then became the first offenders of the 'pit lane closed' safety car rule.

The middle segment of the race was Alonso's best, as he set a sequence of blistering laps in making up lost ground and getting onto Raikkonen's tail, but like the Ferrari he was caught out by the third safety car. The McLaren crew got Fernando out ahead of the Ferrari, only for Alonso to throw it away with yet another turn one excursion, before being forced to cede a place to Sato. A flustered Fernando now goes to Indy, where he has not previously done well, 8 points down on Hamilton. Feeling the heat, Fernando?

Someone who's definitely feeling the heat at the moment is Ralf Schumacher, and the oven got turned up a notch after he missed the Q1 cut for the third straight race. Jarno Trulli, meanwhile, on the same instructions to avoid the turn 8 kerb for fear of wrecking his front suspension, made it into the top 10. Now, the German may counter that his point for 8th takes the pressure off, but it could have been so much better. His first stint lasted 40 laps, and by the end, he was showing decent pace, pulling away from Webber.

Mark Webber's weekend was yet another tale of unfulfilled potential and missed opportunities. Another superb qualifying effort had him 6th on the grid, but a poor start demoted him to 9th straight away. He almost hung on to his attempted move around the outside of Kubica at turn one, but the spin dropped him into the midfield. He made it all back thanks to having made his first stop before the first safety car, and once Ralf and Anthony Davidson made their mid-race stops, he was in for a safe 3rd place himself.

Alas, he too did not make his second stop in time before the third safety car, but had he pitted along with Alonso and Raikkonen as soon as the pits were opened, he could have held on to 5th. By the time Red Bull called him in the next lap, as the safety car was pulling in, it was a 'me too' gesture, and all too late. Only the final safety car period brought the Australian back into contention, but unlike Sato he was unable to make progress, and missed out on the points by a fraction of a second.

Nico Rosberg was another star of qualifying, and having lost out at the start in Monaco, made up for it here with a terrific getaway that propelled him up to 5th. But after his stop-go for coming in when the pit lane was closed, he didn't make the same progress as Alonso, particularly after his aesthetically-pleasing twin spin with Trulli. Although the later safety cars brought him back into play, he was not a factor in the closing laps. He seems to lose interest when the cards start falling against him.

Anthony Davidson's season of inconsistency continued. After missing the Q1 cut, like Schumacher he did not stop until mid-race, by which time he was up to 3rd. He blamed hitting a beaver for making his stop suddenly and catching his crew unawares. The interesting thing is that he was running ahead of Ralf at the time, he changed onto super-softs (a sign that perhaps this was meant to be his one and only stop), and had the stop gone to plan he too would have been ahead of Wurz and in line for 3rd himself.

The Brazilian came in at the same time as Wurz - and emerged ahead. As Alex showed, it was possible from there to run 40 laps on super-softs, but Honda were unwilling to risk it. And so Rubinho was sent out on another set of softs, which meant he still had one stop to go. The mystery was why he was not brought in during the third or fourth safety car periods. It would have dropped him out of the points anyway, but at least given him a chance to fight back up, which was not the case by pitting him under greens.

Jarno Trulli somehow carried his Toyota into 10th on the grid, and he maintained that place early despite coming under pressure from Liuzzi and Webber. He pitted with Kubica during the first safety car, and was only ahead of the Pole because he passed the BMW coming out of the pits when Kubica reacted to the green light slowly. One wonders why he was not penalised for this - and arguable Robert's accident would not have happened if Trulli had stayed behind him.

After the Kubica collision, Trulli's race was further derailed by stops for repairs and the tandem spin with Rosberg, and it was finally ended when he crashed coming out of the pits during the fourth safety car. Now that was embarrassing. In fact, it was a rather undistinguished day for Italians all round. As discussed above, Vitantonio Liuzzi's tyre strategy had him running behind Wurz, on the preferable harder tyres, on the way home with 4th place secure and 3rd place beckoning.

Having said that, this was after Liuzzi had already brushed the walls twice in the early laps, and not altogether surprisingly he became the latest victim of the 'Wall of Champions'. Had he finished 3rd or 4th, it would have been deserved reward for his improved speed and that of the Toro Rosso squad as a whole, but his inability to capitalise and convert pace into race results is becoming something of a hallmark that he seems unable to shake.

The safety car was not nearby, and there was no discernible reason why cars should have been held. The fact that the light went green as soon as Kubica stopped suggested that it was red by mistake. If everyone had driven straight through, and the light had stayed red, would there have been a mass disqualification of eight cars? But the fact is, Kubica obeying the red light exposed Massa and Fisi's blunder, and after the precedent set for Juan-Pablo Montoya here two years ago, the black flag was the only option.

Spyker had the distinction of causing two of the four safety car periods. Yet again Adrian Sutil showed that Spyker can be around two seconds off the pace only, but yet again he threw his car into a wall. Once more Christijan Albers was substantially off his team-mate's case (over 0.7s in qualifying), and once more it was a rather lazy error that had him spreading dirt and debris all over the road. Spyker were the only team in the race who were never in the hunt for some serious points at any stage.

The less said about David Coulthard's weekend the better. He has done decently in Canada in the past, so his inability to set up his Red Bull this year was a mystery. It left him with a car that would not turn or stop properly, which had DC off-track and red-faced more times than Ukyo Katayama on a bad day. He too followed Liuzzi's strategic lead in order to get rid of his super-soft stint, but another Red Bull gearbox failure from the seamless shift transmission ended his race. Some would say mercifully so.

That just leaves Scott Speed, whose effort to get into Q2 was overshadowed firstly by his ambitious lunge at Wurz early in the race, and also by the immature brake testing episode with Webber on Friday, in which it was hard to know who was the blame since it involved two of the somewhat more prickly characters in pit lane. And then there was also Jenson Button, who never got away from the line as Honda's woes continued, although for the fourth race straight he was out-qualified by Barrichello.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Everyone bar LH, NH, AW
Practically the entire field blew it at some point!

And so finally a word for poor Robert Kubica. His was by far the most horrendous accident that F1 had seen in a very long time. Not only did he just miss Speed's stricken car, he was launched into the air and thus could not retard his velocity as he hit the wall head-on. The angle made it akin to being a crash test, and as the BMW was spewed back across the track, it was a miracle that no one else was collected. It was an even greater miracle that he escaped with mild concussion and a sprained ankle.

What a testament to the safety of the modern F1 car, to innovations such as the HANS device, and to the tireless work done by the FIA and the GPDA in improving safety. Without putting too fine a point on it, ten or fifteen years ago and Kubica would have been seriously injured, or worse. Who knows if the accident will have longer-term effects on the Pole's confidence, but he is already talking about suiting up for Indianapolis next weekend. Sometimes, elite sportsmen are simply a breed apart.

The teams head to Indy chasing a new target. McLaren's edge was not as pronounced as it was in Monaco, but they do seem to have leapt ahead of Ferrari. McLaren saw a deficit at the beginning of the season, and have worked so hard that they have made up and surpassed the gap. What's more, surely at this stage Hamilton must assume outright favouritism for the title in his rookie year, and with a 28-point lead McLaren will be gutted if they lose the constructors crown from here.

BMW continue to close and may be too close to Ferrari for comfort. Red Bull seem to have the next fastest car but continue to lack reliability and tactical nous, whereas Williams and Renault maintain their points-scoring but not race-winning pace. Super Aguri's form comes and goes depending on the circuit, but at least they and Toro Rosso are making progress. The same can't be said for Toyota and Honda, while Spyker remain glued to the back of the field.