The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix Thread

[rc89pl]

What do you mean?

If they spin like that tomorrow it should be a fun race. (anyone keeping counts for Trulli?)

Let Trulli stay far away from Kubica. At least this time Robert is going from the front line, while Jarno is far behind.


I have some feeling that tomorrow Kubica will score his first GP in a first place.

[mlittle]

What do you mean?

If they spin like that tomorrow it should be a fun race. (anyone keeping counts for Trulli?)

Let Trulli stay far away from Kubica. At least this time Robert is going from the front line, while Jarno is far behind.


I have some feeling that tomorrow Kubica will score his first GP in a first place.

I agree; I think Kubica could steal this one from both the Scuderia and the Silver Arrows.........

[Ed]

Team by team summary following Qualifying in Canada

MCLAREN-MERCEDES

At the scene of his debut pole and victory last year, Lewis Hamilton utterly dominated Montreal qualifying; he was quickest in both Q1 and Q2, and his margin over fellow front row sitter Robert Kubica in Q3 is an incredible six tenths, although Kimi Raikkonen would have come close had he not struggled so much through the crumbling hairpin. Heikki Kovalainen is seventh, 1.2 seconds slower than his teammate. "The traffic meant I couldn't get into a proper rhythm so I'm a bit annoyed with myself," he said.

BMW-SAUBER

As is quite often the case in 2008, BMW-Sauber seemed nowhere in the practice session, but Kubica pulled a great lap out of the bag to be P2 on the grid -- albeit a huge six tenths adrift the pole sitter. Nick Heidfeld's qualifying was at least better than his Monaco nightmare two weeks ago, and he nearly matched Kubica's pace in the low-fuel Q2 phase, but he is ultimately only P8 on the grid. "It is a start, but I still have a lot of work to do," he acknowledged.

FERRARI

Ferrari could not quite keep up with Hamilton's McLaren in the first phases of qualifying, but the vast deficit in Q3 - 8 tenths in the case of Raikkonen, and a huge 1.2 seconds for Felipe Massa - is partly explained by the F2008's apparent inability to negotiate the crumbling hairpin. "It's a real shame because I could have fought for pole," said Raikkonen, P3, who lost a huge amount of time in the final sector on his last effort and slammed the situation as a "joke" in the post-session press conference.

RENAULT

Nelson Piquet looked quick in the morning, but qualifying was a different story; nearly a full second per lap slower than teammate Fernando Alonso in both Q1 and Q2, when he dropped out for just 15th on the grid. "I'm still struggling a bit with this track," said the Brazilian. Alonso qualified a very impressive fourth, despite Renault's pitwall computers suffering a total blackout, and he admitted in the team's post-session media statement that he is eyeing "big points" in Sunday's 70-lap race.


WILLIAMS-TOYOTA

In the crash-affected morning practice session, Nico Rosberg finished atop the timesheet, but he then confirmed his form in qualifying with fifth on the grid, and one more tenth would have put him third. Kazuki Nakajima was fifth in the morning but did not make it through to 'Q3' in qualifying, even though his pace is only a couple of tenths shy of his teammate.

HONDA

Jenson Button's weekend must be the least competitive of his entire grand prix career; 19th in morning practice and again in qualifying, although the latter was the result of a gearbox problem that condemned him to the garage. Rubens Barrichello has made a much better fist of the event, and he also made good use of his vast experience when the circuit was breaking up, taking the sister RA108 all the way through to Q3.


RED BULL-RENAULT

Mark Webber was quick enough for P5 in the low-fuel second phase of qualifying, but he could not take part in Q3 after sliding on the debris of the crumbling track and into the wall on his in-lap, moving him to sarcastically declare that "motocross bikes" rather than F1 cars might be required on Sunday. David Coulthard has been significantly off Webber's pace all weekend and is 13th, and he criticised Sebastien Bourdais and Piquet for not "playing ball" in the Q2 traffic.


TOYOTA

Jarno Trulli's notable run of spins continued into qualifying, when he was outqualified by his teammate Timo Glock, but - for the first time in 2008 - neither made it into the top ten. "We got something wrong and we have to investigate," said technical boss Pascal Vasselon.


TORO ROSSO-FERRARI

Morning crash excluded, Sebastian Vettel has been on the pace all weekend, but he could not charge for a grid position because the impact had damaged the STR3's monocoque and could not be repaired in time. "This year the rules ban spare cars, so it meant no qualifying for me today," the German, who will start the race from pitlane, said. By quite a large margin, Sebastien Bourdais failed to progress through Q1, and he will start right at the back because his gearbox had to be changed following his own morning crash. "For me this is one of the worst days of my career so far," he said.


FORCE INDIA-FERRARI

Adrian Sutil pipped his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella with near-identical pace in Q1, but in equal conditions, Force India's current car - effectively the 2007 Spyker - is simply the slowest in Canada.

[Ed]

A selection of comments from drivers on the track conditions

Robert Kubica - Qualified 2nd

It was a very difficult qualifying with the track breaking up in some corners, which is a disaster. It was easy to make mistakes with these conditions. When you missed the racing line by just ten or 20 centimetres you were on the marbles with very low grip. However, I’m very happy with second. Certainly it will be a tough race tomorrow on this track. Unfortunately I shall not be starting on the clean side. McLaren particularly looks very strong and I shall also have pressure from the Ferrari, but we have to see who is on which strategy

Kimi Raikkonen - Qualified 3rd

It’s unbelievable how much time I lost at turn 10, lap after lap. The track was already beginning to break up in Q1 and I had no drive: it was like driving on ice and I never managed to find the right line at this point. It’s a real shame because the car was going very well and I could have fought for pole position. I can’t understand how things like this can happen: maybe it’s down to the higher temperatures, or a repair job at this point not done properly but one thing’s certain, in the race tomorrow, it will be very difficult to get through here. But the situation is not that bad. We are quick, as could be seen all weekend long up to qualifying and starting on the clean side of the track is definitely a good thing. Let’s wait and see what happens tomorrow.

Felipe Massa - Qualifed 6th

This is definitely not the result we were expecting and it’s a real shame, as we had everything in place to do well. The car was very quick, both yesterday and this morning and, but for the problem which occurred at turn 10, I could definitely have fought for a place at the front. As for the rest, you just have to look at the times: the first and second sectors were very good, while I was losing all the time in the final one. Clearly, if these track conditions at that corner continue in the race, there will be a further element of uncertainty in a race which already traditionally, can be influenced by chance events. While in normal circumstances I’d have said that starting from sixth meant I had abandoned any chance of fighting for a top place finish, today, I don’t think I can say that, especially as we have been so strong all weekend

Rubens Barrichello - Qualified 9th

I'm really pleased for myself and the team today. After the points that we scored in Monaco at the last race, this is a great start for the weekend here in Canada. In the hot conditions, the asphalt on the track was breaking up this afternoon and you had to take a good line to avoid running wide where it was so slippery. So it gave me the chance to use my experience to put some good laps in and I had two strong runs in Q1 and Q2 to make it through to the final session. It is nice to qualify in ninth place and we did a solid job today. I can look forward to a good race tomorrow from here

Mark Webber - Qualified 10th

I was going okay, but the track was breaking up and there were marbles on the racing line. Unfortunately, on the way back to the pits at the end of the second session, I was slightly off line, got onto the marbles and couldn't bring it back. I'm not sure how they're going to manage with the track tomorrow, but everyone's in the same boat. I think we'll need to use motocross bikes, as it's not realistic in a Formula One car, you'll need to drive on the grass or on the inside of the hairpin

David Coulthard - Qualified 13th

The track is breaking up, as it did two years ago, and it was incredibly difficult to drive at Turn 7 and at the hairpin. The track was swept between the first and second session, but it was breaking up so quickly that it was like trying to drive on train tracks. When you've got that amount of horsepower on a car that's slipping and sliding, it's incredibly difficult. I think we had the pace to run inside the top ten today, but I had traffic on the last runs of both sessions.
On the first I was behind Bourdais, and on the second behind Piquet. It's unfortunate to have a continued series of problems, but we're thirteenth tomorrow, and hopefully we can have a strong race from there

Related article: Crumbling track worries F1 racers at Montreal

[Ed]

The officials for the Canadian Grand Prix have began resurfacing the haripin at the Montreal circuit in the hope of avoiding the problems encountered in qualifying.

According to one of the Canadian Grand Prix officials, the reason for the track breakup could be due to a combination of agressive adhesion of the tyres, the removal of traction control and the configuration of the hairpin.

The official is confident this problem will be resolved by the resurface of the hairpin.

[Southernman]

I've finally managed to watch the qualifying. I was up early enough to watch it live but it wasn't shown because ot the live cricket test between NZ and England finished late. I was hoping to channel surf between euro 2008 football and formula 1.

Great effort from Kubica and Hamilton for getting on front row of the grid. With the way track conditions the way they were I can see this race being decided on who looks after their tyres the best.

[Ed]

Formation lap in 2 minutes.

Track temperature is 36 degrees and air temperature at 27 degrees

[Ed]

Formation lap underway!

Hamilton is starting on the softer compound unlike most of the other front runners

[Ed]

Vettel and Button starting from the pitlane

[Ed]

Lights!

Hamilton gets away ahead of Kubica with Raikkonen in 3rd

[Ed]

Everyone gets away cleanly and everyone is a bit careful at the troublesome chicane!

[Ed]

Order on lap 2: Hamilton, Kubica, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Alonso, Massa, Kovalainen and Barrichello

[Ed]

Hamilton leads Kubica by 1.8 seconds at the end of lap 3

[Ed]

Hamilton increases the lead over Kubica to 3 seconds at the end of lap 5.

Heidfeld takes Barrichello for 8th

[Ed]

Now Nakajima has now closed in on Barrichello