2015 Canadian Grand Prix - 5-7 June

[mikeerfol]

I read on F1Fanatic that a new rule for 2015 says if someone doesn't take part in quali but is allowed to race, must start from last place. Actually JB is going to start from the pitlane apparently.

[GPR-A duplicate2]

One more banker lap Pole for Lewis this year. Lewis locked the wheels while starting the final quali lap and that could be the reason why he didn't improved. As for Nico, here is an interesting piece.
Exclusive analysis: Why Rosberg had to use 'bad' set of Q3 tyres

[godlameroso]

What kind of pace were we seeing in P3? I expect Mercedes to start in the low 1:20's high 1:19's during the race and wind it down to a high to mid 1:18, I don't think they can realistically go faster than that due to fuel limitation. If any other team can keep pace within .3 of the projected Mercedes times they can get them with strategy and superior tire wear. Something no one mentions, I would be worried about mechanical damage to the car from being too rough on the curbs. I think this is what got Mercedes last year.

Last year, the ERS failed because of overheating, nothing to do with the curbs.

Based on what we've seen so far I don't think any team has superior tyre wear at this circuit. In warm conditions like Malaysia, Ferrari puts less heat into the tyres so doesn't work them as hard, so they do last longer while maintaining a pace advantage. Here, in cooler conditions, Merc put more heat into the tyres and therefore work them better than Ferrari, but they're not overheating because of track temps. Merc can go just as long as Ferrari if not longer. That's exactly what happened in China. Merc got their tyres to last longer than Ferrari there.

You do realize the ambient temperature was pushing 31c, not exactly cool. Sunday will be warmer, but the road surface doesn't absorb much heat not to mention the body of water surrounding prevents ground convection so track temperature won't be much higher than ambient.

[bdr529]

You do realize the ambient temperature was pushing 31c, not exactly cool. Sunday will be warmer, but the road surface doesn't absorb much heat not to mention the body of water surrounding prevents ground convection so track temperature won't be much higher than ambient.

I don't think Saturday's temperature ever got over 21C (70F), and should be about the same for race time Sunday

[atanatizante]

Christian Danner said yesterday on RTL, before FP3, that Vettel spend a long time in FP2 behind Rosberg and he said to him he was faster than Nico but was aware the fact that friday Merc were always running in detune PU mode.
But he added he was encouraged by Kimi's times who was almost 1 sec faster that both Merc boys ...
Now when Lewis and Nico were asked by RTL reporters about their race pace, both said they have something in the poket and wasn't too worried about Ferrari's pace ...

On another note here is more important to have good traction out of corners rather than higher top speed? ... as we saw it was the case many times with RB before 2014 ...

[iotar__]

Christian Danner said yesterday on RTL, before FP3, that Vettel spend a long time in FP2 behind Rosberg and he said to him he was faster than Nico but was aware the fact that friday Merc were always running in detune PU mode.
But he added he was encouraged by Kimi's times who was almost 1 sec faster that both Merc boys ...
Now when Lewis and Nico were asked by RTL reporters about their race pace, both said they have something in the poket and wasn't too worried about Ferrari's pace ...

On another note here is more important to have good traction out of slow corners rather than higher top speed? ... as we saw it was the case many times with RB before 2014 ...

That's the problem with FP2 analysing, you look at times and you think Ferrari is clearly faster but then you make adjustments because it's Mercedes. Engine modes or not they are quick and consistent. Vettel got a penalty? I don't believe it, must be one of the five rule or something or maybe because it cost them less?

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/grosj ... t-cost-p3/ Grosjean thinks pitlane incident cost P3
They had the chance to out-qualify two quicker cars but that would be against the philosophy of not achieving anything in F1. When they get it right once heads will roll. Pace is interesting, track is not enough to explain it so it's drivers and the only thing that springs to mind is engines conspiracy theory , they used to get third grade ones, Williams second grade and now after the upgrade it changed.

[godlameroso]

Or just maybe the people at lotus can develop a chassis better than Williams.

[Mansell89]

Always love a flutter on the F1 and sorely tempted by Kimi Raikonnen at 9/1, as he has his highest starting position for a very long time and can often make the tyres last, especially in these fleet-footed James Allison machines! (Melbourne 2013 being a top example).

However, you boys and girls do much better analysis than me. I was hopeful of a bold Ferrari show as a result of FP2 when race pace looked good, but I hear much talk of Mercedes playing a very close hand and even sandbagging in that session?

How many stops can be expected and could Raikonnen do 1 less than the Merc boys or is that impossible?


Is there anything to suggest there is a time in the race where Merc might not have the raw speed where Ferrari might be able to bring their consistency into play (tyre deg for example)?

Or, shall I save my dosh and just watch a very easy Merc win?

[Andres125sx]

Vettel demoted 5 places on the grid for overtaking under the red flag.

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433 ... -in-canada

Overtaking at 300km/h with red flags? What´s up with Seb?

Obviously he deserve that penalty, that´s an stupid and absurd move

[Jordan44]

Always love a flutter on the F1 and sorely tempted by Kimi Raikonnen at 9/1, as he has his highest starting position for a very long time and can often make the tyres last, especially in these fleet-footed James Allison machines! (Melbourne 2013 being a top example).

However, you boys and girls do much better analysis than me. I was hopeful of a bold Ferrari show as a result of FP2 when race pace looked good, but I hear much talk of Mercedes playing a very close hand and even sandbagging in that session?

How many stops can be expected and could Raikonnen do 1 less than the Merc boys or is that impossible?


Is there anything to suggest there is a time in the race where Merc might not have the raw speed where Ferrari might be able to bring their consistency into play (tyre deg for example)?

Or, shall I save my dosh and just watch a very easy Merc win?

Merc sandbag in every practise session, but sometimes Ferrari do too, so often it's not possible to know reliably the pecking order.

In terms of tyre wear, I think Ferrari having better tyre wear than Mercedes was just a myth which was made to seem true in the usual set of circumstances we had in Malaysia. Tyres shouldn't be a talking point here.

If the Merc is at least a match for the Ferrari pace we saw, then I would say a Lewis win with Kimi fighting Nico for 2nd.

So my prediction is: HAM RAI ROS

[drunkf1fan]

One more banker lap Pole for Lewis this year. Lewis locked the wheels while starting the final quali lap and that could be the reason why he didn't improved. As for Nico, here is an interesting piece.
Exclusive analysis: Why Rosberg had to use 'bad' set of Q3 tyres

I've never really had a lot of respect for Smedley, always saying seemingly daft things to me over the years and not being able to understand why you'd nominate the worst set to the spare set for Q3 is baffling itself.

IF you have a car issue and can't even make Q3 for any reason then your worst set isn't available for the race but your best sets, that seems obvious enough.

If you don't use super softs in Q1, have your starting race set in Q2, where would you use this otherwise worst set. Do you want to run the first stint on the worst set you have, not a chance. If you need to burn a set of super softs it would be Q1, Merc didn't need to use them. It makes perfect sense to use that set as the banker set for Q3. What is ridiculous is his team flat out told Rosberg that set is the worst and the last set would be much better. He decided to ignore this information and adapt his car to what he was absolutely told wouldn't be the same tire conditions for the last run.

[drunkf1fan]

Or just maybe the people at lotus can develop a chassis better than Williams.

Outside of 2014 where Lotus made a fundamental mistake and had a poor car I think Lotus will move back ahead of WIlliams. As much as I like Williams I think ultimately they have a basic car that really hasn't made any significant steps forward. Low drag via ultra low downforce made Williams extremely track dependant last year and they haven't really added any downforce this year. I don't think they developed well since the start of 2014. THe only 'step' they made in 2014 was having Massa stop crashing in the second half of the season

30 points 4 dnf's for Massa in the first 10 races while he got 106 points iirc in the last 9 races with no dnf's. Bottas got 91/95 in the first 10/last 9 races. The car was similar quality throughout but as a team they improved because Massa stopped hitting everyone.

This year Williams seemingly made no step forward at all outside of engine being faster. Massa starting the season much better than last year but asides from that the car looks closer to the guys behind than last year.

Lotus I feel went conservative with a new engine as they simply didn't want a 2014 level bad car. But with a solid base they will progress forwards as the years before 2014. They've caught/matched Williams at a track that Williams should excel at, I think Lotus will match them at power tracks from this point on and surpass them on higher downforce tracks.

[godlameroso]

The 2011 side exhaust lotus was a bad decision but led to them learning from it and came back stronger the following season, same with 2014. Sometimes bad decisions teach you things and open up avenues for development. To be honest I think the people at Enstone are very talented.

Back to the race Mercedes has between 1:19 to 1:17 race pace Ferrari is probably close. Fuel consumption is the limiting factor so that's really the limit of average pace. I think Raikkonen will be in the same ballpark pace wise as he was in Bahrain. Whoever makes the least mistakes will win this race.

[godlameroso]

One more banker lap Pole for Lewis this year. Lewis locked the wheels while starting the final quali lap and that could be the reason why he didn't improved. As for Nico, here is an interesting piece.
Exclusive analysis: Why Rosberg had to use 'bad' set of Q3 tyres

I've never really had a lot of respect for Smedley, always saying seemingly daft things to me over the years and not being able to understand why you'd nominate the worst set to the spare set for Q3 is baffling itself.

IF you have a car issue and can't even make Q3 for any reason then your worst set isn't available for the race but your best sets, that seems obvious enough.

If you don't use super softs in Q1, have your starting race set in Q2, where would you use this otherwise worst set. Do you want to run the first stint on the worst set you have, not a chance. If you need to burn a set of super softs it would be Q1, Merc didn't need to use them. It makes perfect sense to use that set as the banker set for Q3. What is ridiculous is his team flat out told Rosberg that set is the worst and the last set would be much better. He decided to ignore this information and adapt his car to what he was absolutely told wouldn't be the same tire conditions for the last run.

Maybe he's saving a fresh set for the second stint.

[Cuky]

Kimi showing off a bit yesterday (in FP3 if I am not mistaken)