2014 Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal

[dans79]

He's better on the break than Hamilton this season.

Is that why he keeps locking up under breaking?

[sectionate]

I'm hoping that Williams shine here and Bottas gets his first podium.

[astracrazy]

He's better on the break than Hamilton this season.

Is that why he keeps locking up under breaking?

and tie that in with the fact they say Rosberg likes to break early and Hamilton late then its a no brainier. Lewis is better on the breaks - because when Rosberg tries to late break he locks up.

[Pilatus]

Walk in a park for Mercedes.

1. Lewis
2. Nico
3. - 22. Rest of the world

[muhammad-13]

I'm hoping that Williams shine here and Bottas gets his first podium.

I would say Hulkenberg. Because FI+Hulk combo has been better than Williams+bottas recently.

[iotar__]

He's better on the break than Hamilton this season.

Is that why he keeps locking up under breaking?

I don't know about that, he looked OK in Bahrain, plenty of breaking there but AFAIR he did mention it as a problem area to solve.
What Rosberg definitely should do is to stop looking at split times in Q, every time he makes mistakes it's because of that .

[beelsebob]

He's better on the break than Hamilton this season.

Is that why he keeps locking up under breaking?

I don't know about that, he looked OK in Bahrain, plenty of breaking there but AFAIR he did mention it as a problem area to solve.

Actually, it was Rosberg that kept on locking up, and going deep into the braking zones - that's the entire reason Hamilton was able to stay ahead.

[Kingshark]

Indeed. Lewis won at Montreal in 2012 even when he didn't have the best car in the field (Ferrari and Red Bull were easily as good IMO).

Are you being Sarcastic? The car has greater straight line speed (7kmph) than Redbull and at par traction to Ferrari, the lower drag configuration suited the car perfectly.

Nope, not being sarcastic. I'm pretty straight forward most of the time. McLaren had the worst mechanical grip out of the top 3 teams, which is essential around Montreal. Want more evidence that the RB8 and F2012 were easily as good as the MP4/27?

Ultimate qualifying laps (best sector times combined);

1. Sebastian Vettel - 1:13.783
2. Fernando Alonso - 1:13.892
3. Lewis Hamilton - 1:14.087

In the race Red Bull and McLaren had worse tyre wear while Ferrari had the best, as it always seemed to go quicker at the end of each stint.

[Kingshark]

Is that why he keeps locking up under breaking?

I don't know about that, he looked OK in Bahrain, plenty of breaking there but AFAIR he did mention it as a problem area to solve.

Actually, it was Rosberg that kept on locking up, and going deep into the braking zones - that's the entire reason Hamilton was able to stay ahead.

The reason to why Rosberg kept locking up and going deep is because he was desperate to try and pass Hamilton. Check the onboard footage of Rosberg on lap 52, he braked FAR later than Hamilton (by at least 30 meters) and still made the corner just fine.

Go to 5:00 of this footage (which is unfortunately twisted on a right angle);

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1mr3x ... angle_auto

Rosberg was mighty on the brakes in Bahrain, which is the reason to why he beat Lewis there by 3 tenths in qualy, and was the fastest driver in the race.

[zeph]

I'm hoping that Williams shine here and Bottas gets his first podium.

I would say Hulkenberg. Because FI+Hulk combo has been better than Williams+bottas recently.

I dunno. Perez finished third here in 2012. I concede that Hulk seems to be the better all-round driver, but if Perez gets his weekend together, I wouldn't be too surprised to see him finish ahead.

[iotar__]

Actually, it was Rosberg that kept on locking up, and going deep into the braking zones - that's the entire reason Hamilton was able to stay ahead.

Perhaps, yet he kept on closing on Hamilton in Bahrain and Barcelona despite strategy disadvantage. He must be doing something better instead or it's not that serious.
I wouldn't bet a lot money against Hamilton in Canada but I suspect or rather hope race can be interesting between them again. If it's a one-stopper (possible?) not many strategy options and tyres can play a part. If two - short pitlane and you can overtake in Canada, same for tyres if it's cold.

[Phil]

Perhaps, yet he kept on closing on Hamilton in Bahrain and Barcelona despite strategy disadvantage.

This might be the wrong thread, but I just wanted to point out that it's not a given that Nico was in fact at a disadvantage strategy wise. The track isn't always equal. Teams use P1 and especially P2 to do simulation runs to get a fair idea of long range runs, the goal being to get a close aproximization on what will prove to be good set-up choices and strategy on race-day. While the lead driver is usually on the optimal strategy, he's also usually on the strategy that provides the least amount of risks. In other words, he's strategy might also be dependant on other drivers or variables other than "the quickest most efficient tyre strategy from start to finish". It's not unlikely that because track conditions changed, that Rosberg could have ended up on a strategy that might have been better despite all the intel the teams had from the simulation runs 2 days before.

In Spain for example; I felt that Rosberg had very very good pace on his 2nd stint when he was on primes - vs. Hamilton who was on a option-option-prime strategy. I think the team themselves said post race that they were surprised of how well he was able to keep up, despite being on the slower tyre. We also don't know to what extend Lewis was pushing on his softer tyres at that time - because being the lead driver, he also sets the pace and sometimes it's more beneficial to hold a gap and prolong the life of your tyres to be prepared for all eventualities. I think Toto himself said at the end of the race, either in Bahrain (where there was lots of doubt) or in Spain that the two differing strategies were close, the OOP being the slightly prefered one (given the data they had from practice simulation runs). It's easy to think that Rosberg was much quicker, but the differing strategies also muddle the picture somewhat at the same time.

As an example: if OOP and OPO in theory are identical over exactly 70 laps, the car on the OPO will always be faster on that last stint - but precisely on lap 70, they will be identical over the course of the entire race. That meaning; Rosberg looked quicker because he was on the faster tyre. It could very well be that he was quicker (by getting more out of his car), but I think it's not as clear-cut given the alternate strategies.

[turbof1]

Actually, it was Rosberg that kept on locking up, and going deep into the braking zones - that's the entire reason Hamilton was able to stay ahead.

Yeah, a little bit a trap set up by Hamilton. He always lured Rosberg into braking too late.

[mnmracer]

Indeed. Lewis won at Montreal in 2012 even when he didn't have the best car in the field (Ferrari and Red Bull were easily as good IMO).

Are you being Sarcastic? The car has greater straight line speed (7kmph) than Redbull and at par traction to Ferrari, the lower drag configuration suited the car perfectly.

Nope, not being sarcastic. I'm pretty straight forward most of the time. McLaren had the worst mechanical grip out of the top 3 teams, which is essential around Montreal. Want more evidence that the RB8 and F2012 were easily as good as the MP4/27?

Ultimate qualifying laps (best sector times combined);

1. Sebastian Vettel - 1:13.783
2. Fernando Alonso - 1:13.892
3. Lewis Hamilton - 1:14.087

In the race Red Bull and McLaren had worse tyre wear while Ferrari had the best, as it always seemed to go quicker at the end of each stint.

'Best' refers of course to the best in achieving a goal. The goal is of course to first finish 305 kilometers + one lap, not to be the fastest around one lap.

[dans79]

Actually, it was Rosberg that kept on locking up, and going deep into the braking zones - that's the entire reason Hamilton was able to stay ahead.

Yeah, a little bit a trap set up by Hamilton. He always lured Rosberg into braking too late.

Exactly....

Being the last driver to hit the breaks doesn't mean anything if you compromise your trajectory through the corner.