Alonso doubles up to take emotional home win

What a European Grand Prix that was; who’d have thought the Valencia venue had it in it to produce such a thrilling and frenetic race.

Sebastian Vettel looked like he was cruising to become the first double winner of 2012, but it was Fernando Alonso who ended up on top of the podium as the race changed dramatically half way through…Such is 2012.

Alonso’s qualifying hadn’t gone according to plan, when despite being only 2/10ths slower than the fastest time of Q2 he missed out on the top ten shoot out to line up 11^th. A brilliant start and opening lap left him in 8^th.

He fought hard during the opening half of the race, making the moves to push himself up the order ready to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way. He wasn’t too far away from Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in 2^nd with Lewis Hamilton 4^th, but Sebastian Vettel was reliving his 2011 glory days and had disappeared into the distance with a 20 second lead.

On Lap 28 an incident between Heikki Kovalainen’s Caterham and the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne left debris all over the track, the safety car was deployed. Vergne later received a 10 place grid drop for Silverstone.

Everyone jumped into the pits, Alonso emerging ahead of Lewis as the McLaren driver suffered another slow pit stop. The race was beginning to come to him as he lay in third behind Vettel and Grosjean.

The safety car headed the field for five laps before they were allowed to commence battle once again. Alonso is seldom not ready to fight, he unleashed the Ferrari down the start finish straight, tight behind Grosjean, he went to the outside for turn two, hit his brakes as late as could be, nearly brushed the wall, but he was through into second place.

Next was Vettel, the dominant leader for so long in Valencia we’d not seen much of him on the television coverage apart from behind the safety car. But the next time we saw him the car was slowing, an alternator belt snapped in his Renault engine eliminating him from a Grand Prix that was surely his for the taking just half a lap after the restart.

Vettel had done everything right, pole, a brilliant start, dropping everyone behind him, he looked supreme. But it wasn’t to be for him today, Alonso swept by, a scarlet streak past the Red Bull as Vettel saw him vanish over a race win in points ahead of him.

Grosjean wasn’t about to disappear though, and filled the Ferrari’s mirrors before he too on lap 41 had a similar problem to Vettel with his Renault engine. Grosjean had looked threatening all weekend and would surely have mounted a challenge after a brilliant drive.

It wasn’t done for Alonso yet though, he pushed on ahead of the following Lewis Hamilton, but he had to make his tyres last. At one point it seemed the McLaren was cruising up to the back of him again just like in Canada.

But not this time, this time it was the Spaniard who just about kept his tyres together while the McLaren eventually faded before an accident took Lewis out of the race. Not even once Kimi Raikkonen was through into second place was Alonso really threatened and he reeled off the final laps to take his 29^th career victory ahead of the Lotus driver.

His car stopped on the slowing down lap, and with Spanish flag in hand was clearly emotional as he stepped from the car in front of his countrymen. He never gives up and when a door opens for him, he walks straight in. With retirements for both his main title rivals and with the consistency he’s shown so far this year, a 20 point lead in the title hunt looks very handy indeed.

Lewis Hamilton vs Pastor Maldonado

Both these drivers had qualified well, second and third for Hamilton and Maldonado respectively. Lewis maintained position at the start but after fighting hard his tyres began to fade in the closing stages. After holding off Kimi he eventually conceded the place, but Maldonado was straight on to the back of him and on lap 56 with just one lap left he made his move.

There’s two perspectives on what followed, the first is that Lewis knew his tyres were done, if he let Maldonado through he was far enough ahead of fifth placed Michael Schumacher to just about maintain fourth and take 12 points home with him and lie just 11 points behind Alonso. As it is he is now 23 points behind. Mr consistency that he has been this year might just have yielded.

But why should he do that, he was on the podium, he was racing, he is the ultimate racer and Maldonado wasn’t coming through without at least a fight. Lewis had been fighting all day, being passed, passing back, he was in the zone.

Entering the DRS zone Maldonado made the move on the outside into turn 12. Lewis Hamilton had the line, and squeezed the Williams driver off the track. Maldonado should have given up the corner, come back on the track and tried pass him down into turn 17. He still had plenty of opportunity, but he jumped over the kerb into the McLaren sending Lewis into the wall and dropping the Williams down to 10^th place at the finish.

Maldonado blames Hamilton for not giving him room but it was Lewis’ corner, Maldonado was off the track and was obliged to give way. The stewards thought the same and have penalised him 20 seconds dropping him to 12th.

Could this cost Lewis the championship? Too early to tell yet, but it’s given Alonso a mighty advantage with which to play with.

Schumacher back on the podium

What a wonderful moment it was to see Michael Schumacher back on the podium for the first time since he won the Chinese Grand Prix back in 2006. That it should come with a hint of controversy too seems perfectly apt.

He passed some double waved yellow flags on the final lap, Schumacher was seen to open his DRS which isn’t illegal but seems to show him still pushing. Luckily the stewards ruled that he had slowed down enough to avoid a penalty.

Still, it was a fighting drive to the podium; he looked adrift during the opening half of the race after 

starting 12^th, he was one of the few to start on the medium harder compound so expected to run longer than most. He worked his way up the order as others pitted but soon had a train of cars behind him as his tyres drained their grip.

The safety car turned the race for him. Most of the front runners had pitted for the second time so Schumacher found himself lying just behind his team mate Nico Rosberg in eighth.

With the safety car gone you can overtake into the final corner and ever the opportunist, Schuey dived around Rosberg. It wasn’t caught in the coverage but he was through and away.

He pitted on lap 42, exiting ahead of Webber and from then on they were in tandem as they fought through the field from 11^th and 12^th places. One by one they picked them off with their fresher rubber; Button, Perez, the Force India’s fell to the wayside. Schumacher had to be incisive with his overtaking as he never had Webber more than a second adrift.

Having just passed Nico Hulkenberg for fifth, Hamilton and Maldonado were in the wall and suddenly for once luck was on his side and he crossed the line for a fighting third place. He was ecstatic and it was nice to see Schumacher back where he belongs, a great result.

Lotus

If one of their drivers is going to win, you have to say it’s going to be Romain Grosjean. He fought valiantly all race with some good passing and was unlucky to suffer a rare mechanical failure just as it looked like he had victory for the taking.

Kimi Raikkonen needs to sort out his qualifying, he is being outshone by Grosjean in that department but also in recent races when it really counts on the Sunday. Still it was a good second place but again one he was unhappy with as he felt he should have had the win.

That’s about the third race he reckons should’ve been his, it’s time for him to step up a bit because Lotus should have won by now, but if and when they do win you wouldn’t put your money on Kimi at the moment.

Rest of the top 10

Mark Webber had various problems in practice and he couldn’t resolve them in time for qualifying. He started 19^th and through the pit stops made some progress. After the safety car he followed Schumacher through the field to earn a brilliant fourth place and second in the championship.

Nico Hulkenberg scored his best result of his career with fifth for Force India maximising his strategy but just not able to hold off Schumacher or Webber to score what could have been a podium.

Nico Rosberg was dropped a lot of places after the restart but after pitting for a second time used that fresh rubber to charge back into the points with sixth.

Paul di Resta reckons he should have started from fourth but tenth was what he got so seventh on the only one stop strategy wasn’t a bad result and showed Force India really getting back into contention in the midfield constructors battle.

Jenson Button has had a terrible time over recent races, he was happy with his race pace but the result wouldn’t have been what he wanted, although it wasn’t so bad after he’d been pushed down the order at the start so it was a decent enough recovery but he needs more points quickly if he wants to be a title contender.

Ninth went to Sergio Perez in the Sauber so they at least got two points after Kamui Kobayashi was running fourth but an incident with Bruno Senna then Felipe Massa forced him to retire.

Bruno Senna finished 11th but claimed the final point after his team mates penalty.

Caterham moved forward this weekend with Kovalainen getting into Q2 on merit while Petrov ran as high as tenth. HRT also outpaced Marussia but Timo Glock didn’t race due to illness.

Title battle: Advantage Alonso, but Vettel confident

The British Grand Prix is next up where Alonso took his only race win of 2011. He now has a decent lead to defend, while what he considers his two main title challengers have ground to make up.

Lewis Hamilton will be angry to have lost big points when Vettel had retired. He’ll desperately want to get back on track at his home race after what had previously been a very consistent points gathering season.

Vettel was disappointed with retirement but he remains confident. He has every reason to be, despite how close qualifying appeared to be he took pole by 4/10ths, and was well ahead when the safety car appeared. The Red Bull has certainly found an extra turn of speed that will help both Vettel and 2^nd placed Webber.

It’s still very open, but none of them can afford another bad weekend, especially not Vettel or Hamilton; the fight continues at Silverstone.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Engines and costs debate as Valencia approaches

After scanning the Formula 1 press and the general motor racing press I thought I would offer a few thoughts.

First of all I’d like to wish Sky pundit Anthony Davidson a swift recovery after a major crash at the Le Man 24 hours in his LMP1 class Toyota. He got a fair bit of air after he made contact with a GTam Ferrari and managed to break two vertebrae. 

Thankfully he should make a full recovery. Le Mans is quite a hypnotic race to watch, with so many elements coming at you in the space of a day, it’s certainly something I’d love to attend in the future. Audi have dominated over the last decade and they won again but it was also the first win for their hybrid car of a diesel engine and flywheel technology driven by Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler, something Formula 1 will be increasingly going down the road of over the coming years although not with diesel, that would be silly.

New Engines

There’s been a lot of talk about the Formula 1 regulations for the coming years. The new V6 Turbo 

engines fully equipped with more powerful hybrid technology are due to be introduced in 2014 having already been delayed by a year.

There’s still debate about whether this will go ahead with Bernie Ecclestone known to be against it, while some of the smaller teams are worried about how much these new engines will cost them. Mercedes boss Norbert Haug has admitted that initially they’ll cost more as they develop the new technology having run the current engines for seven years.

At the moment customer teams pay around 15million Euros for their power plants, this could more than double in 2014, although Mercedes have said that over a five period the initial costs would average the same as today.

This new Formula will be about fuel efficiency and is more relevant to the road car industry which manufacturers like Mercedes and Renault are keen for. Formula 1 has to adapt and I certainly see this as a step forward.

Natural resources are not finite, and for Formula 1 to continue guzzling gas and not to at least be seen to be developing towards a greener future would eventually make the sport unsustainable.

Standardisation would cost too

Of course this is going to cost money, and there has been a lot of further debate about cost reduction, with the resource restriction agreement possibly being officially written into the rules. I’m all for bringing costs down, but I hope this doesn’t create a raft of changes that force upon the teams more standard parts.

Formula 1 is the top tier of motor sport and it should be allowed to develop and express itself with not too many restrictions. Standardisation of more and more elements would make it a GP2 equivalent which is not what I think the fans would want to see.

I read an interesting article by former Jordan designer and now BBC analyst Gary Anderson here, where he suggests you regulate how many updates a team can bring during the season, thereby limiting wastage of parts that they discard if they don’t work properly. It’s certainly a simple proposal and I think would be quite effective.

Valencia

 Practice around the streets of Valencia starts on Friday, the wall lined track is actually pretty quick, although traditionally not that exciting with little room to pass, not even last year with the DRS did the heart beat much faster.

It should be quite hot in Spain, which would look to favour Lotus, who seem to use the Pirelli’s that bit better in the heat. They’re looking for their first win of the year, but who would get it? On current form, as long as he gets through the first lap, you’ve got to go with Romain Grosjean. He’s certainly a much improved version than the one from 2009, where he was thrown unexpectedly in the deep end after replacing Nelson Piquet Jnr half way through the year.

He’s out qualified Kimi Raikkonen six times already, and has been getting increasingly stronger in the races, well like I said, once he’s through the first few corners.

Michael Schumacher is optimistic too. How he can be I don’t know? Maybe it’s because he knows he has nothing to prove and he’s still just continuing to enjoy being in the F1 bubble, or maybe he knows that at some point luck has to change.

Well it didn’t change much in his first career, where he had an awful lot of good luck, but certainly he is due a good result, it can’t go wrong all the time can it? Mercedes are assuring him they will get to the bottom of his reliability problems and you only hope that at least once it comes together for him.

Those are the options for eight winners out of eight races, but I think we might finally get our first double race winner with my options coming from our championship leaders, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel.

I think many are assuming the title fight will boil down to these three, I’m not jumping off the fence on that one quite yet, but it’s time someone stole a march and took a grip on the title. Vettel is looking for the hat trick, having won the last two years, while Hamilton has finished second twice.

Ferrari have improved a lot since the start of the year, and Alonso will be a contender for a podium, but I can see this one being a Hamilton and Vettel showdown for the victory. Although that might lead you to believe it’ll be a predictable race with the top contenders fighting it out at the front, Valencia isn’t known for excitement generally either, but this year you can never know for sure.

So in that case, Kamui Kobayashi will be standing atop the podium! Which actually Sauber are still quick in the races, if they can qualify that bit better, they shouldn’t be ruled out, and after Perez’s exploits it’s about time Kobayashi had a podium too. As ever though only tyres will tell.

Silverstone

I received my British Grand Prix tickets a few weeks ago, they are secured away nicely. Route is already planned, new camera is about to be bought, can’t wait!

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Lewis Hamilton takes thrilling win in Canada

McLaren told Lewis Hamilton to charge and charge he did. At the start of lap 51 he pitted from the lead for his second pit stop. He’d wanted clarification that Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel would also pit, he was assured they would; but as the laps ticked by it became clearer that they were trying to make it on just one stop.

Lewis wasn’t going to give this one up though, he went on full attack mode and the race for victory came alive. In truth, it was more a matter of when he caught and passed them rather than if. The Ferrari and Red Bull tyres were waning and on fresh rubber he was catching them at well over a second per lap.

Exiting the pits he was around 14 seconds back, but fastest lap after fastest lap, bouncing off the kerbs going flat out brought him on to the tail of Vettel in just 11 laps. He waited for the DRS zone on the back straight and activated. He swept pass, Vettel not even offering a defence. The Red Bull pitted a lap later.

Within a lap Hamilton had caught Alonso, on lap 64 he challenged him all the way round the circuit, dancing in the Ferrari’s mirrors, and into the hairpin looked for the lead. He was aware though that the DRS zone was just round the corner and backed out of it.

Onto the straight Alonso defended but it was no use, the McLaren was way past before the final chicane, and McLaren breathed a sigh of relief as there’d be little doubt Hamilton would have been pretty annoyed if victory didn’t come his way this time.

In the end it was a good thing he had stopped a second time as Alonso and Vettel dropped out of podium contention. It was a great drive by Hamilton, he shadowed Vettel in the early stages, those two and Alonso often covered by under three seconds, before passing him during the first round of pit stops by staying out a lap longer.

Alonso went two laps further, pitting on lap 18 for the soft tyres and exited ahead of both Hamilton and Vettel, but Hamilton was too strong passing the Ferrari in the DRS zone before pulling out a fairly comfortable gap.

Then came the charge back to the front to secure his first victory of the year and become the seventh different winner in seven races.

His early race rivals couldn’t even stay on the podium, Alonso persevered on a one stop but fell back to fifth as his tyres died, while Vettel eventually resorted to a second pit stop and gained on Alonso at up to four seconds per lap to take fourth but couldn’t quite get back on the podium.  Vettel’s pole lap had been truly brilliant, but didn’t quite have the pace to win today even if he’d pitted earlier.

This was Hamilton’s day and it was about time too, he probably could and should have won earlier in the season, but his consistency has deserved a victory and it’s taken him back to the top of the championship standings.

One stop strategies executed well

Romain Grosjean for Lotus and the Sauber of Sergio Perez showed a one stop strategy could actually work, but both strategies were quite different.

Grosjean stopped only two laps after Alonso, switching from the super-softs to the softs. He’d been stuck behind Nico Rosberg for a long time in 7th, but exited ahead and just let the race come to him from there. 

Despite having run 50 laps on this set of tyres by the end he was actually not that far away from the winner. His pace was astonishing given how early he stopped, and once Lewis had taken the lead it didn’t take long for Grosjean to take Alonso for second place just a lap later.

The way he kept his tyres together shows both his and the Lotus’ qualities in conservation, and he exploited this brilliantly. He’s really taking his second chance at Formula 1 well, despite the number of collisions he’s had. If he survives the first few laps he’s proving he can deliver great results.

Perez differed slightly with his strategy. He’d started on the soft tyres from 15th and didn’t stop until lap 41 to switch to the super-softs. He’d been stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen but one lap extra before pitting brought him out ahead, but he just lost out to Rosberg.

However all was not lost as the two stoppers got out of his way. Lap 57 Felipe Massa was losing all his grip in fifth, entering the final chicane Rosberg tried to go round the outside, but was too fast and cut the final chicane. He had to give the place back, Massa retook as Perez latched himself onto the back of the Ferrari on the start finish straight. Rosberg couldn’t close the door and around the outside into turn 1 went Perez.

A good opportunistic move that allowed him to pass Massa as well at the end of the lap, he banged in a few fastest laps while he was at it and started to catch Vettel and Alonso. After Vettel pitted he began the charge on Alonso and made the move he wished he could have done in Malaysia to secure his second podium in third.

So a one stop was the way to go if your car allowed it, McLaren knew they couldn’t do it, Ferrari and Red Bull were optimistic, but Lotus and Sauber with star drives from Grosjean and Perez made it work.

Struggling World Champions

What’s going on with Jenson Button? He has only scored two points in four races now; he just can’t make the tyres work for him. While others were working a one stop, Button’s McLaren pitted three times, and each time the situation failed to improve. 

Being lapped by your winning team mate will be hard to take, but what’s worse is that he has no idea why he can’t get the same performance?

Meanwhile at Mercedes, the other struggling world champion had been confident of a good weekend. It all fell apart as bad luck struck again for Michael Schumacher. His qualifying had been compromised by not quite starting his final lap in time leaving him ninth. He ran close in the pack, but pitted too early and got stuck in traffic unable to pass.

He certainly wasn’t going to lose a good result this time, but it would have been galling none the less to have his DRS stick open resulting in retirement while his team mate Rosberg ran relatively trouble free to finish sixth. Two points from seven races is certainly not a fair reflection, Mercedes have apologised to him but must offer him a reliable car sooner rather than later.

Rest of the top 10

Rosberg had quite the train behind him at the start but once he switched to softs his pace came, but he couldn’t quite keep it up, and whereas Perez passed him only 12 laps from the end and ended up on the podium, Rosberg could not take advantage of the flailing front runners.

Seventh was Mark Webber in the second Red Bull, he ran fourth early on but got stuck behind one stoppers after his first pit stop. From there he was never really a factor especially after his second stop, but did well to hold off Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus who finished eighth.

Kimi looked to be strong, but he certainly didn’t have the pace of his team mate today. He ran the same strategy as podium finisher Perez but just couldn’t keep up. He’s only two points ahead of his team mate now. I wonder if the steering he’s complained about before is still bothering him as after a positive start to the season he’s waned a bit the last two races.

Kamui Kobayashi started four places ahead of his team mate Perez and ended up six behind. Another to never really have clear air and be stuck behind Paul di Resta’s Force India like Schumacher, didn’t get the breaks, but still two points isn’t so bad.

Felipe Massa’s point for 10^th will be classed as bad. He made easy work of Rosberg on lap two to be fifth, but spun it away at turn one a few laps later. From then on he was stuck in traffic for a long time, but was running fifth again when attempting to get to the end on just the one pit appearance.

His tyres screamed enough and after losing places he pitted to at least get something from the race.

Paul di Resta looked good up until his first pit stop. He passed Rosberg and after Massa’s spin was lying fifth, but once new tyres were fitted he was another to run in traffic and his pace faltered and he ended up 11^th, still ahead of his Force India team mate Nico Hulkenberg though.

It was a day to forget for Williams even though Pastor Maldonado gained nine positions to finish 13^th after a gearbox change forced him to start from 22^nd. Toro Rosso again didn’t show good pace, while Caterham managed to bring both cars home, Marussia got one back while HRT failed with both.

Brief reflections and looking ahead

Canada certainly came alive towards the end of the race as the tyres and differing strategies collided to spark it into life. Perhaps if the DRS zone had been less easy to pass on, it might have made Hamilton’s charge back a bit more difficult and track position might well have been king.

Unfortunately for Alonso and Vettel though their tyres were just not capable of withstanding any attack anyway. No, today McLaren finally got it right again and Hamilton was there for the win to now lead the title race by two points from Alonso, and three from Vettel, with Webber only a further six behind.

It has again sparked questions about whether the tyres have too much influence over the racing, Sky guest pundit Jacques Villeneuve was quite forthright that the tyres give up too quickly and don’t offer the driver enough warning to perhaps alter strategy in time.

However, we’re back to Europe now and the European Grand Prix in Valencia and if any race needs unpredictability it’s this one. Still the tyres will continue to throw up random results, but it’s the guys you’d expect at the top of the points table. Surely by now we’re running out of new 2012 winners, it’s time for someone to double up and steal a march on this year’s championship hunt.

all photo's taken from autosport.com

Is F1 2012 as random as you think?

2012 is turning out to be one of the most mixed up seasons Formula 1 has ever had, or at least that’s how it appears to be. A cursory glance at the championship table tells a slightly different story.

To me at least a top four of Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton seems like the kind of drivers you’d expect to be heading up the standings after six races.

It’s good that other teams are having a chance to shine, Sauber with Sergio Perez was awesome to watch in Malaysia as he just failed to hunt down Fernando Alonso while Pastor Maldonado’s triumph for Williams was a real fillip. 

Lotus will certainly continue to challenge, in former guises they were championship winners. But it’s the current team of the moment Red Bull and the decades of championship winning of Ferrari and McLaren which are making their experience tell with Mercedes holding on.

As much as unexpected teams may fight for top results and this takes away points from the top teams, it’s their ability to maximise whatever result is available to them on a given race that sees them ahead in the points.

But having said that, a quick scan of the results so far this year shows that of the 18 podium positions that have been available from the first six races, only five have been taken from teams who didn’t finish in the top four of the 2011 constructors championship.

And three of those came from Lotus, who as Renault last year finished fifth in the constructors championship. No matter what the rules throw at them, the best teams even if they appear to struggle will always rise to the top. 

It’s just they’ve all had a go from the off and no ones managed to hold on to a race winning pace from event to event which is why we’re hearing how much of a lottery it is, but they're all still lurking near by.

The racing has been brilliant, but its interesting to note that despite the excitement the winner of five of the six races has either lead into the first corner or started from pole position.

It’s still a very open season, but as I touched upon in my Monaco race report, we have our championship contenders and there’s no real surprise with who they are. Although you do have to say with Ferrari looking so poor at the start of the season, the fact he leads the title race is all the more impressive, but it goes back to what I was saying, damage limitation and maximising whatever you can get out of a weekend if it’s not going right for you.

Something that McLaren must get back on top of. Lewis Hamilton has been very consistent but surprisingly hasn’t actually scored a victory and he's seen his teams race pace slip away since the start of the season. He’s begun to criticise the team a bit after their pit stop failings, something that still hasn’t been cured, so there’s little wonder there are suggestions he might be on the move at the end of the season.

Jenson Button has slipped away despite a win, he’s only scored two points from the last three races as he struggles with the lottery inspired Pirelli’s but obviously it’s way too early to rule him out, he's only just over a wins worth of points away from Alonso, but this year is that already too much?

Red Bull are the only team to have scored two wins so far this year but despite their relatively poor qualifying form, they have had great race pace which has brought them back into play. Vettel and Webber are a lot more evenly matched than last year with the absence of blown diffusers, which Webber could never quite get on top of as well as Vettel.

Question mark about Red Bull is how the intra-team rivalry will shake out as 2011 was calm as Vettel obliterated everyone, but with a more equal footing will we return to the tense infighting of 2010? It’ll be interesting to see how that goes down.

There could still be a surprise championship winner though.

The only ones to me that realistically could spring one are Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus who has been tremendously consistent mostly, and probably should have had two wins already. Nico Rosberg has a win and is only four points back from Hamilton, and is generally a fairly consistent driver too given the equipment.

And that’s it this year, consistency is key, Alonso has scored points in every race so far including his win, while winless Lewis has done the same but is only thirteen points off, despite Mark Webber saying wins will be key, which of course they will be, but scoring points when you can’t win will be essential too.

Canada Preview – Seven from seven?

Canada is next up and it’s not unrealistic to think of a seventh winner from seven races. Michael Schumacher was strong in Monaco and Mercedes should be good in Canada where he’s won seven times already.

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has long straights and slow corners, with Mercedes double DRS they’re sure to be on for at least pole position, and as they proved in Monaco, they’re not bad with traction out of slower turns.

Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean are always worth a bet this year, and are due a win given their competitiveness in general, although you’d have to side with Kimi to be the one who’d actually bring the car home.

Lewis Hamilton needs a win too, he’s always been strong in Canada. But who is most likely to double up for the first time this year?

Mercedes are the most hotly tipped for Canada, so if not Schuey, then Nico Rosberg looks to be the favourite for a second victory of the year. Then again, anything can happen, there was lots (and lots) of rain last year and that can throw up an even more unpredictable result than even Pirelli could try and provide.

It'll also be interesting to see how Red Bull do now the hole just before the rear wheels which directed air and exhaust gases towards the diffuser has been declared illegal by the FIA. That area of the car must be impervious, although slots that come to the edge of the floor are allowed.

But after the FIA had declared it legal before and the stewards have passed the car for several races, it's a bit of an odd decision, but it's happened before and it'll happen again.

Whatever happens the main contenders will all be there scrapping for points, making the title fight close and exciting but not quite the mixed up lottery that we’re lead to believe.

Moving teams, TV and half a car

There’s been lots of driver move chatter in the Formula 1 press this week, particularly focusing on Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber.

Hamilton is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the season, but what are his options? I can’t see him going to Ferrari to partner Fernando Alonso for obvious reasons, nor Red Bull where it may upset Sebastian Vettel’s equilibrium, although having said that rumours are that Red Bull boss Dieter Mateschitz thinks Hamilton’s image would fit well with the Red Bull brand.

Mercedes looks to be the most likely option if he moves but only if Schumacher retires, which I don’t think he will. So to me at least I think he’ll stay with McLaren.

The most interesting move, and I think entirely more probable is Mark Webber to Ferrari. Let’s face it, even with the improvement in form in Monaco, Felipe Massa’s days at Ferrari are probably numbered unless he somehow wins the title.

Webber is coming to the end of his career, he’s on a rolling one year contract with Red Bull. I think he’d expect to play second fiddle to Alonso, but we know he’s more than capable of upsetting the pecking order occasionally as seen in 2010.

I think if you’re going to end your career in a top car, why not with Ferrari? Webber and Alonso are great friends, and I think would work well together. Also I believe after four years of the same driver line up at Red Bull, they might believe it’s time for a change too.

They also might want to make sure a star is established such as Hamilton or a new coming star from their young driver programme in the event of Vettel leaving at the end of 2013 to go to Ferrari. Rumours go that he’s signed a pre-contract agreement with Ferrari depending on various performance clauses for next year, so Red Bull will want to combat that.

At the moment though, it’s all just rumours.

BBC vs Sky

Quick mention about the television coverage, the BBC have broadcast the last two races live and their quality has shown. Switching between them and Sky, you’re left with the impression that the only thing that holds Sky’s race coverage together is the large contingent of ex-BBC personnel, especially Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz.

The BBC have a great sense of camaraderie with their presenters, while Simon Lazenby for Sky is still coming across as nervous and prone to a few gaffes and not quite sure what to say or do. I’d quite like to see Georgie Thompson take the helm for a few races as she seems a much more natural presenter.

Lee McKenzie, the BBC pit lane reporter, will be taking over from Jake Humphrey for four of the next five races as Humphrey covers the European Championships and Olympics which is good for her as I still feel she’s under used in the coverage and has an obvious depth of knowledge.

BBC also seem to be a lot more relaxed with their sharing of the coverage typified by  the opening of the Monaco F1 forum on the red button. The opening shot was of the Sky team before you hear Jake Humphrey telling the cameraman he’s looking at the wrong presenters! I can't imagine Sky doing that at all.

Half an F1 car

Finally, it’s been in the press a bit, but if you missed it, below is a five minute video of a Sauber cut in half, showing you just how complex and compact a Formula 1 car is. It’s well worth checking out.