After Friday’s free practice, Fernando Alonso stated
that not much significance could be attached to the fact
that the two 150º Italias were running competitively,
given the uncertainties related to the free sessions.
However, on this occasion, it turns out that some
confidence was justified as Fernando will enjoy seeing
all the way down the pit straight when he sits on the
grid today. Okay, so out of the corner of one eye he
will no doubt notice the blue colour scheme of Sebastian
Vettel’s Red Bull, the German on pole for the sixth time
this year, but it’s a Scuderia Ferrari front
row start nevertheless at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit.
One place behind the Spaniard is team-mate Felipe Massa,
third fastest at the end of Q3, having been quickest in
Q2, while Fernando took the top slot in Q1.
Optimism for the outcome of today’s Canadian Grand
Prix, the seventh round of the Formula 1 World
Championship, is therefore perfectly acceptable.
However, good grid positions are only the first step on
a very long road, a road that last for 70 laps on a
track that is notorious for trapping the unwary driver.
This means that, along with the Formula 1 cars, the
sports car that serves as the Safety Car often spends a
lot of time on track. The weather has been a popular
topic all weekend, with heavy storms hitting the city of
Montreal earlier in the week, with more rain possibly
expected on race day. If the rain does come tomorrow at
some point after one o’clock when the race begins, it
will be interesting to see what set-up strategies the
various teams have adopted: changes to the cars between
qualifying and the race are limited to safety related
elements only, therefore the bets on the possibility of
rain were already placed before the cars tackled
qualifying.
While the Ferrari duo have to deal with the track and
the elements, it’s the opponents who present the biggest
challenge and behind the top three qualifiers, Mark
Webber is fourth in the other Red Bull alongside Felipe.
Lewis Hamilton is on the inside of row 3 in fifth place
for McLaren, with the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg alongside
him. As ever, the start will be important, but
overtaking was already a common occurrence at Montreal in past
years, before the arrival of KERS and DRS, so tomorrow’s
race should provide plenty of passing opportunities,
especially with the double DRS zone, although
effectively it is one long zone from the exit of the
final hairpin extending to the pit straight. As ever
this season, tyres can be expected to play an important
role and even though teams now have experience of
running Pirellis at six Grands Prix, the data base is
still in its infancy. However, it is clear that
degradation is not as significant as had been predicted
and of course all of that becomes irrelevant if it
rains.
Stefano Domenicali: “For the first
time this year we managed to fight for the very top
places on the grid, right down to the final second and,
for once, the gap to pole position is reasonable. It’s
our best qualifying of the season and it’s great to have
both cars on the front two rows, one of them with a
clear view of the track ahead: this result is
encouraging, because it means that our efforts are
taking us in the right direction. Definitely, at the
moment, our car is better suited to the characteristics
of the “Gilles Villeneuve” circuit than it is to the one
at Montmelò, but it’s no coincidence that we have been
competitive right from the start of the weekend. Now
however, we must concentrate on preparing for a race
that looks like being very unpredictable. Historically,
Canada produces an action packed Grand Prix, with the
Safety Car usually required on track and lots of
overtaking opportunities: if you add to this scenario
the unknown factor concerning the weather, then it’s
clear why tomorrow’s 70 laps will seem very, very long
for everyone.”
Fernando Alonso: “It’s been a long time
– since Singapore 2010 in fact – that I was last on the
front row and I am pleased that Felipe is also right up
close to me on the starting grid. It means the whole
team has worked well, at the track and back home on
trying to improve our car performance. It was important
to show we can be competitive and we managed it. In Q3,
we had some doubts about strategy – whether it would be
better to do just a single lap at the start and then
three or split the runs equally – but it’s hard to say
which would really have been the best choice. Clearly,
on a track like this, where aerodynamic downforce is not
as important as elsewhere, our deficiencies are a bit
masked but it’s equally true that the updates we brought
here worked as we had expected and that’s important for
the rest of the championship, because we want to be
fighting for the top places. It could rain,
which would make the race even more chaotic than usual:
we must be ready to make the most of any opportunity. We
will try to put the Red Bulls under pressure, right from
the start, but we know McLaren will also be very strong,
especially as their rear wing is possibly better adapted
to the conditions in the case of a wet track.”
Felipe Massa: “It’s been a great
weekend so far: we have always been competitive and
finally we will be able to start from a good grid
position. The weather could be different [for the race]
and therefore we must be ready to tackle any
eventuality. I have been happy with the way the car is
handling and I am very confident for the race. The team
is working well and we really hope we can put an end to
this run of negative results. The fact the gap to the
Red Bull is smaller here is encouraging, also for the
future. We know that at this track, the race is very
difficult, but also, from what we have seen so far, our
car is more competitive in the race than in qualifying.
I expect McLaren will be very strong as will be
the Red Bulls obviously. A podium would be a great
result, fighting for the win would be even better. What
will happen if it rains? That’s a good question, because
this year we have never had a real opportunity to run in
the wet. On top of that, at this track, the slightest
slip up carries a very high price, therefore it’s
important to be very careful.”
Pat Fry: “We are pleased with this
result, the best since the championship began. The
credit for that goes to everyone: the drivers who did
not make any driving errors on an unforgiving track, the
team that prepared the cars with great care and everyone
at Maranello who worked with alacrity to make up the
performance gap that separates us from the best.
However, we have yet to bring home any points from this
Grand Prix, so we must stay completely focussed on
preparations for the race, which will be long and
unpredictable. The rain could play a part and we will
have to be ready to react in the right way to any
eventuality. On behalf of the whole team, my thoughts go
out to Marco Oliva, one of our mechanics who was injured
during a pit stop today: these things can happen in our
sport and we hope Marco gets better very soon.”
|
|
|
