The inter-race break has been an interesting one this time around, with ventures to far away places, to an extent. As mentioned in the last post the blog has claimed it's first online victory, although it was a little of a fluke really as everyone else retired making it a little easier, but I was in the lead at time so a little bit of a redeeming factor. On top of that the blog went on an adventure into the middle of the north sea, aboard a little vessel between the Farne Islands which included a landing on Inner Farne. A small rock populated by thousands of birds, of varying degrees of aggression, top of the list were the Arctic Terns who rather liked diving and bouncing at the tourists. On the surface that might seem like a bad idea, but as long as you are fitted with a hat then you gain immunity from the assaults and it suddenly becomes awesome. One of the little feathery critters is pictured below posing for the mug shot.
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| One bird charging the angry |
It is rain that the Canadians grew awfully familiar with last year, where the race was converted into a four hour epic with monsoons and safety cars. Concluding with a truly awesome win for Jenson Button, a win which started his run towards claiming the inaugural bonus points championship, so this weekend could prove pivotal in the outcome of this years season. The playing field for this next step in the competition is the truly fantastic Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, I know I do spend a long time on here ranting about how awful some corners are - generally if Tilke has been involved, but I do rather like Montreal. It is a lap that generally produces some brilliant racing as well as being great fun to drive in the simulator.
The Track
Gone are the steel barriers that lined Monaco have been replaced with concrete instead, and is only a little further away from the side of the track than we saw last time, with a little bit of greenery thrown in, on some of the corners. Montreal is a track which hasn't succumbed too much to the convention of replacing everything with tarmac run-off areas - probably on the basis that there isn't too much that can be replaced with the walls being in the way and all. Especially considering on the other side of the walls lies a lot of water, in the form a large river in which the track is situated on an island. A rather cool feature if I do say so myself.
The actual layout is governed by chicanes, remember back in Spain when I mocked the final chicane there for generally being appalling... Well Barcelona take a good look over here especially at the turn 3-4 sequence, that is how a chicane should be done, it isn't pointlessly slow and marked with moronic tall curbs. Instead it is a little quicker, with a welcoming concrete wall on the exit, none of that health and safety nonsense going on there. In fact all of the chicanes here are bounded by the solid walls, each of them has attracted a variety of contact and shedding wheels in the process.
And no wall has attracted more guests than the one that lies in wait on the exit of the final chicane, dubbed the infamous 'Wall of Champions' has claimed the cars of many race winners and world champions. As of yet it is to claim a bonus points champion, but considering there has only been one of those so far the probabilities are a little lower. In the past two seasons the wall lies at the end of the first DRS zone - and oddly enough no-one hit it then, although some did come rather close. Deciding to make contact elsewhere instead, the current grid are rather resourceful like that.
So it is time to unveil the traditional accompanying track video which has gone through a couple of changes this time round, as it features the winning car from the race last weekend, and also it is the first track video to take place in the wet. Enacting a sort of digital 'rain dance' to attract a proportion of the entertainment we saw last time - perhaps we can do without the monsoons and the red flag periods but a little rain would make the whole thing more exceptional than Canada normally presents. Without further delay and more rambling on which tends to be the normal.
What to expect
Last season I recall challenging Canada to out perform the Monaco grand prix that preceded it and it certainly worked out rather well, unleashing the most engrossing event of the year, or several years before that too. So this season I shall repeat that challenge: Canada do your worst.
Aside from that little moment, and with or without weather the prospect of the Canadian GP promises to be just as unpredictable in any circumstance. Just as it was in Monaco except this time there is a much smaller chance of cars being trapped behind one another, so Jenson will be able to escape the back of the Caterham. So we might see the top teams with their cars placing and finishing towards the top of qualifying and then the race. Meaning the battle for pole will be intensely contested with Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus, and possibly Ferrari will all be within fractions of a second towards the front.
Down in the midfield, it is anyones guess what is going to happen there, and it is also likely the teams will permeate into the front division as Sauber and Williams have shown strong form already this season. Mix that form with the probability of mayhem there is a change of adding a seventh different winner to the list from outside the main contenders. Given the slower nature of the track and a greater reliance on mechanical grip it means it opens the door for Force India to challenge for the front of the division, demonstrating their ability in Monaco and more so at last season's Singapore GP. As for Torro Rosso however they could be towards the bottom of the division vulnerable to a special drive by either Heikki or Vitaly for Caterham.
Right at the back of the grid the positions are pretty much set already, as Caterham as ever will be the head of the trio of newer teams, a country mile ahead of the other teams in the division. Behind them it is a little closer in terms of the competition of who gets to be last, well Narain will probably be last but between the rest of them are on compatible form. Normally we'd see Glock line up behind the Caterhams with Pic and De La Rosa on similar pace fighting for the penultimate grid slot.
Blog predictions
That time of the post has rolled round again, and after I managed to score a grand total of nothing for the race section of the predictions it might be nice to make some points this weekend.
- Hamilton
- Webber
- Raikkonen
- Button
- Alonso
- Vettel
- Rosberg
- Kobayashi
- Maldonado
- Grosjean
Qualifying Battle
- Red Bull - Webber
- McLaren - Hamilton
- Ferrari - Alonso
- Mercedes - Schumacher
- Lotus - Raikkonen
- Sauber - Perez
- Williams - Maldonado
- Force India - Di Resta
- Torro Rosso - Ricciardo
- Caterham - Kovalainen
- Marussia - Glock
- HRT - De La Rosa
Well there you are then, I've posted a picture of a real-life angry bird before it bombed my head, rambled on about the whole adventure for a while. Before delving into the main target of the rants in this corner of the internet, with the map and the default unveiling of the dodgy attempt at videography, which means that everything has been put in place. Helpful considering that I seem to have acquired some form of virus of the cold variety, the people here have been intent on blaming the birds on the island - words like bird flu have been cast through the air. Personally I wouldn't blame them they are far too cool to conduct such acts, but at this rate I can see this degenerating into the terminal condition that is known as MAN FLU. A condition so dangerous it deserves the capitals it is written in.
Hopefully the content of the weekend will form a distraction from the evil microbes causing merry hell with my innards curse them and all. The Canadian GP is another one of the races that always stands out on the calendar, and this year it probably won't be covered in the fog of fatigue we saw last season as the race doesn't clash with the epic Le Mans 24hrs. As the endurance event will be held next weekend instead ready for the all nighter in front of the television with a vast array of snacks definitely a highlight. So I until Saturday evening this is farewell from this corner of the internet and Blog HQ.
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