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Canadian GP 2016 - Race

"Cato Batista" 01/07/2016 22:03:06 ID #950
No surprises in QF, HAM lapped in the minute 12 seconds to take the
pole. ROS was a blink behind but his Benz bottomed out missing the
entry in corner 1 (what a great place to watch F1!) in his last effort
and had to concede to his teammate. Up to that point they were
separated by only a 62 thousandths of a second. To get his Ferrari in
third place VET was frankly...heroic, second row should’d been for Red
Bull with RIC showing his experience in front of VER, but VET was
amazing making his Ferrari to go that fast, RAI couldn’t even get
within half a second of him and will start sixth. Williams were
anticipating to do well in this kind of track, they are satisfied to
take the forth row. HUL and ALO completed the top 10.


The “default” QF pick selection HAM-ROS-VET was the right one... this
time. Half of all of us made a feast cashing 4-point plenums. HAM was
overwhelming favorite to grab the pole, close followed by ROS in
second, but we equally had VER, RIC and ROS sharing third with VET and
that’s what made the difference between winners and losers in the CFA
stakes.


The grid for tomorrow:


HAM ROS  VET RIC  VER RAI  BOT MAS  HUL ALO


Changing weather made today for a fantastic QF session. Colder
temperatures and rain lurking in the radar leave no option but to
attack from the very beginning of each segment. All the top teams were
lining up at the exit of the pitlane ready to set up times as soon as
the track was open, the plan was not to be caught by the showers as
well as making sure they’d have another run in case the track became
faster by the end of the segment. It resulted in the busiest
qualifying sessions we’d seen. Like a mini race, they were lapping
flat out keeping a short distance to each other.


It was clear from the start that the pole was going to be a private
contest between HAM and ROS, Red Bull vs Ferrari for 3rd, and then an
even field between Williams, Force India, McLaren and Toro Rosso
battling for spots 7th to 10th. Conditions were that light rain was
coming and going but the track never got wet, but it was very slippery
and the little mistakes became accidents for several drivers with the
“Welcome to Quebec” wall -the official name- attracting many
customers. The “Wall of Champions” -the popular name- almost added
another worthy name to its collection when VET graced it in his last
flyer of Q3. He radioed the team “I lost a bit of the wheels”; RIC did
the same with little damage to his Red Bull but SAI added another half
inch to his corner exit and that was the end of his day, one of the
several accidents today.


The atmosphere in QF is special, it’s always one of the best moments
of the weekend. It’s a whole competition compressed into 60 minutes.
The closing moments of Q3 were intense, the pole between the two
Mercedes drivers was just part of the picture. Behind the Red Bull
fight with Ferrari (and between RIC and VER) and out of reach of the
Williams, the drivers of Force India and McLaren mounted a fierce
battle for the last 2 spots of Q3, each one going faster than the
others until the flag gave HUL 9th and ALO 10th. PER in 11th and BUT
12th at least will have the benefit of free compound choice for the
start now that all the top 10 are out of new purple tyres.

And that takes us to the strategy for tomorrow:

Last year one stop was the winning choice for the 70 laps, but with
the lower temperatures and the very short life expectancy of the
ultra-soft, this could well be a 2-stopper. The tyres of all the top
10 starters are used sets of ultra-soft from Q2, so far 10 laps is the
lifespan of the purples, and with the shortest pit lane in F1 (!8
seconds) alternative strategies will be the call of the day.

That is if...it doesn’t rain, and weather forecasting is a very
inexact science, as we know. Overtaking is possible in Montreal, so
the start not necessarily will define the outcome of the race: only 5
of the last 10 winners had come from the pole position. The next
factor to consider is the Safety Car with a 40% chance of being
deployed. This track is very hard on cars and drivers, bumpy and so
fast that punishes the slightest mistake, and there will be several…

As per the latest forecast, we should bet on a wet race tomorrow:

Let me first: Cato - HAM RIC VET ROS RAI VER

This promises to be be a typical Montreal thriller, enjoy!



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