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 thepole. ROS was a blink behind but his Benz bottomed out missing theentry in corner 1 (what a great place to watch F1!) in his last effortand had to concede to his teammate. Up to that point they wereseparated by only a 62 thousandths of a second. To get his Ferrari inthird place VET was frankly...heroic, second row should’d been for RedBull with RIC showing his experience in front of VER, but VET wasamazing making his Ferrari to go that fast, RAI couldn’t even getwithin half a second of him and will start sixth. Williams wereanticipating to do well in this kind of track, they are satisfied totake the forth row. HUL and ALO completed the top 10.The “default” QF pick selection HAM-ROS-VET was the right one... thistime. Half of all of us made a feast cashing 4-point plenums. HAM wasoverwhelming favorite to grab the pole, close followed by ROS insecond, but we equally had VER, RIC and ROS sharing third with VET andthat’s what made the difference between winners and losers in the CFAstakes.The grid for tomorrow:HAM ROS VET RIC VER RAI BOT MAS HUL ALOChanging weather made today for a fantastic QF session. Coldertemperatures and rain lurking in the radar leave no option but toattack from the very beginning of each segment. All the top teams werelining up at the exit of the pitlane ready to set up times as soon asthe track was open, the plan was not to be caught by the showers aswell as making sure they’d have another run in case the track becamefaster by the end of the segment. It resulted in the busiestqualifying sessions we’d seen. Like a mini race, they were lappingflat out keeping a short distance to each other.It was clear from the start that the pole was going to be a privatecontest between HAM and ROS, Red Bull vs Ferrari for 3rd, and then aneven field between Williams, Force India, McLaren and Toro Rossobattling for spots 7th to 10th. Conditions were that light rain wascoming and going but the track never got wet, but it was very slipperyand the little mistakes became accidents for several drivers with the“Welcome to Quebec” wall -the official name- attracting manycustomers. The “Wall of Champions” -the popular name- almost addedanother worthy name to its collection when VET graced it in his lastflyer of Q3. He radioed the team “I lost a bit of the wheels”; RIC didthe same with little damage to his Red Bull but SAI added another halfinch to his corner exit and that was the end of his day, one of theseveral accidents today.The atmosphere in QF is special, it’s always one of the best momentsof the weekend. It’s a whole competition compressed into 60 minutes.The closing moments of Q3 were intense, the pole between the twoMercedes drivers was just part of the picture. Behind the Red Bullfight with Ferrari (and between RIC and VER) and out of reach of theWilliams, the drivers of Force India and McLaren mounted a fiercebattle for the last 2 spots of Q3, each one going faster than theothers until the flag gave HUL 9th and ALO 10th. PER in 11th and BUT12th at least will have the benefit of free compound choice for thestart 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 withthe lower temperatures and the very short life expectancy of theultra-soft, this could well be a 2-stopper. The tyres of all the top10 starters are used sets of ultra-soft from Q2, so far 10 laps is thelifespan of the purples, and with the shortest pit lane in F1 (!8seconds) alternative strategies will be the call of the day.That is if...it doesn’t rain, and weather forecasting is a veryinexact science, as we know. Overtaking is possible in Montreal, sothe start not necessarily will define the outcome of the race: only 5of the last 10 winners had come from the pole position. The nextfactor to consider is the Safety Car with a 40% chance of beingdeployed. This track is very hard on cars and drivers, bumpy and sofast 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 VERThis promises to be be a typical Montreal thriller, enjoy!
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