Ferrari win in Canada this time?
LAST MARANELLO WIN AT CIRCUIT GILLES VILLEBEUVE WAS IN 2004 Mercedes’ battle to get heat into ultrasoft tyres could influence the outcome.
As it was for Monaco, Ferrari will face another track that has not seen a win for the current championship leaders in many years this weekend.
At Monaco it was 16 years and in Canada it is 13 years since they have graced the top step of the podium.
Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix should be a great race, particularly as Lewis Hamilton attempts to hunt down Sebastian Vettel, his main rival in the battle for the driver’s championship.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montréal, hosts the seventh round of this season’s F1 calendar.
The 70 laps of the 4.361 km track can produce surprises.
Tyre compound choices set by Pirelli are soft, supersoft and ultrasoft, the latter being the tyre of choice for most teams.
The problem of getting heat and consequently grip into the ultrasofts has been an issue for the Mercedes team.
That factor could have a significant influence on the outcome of this weekend’s race.
You have to go back to 2004 to find a Maranello victory, during the golden era when Ferrari’s dream team swept all before them.
Michael Schumacher was the driver and he chalked up his seventh win at the circuit, first with the Benetton-Ford team in 1994 and 1997, plus a further six with Ferrari.
Canada is a Grand Prix that suited the team with a total of 13 wins, a record shared with McLaren to this day.
Three of McLaren’s victories came via Lewis Hamilton whose tally for wins at Montreal is five, the last two for Mercedes in 2015 and 2016.
Kimi Raikkonen was another victor for the Woking team in 2005. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was on the top step in 2013 and his team mate of the time, Daniel Ricciardo, took the win in 2014.
Valtteri Bottas collected third for Williams last year and Max Verstappen recorded his best result in Canada with a fourth overall in the same year.
So the stage is set for an extremely competitive race, with the top teams and the main protagonists for the driver’s title, all having previous success at the Canadian event.
This one should be worth staying up for.
On the subject of tyres Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said that his team’s difficulties with this year’s tyres was an “Italian mystery”.
This follows speculation that the Italian tyre manufacturer is favouring their fellow countryman from Maranello.
Pirelli’s president, Tronchetti Provera was not amused, saying, “The tyres are the same for everyone. Perhaps Mercedes have been used to lots of success and now face an uphill task. Ferrari has done something that no one expected, and you have to give them credit.”
Wolff’s comment went down like a lead balloon in certain circles.
Personally, I believe it was a somewhat tongue in cheek utterance.
I did enjoy a comment from a prestigious website that raised a very relevant point.
It reminded us that Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull worked with Pirelli in testing the new wider tyres last year by supplying drivers and previous generation cars.
The site emphasized the point that a lot of the testing with Mercedes was carried out by, now retired, Nico Rosberg and new boy Pascal Wehrlein, whereas Ferrari employed Vettel and Raikkonen to gain data on the new rubber.
Certainly one to ponder on.