Winner of Canadian Grand Prix could be lucky No. 7
But a repeat victor could also make history in Montreal on Sunday
The Grand Prix of Canada could make history one of two ways this weekend. The Formula One World Championship could have its seventh different winner in seven races — something that hasn’t happened before — or else it could crown its first repeat winner of the 2012 season.
Odds are in favour of the latter — although you can’t discount the former because there are drivers and teams racing at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve that are more than capable of winning for the first time.
So far this year, Jenson Button, Sebastien Vettel, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Pastor Maldonado and Nico Rosberg have won races for McLarenMercedes, Red Bull-Renault, Ferrari, Williams-Renault and Mercedes. Notice anybody missing? How about Lewis Hamilton, Button’s teammate, who hasn’t been to the top step of the podium so far this season?
He’s won the Canadian race twice, in 2007 and 2010, and qualified twice on pole. He could very easily become the seventh winner of 2012.
Or how about Kimi Raikkonen? The Iceman won at Montreal in 2005, so he knows his way around. And he’s been coming on in recent races (Monaco aside), driving this comeback year for Lotus-Renault.
In the six races to date, he’s been inside the top five three times, with a best result of second at Bahrain. And the engine powering his car has been behind three of this year’s six winners to date.
Hey, how about Michael Schumacher? With a little luck, he could win this race. After all, he’s done it seven times.
He’s got the speed — pole at Monaco (although he started sixth because of a penalty) — and he very nearly made it onto the podium at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve last year, losing third place on just the nextto-last-lap. Don’t count him out.
Several teammates of winners to date could surprise.
For instance, I do not count out Felipe Massa so far as being a Formula One driver is concerned. Even if he is finished at Ferrari after this season, he will want to go out in a blaze of glory and he has always — or nearly always — run well at Montreal (he was the top Ferrari finisher in 2011).
Several prognosticators have suggested that Alonso might win the race on Sunday, and I say if Alonso can do it, then Massa must be included in the equation.
Romain Grosjean has been a most pleasant surprise for Lotus, backing up Raikkonen superbly. He’s pre- pared to pounce if given the opportunity.
His third-place finish at Bahrain showed the talent is there, if given the opportunity and conditions to win, which could happen Sunday.
As mentioned, of course, there could be the first second-time winner of 2012 on Sunday, and when it comes to analyzing that possibility, the name of two-time world champion Vettel has got to be at or near the top.
He won the pole at Montreal a year ago and was winning the race until forced into a mistake on the last lap by Button, eventually finishing second.
Out of the top ten just once this season, he’s tied for second in the standings with his teammate Webber, both a mere three points behind leader Alonso.
And Alonso has been the bull of his F1season, frequently taking his Ferrari on the hooks of his horns and tossing it forward. He has willed that race car to perform to his standards and, of course, he is a race winner in Canada, doing the trick in 2006, albeit for Renault.
The 2012 Grand Prix du Canada, then, has all the makings of a classic.
Of course, it will be hard to duplicate the incredible race that took place in 2011 — although you never know because the weekend forecast for Montreal is rain. And it was rain that turned last year’s scheduled two-hour race into a four-plus- hour marathon that saw the eventual winner declare it the greatest victory of his Grand Prix career. Button, who emerged the winner after the race leader, Vettel, ran wide six turns from the finish, which let him through, had qualified seventh. The race was declared a wet race and was started behind the safety car, which pulled off after four laps but returned to the fray five more times — a record for safety car deployments during a GP. Before it was over:
The race was delayed by two hours because of the torrential rains and eventually went into the record books as the longest in F1 history — four hours, four minutes and 39.537 seconds. It forced the FIA to limit all future Grands Prix to four hours.
Button made a total of six pit stops for tires, safety checks and penalties, restarting the race last at one point before carving his way through the field for the win.
He made a total of 30 passes en route to his first victory of 2011, a year in which he scored two more (in Japan and Hungary) and finished second in the world championship to Vettel. The Grand Prix of Canada can be seen Sunday at 1:55 p.m. Eastern on CTV.