2007 Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix

[Jack_Bauer]

This weekend sees the Canadian F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

McLaren dominated the first practice session of the race weekend with Alonso leading Hamilton to a 1-2 finish atop the time sheets. The much predicted bounce-back from Ferrari hasn't materialised so far as they were second best in the session. Kimi Raikkonen though does seem to have put his s
horror showing at Monte Carlo behind him by pipping Massa to third spot for the Scuderia.

Red Bull's Mark Webber showed the potential of Adrian Newey's RB3 with a strong fifth place, and Ralf Schumacher looks keen to answer his critics by gaining a suprising 8th place. There are unconfirmed reports in the media that Toyota have privately given Schumacher a two-race ultimatum to improve his performances or pack his bags. Whether that's true or not, he does need to start showing some form ASAP.

The other story of the session was BMW's reliability gremlins resurfacing as Robert Kubica's fun came to a smokey end before he was even able to set a time.

Times

1 F. Alonso McLaren 1:17.759 17 laps
2 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:17.976 20 laps
3 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.136 21 laps
4 F. Massa Ferrari 1:18.167 21 laps
5 M. Webber Red Bull 1:18.301 21 laps
6 G. Fisichella Renault 1:18.620 24 laps
7 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:18.634 20 laps
8 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:18.652 32 laps
9 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:18.717 24 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:18.896 16 laps
11 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:18.898 20 laps
12 J. Trulli Toyota 1:18.925 25 laps
13 J. Button Honda 1:18.932 24 laps
14 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:18.997 26 laps
15 A. Wurz Williams 1:19.189 22 laps
16 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:19.234 29 laps
17 K. Nakajima Williams 1:19.273 30 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:19.937 18 laps
19 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.331 12 laps
20 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:21.251 17 laps
21 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:21.630 25 laps
22 R. Kubica BMW no time

[Kitdy]

It's exciting to have the F1 circus come to Canada. I might watch part of the second practice, I think it is on now on Speed.

[aiasib]

that line up will probably be the grid on sunday,

got the season has already become boring








but i still love it!

[mclaren_crazy]

I was supposed to be there this weekend but its the weekend between my two weeks of final highschool exams

[MadMax13]

What the **** was with those suspension failures and that flying corner by the Spyker, plus the drifts, this race is going to be a cluster****, i bet 3 or 4 cars wreck at LEAST...

[Jack_Bauer]

Bit of a response from Ferrari in today's final practice, with Raikkonen managing to split the McLarens. Ferrari seem to have found an extra couple of tenths since yesterday. So too though has Lewis Hamilton, who put in a blistering time to take P1.

The session didn't see much action as there was a lot of cement dust down on the track after an engine blowout spilt oil all over the track this morning in a support race. Then just as things were getting busy on track Heikki Kovalainen's Renault engine grenaded on track, spilling yet more oil on the track. The Montreal track surface generally is pretty low grip to begin with, and all that oil and dust on the track may cause a few problems in qualifying which is due to start shortly.

Final Practice Times

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:16.071 12 laps
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.459 14 laps
03 F. Alonso McLaren 1:16.465 9 laps
04 F. Massa Ferrari 1:16.666 13 laps
05 T. Sato Super Aguri 1:16.864 12 laps
06 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.975 14 laps
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:17.071 11 laps
08 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.329 16 laps
09 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.391 11 laps
10 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:17.391 15 laps
11 G. Fisichella Renault 1:17.454 12 laps
12 J. Button Honda 1:17.468 15 laps
13 R. Kubica BMW 1:17.601 12 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.624 17 laps
15 S. Speed Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.742 12 laps
16 R. Schumacher Toyota 1:17.748 13 laps
17 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.799 14 laps
18 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:18.270 13 laps
19 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:18.428 5 laps
20 A. Wurz Williams 1:18.489 11 laps
21 H. Kovalainen Renault 1:18.758 10 laps
22 C. Albers Spyker F1 1:18.933 13 laps

[ScionDriver]

I'd like to see a Raikkonen/Hamilton front row since those are my two favorite drivers. I think Kimi will certainly bounce back from a poor Monaco showing, but its certainly going to be hard to catch the McLarens, they seem untouchable.

[Jack_Bauer]

Davidson, Schumacher, Kovalainen, Wurz, Sutil, Albers all drop out after Q1.

Kovalainen brought out a red flag early on as he slammed into the wall and tore his rear wing off. Amazingly the team managed to patch the car back up and send it out again, but he couldn't improve his time. Ralf Schumacher fell out at the first hurdle yet again. I don't know why he doesn't just quietly accept a healthy redundancy pay-out from Toyota and bow out of the sport, because he's just embarassing himself at the moment.

[Wouter Melissen]

I think Heidfeld hit the wall on that last flyer. It was very quick though!

[Jack_Bauer]

Sato, Liuzzi, Barrichello, Coulthard, Button and Speed out in Q2.

No major incidents to speak of really. Some really impressive times though. Obviously the McLarens looked blisteringly quick, but Heidfeld put in a stunning lap at the death to take P3 from Massa. In the end Kimi Raikkonen was pretty darned close to losing out on final qualy again, finishing 9th and less than two tenths ahead of the cut off time. Surely he must have more pace to come...?

[magracer]

I think Heidfeld hit the wall on that last flyer. It was very quick though!

Great effort by Nick, I bet he was angry at the stewards for dropping his best time for cutting the chicane.

[Jack_Bauer]

Great effort by Nick, I bet he was angry at the stewards for dropping his best time for cutting the chicane.

I doubt he was angry with the stewards, they had no choice really, a lap like that couldn't have been allowed to stand. He was more likely angry at himself for making a silly mistake and nearly screwing his chances. I wouldn't be suprised to see a BMW or two splitting the Ferraris this afternoon, they're looking mighty quick.

[fisetdavid26]

I doubt he was angry with the stewards, they had no choice really, a lap like that couldn't have been allowed to stand. He was more likely angry at himself for making a silly mistake and nearly screwing his chances. I wouldn't be suprised to see a BMW or two splitting the Ferraris this afternoon, they're looking mighty quick.

The BMW in question beat both of the Ferrari's actually.

[Jack_Bauer]

Lewis Hamilton claims his first ever F1 pole position, marking the next step in this remarkable start to his career. He comfortably beat teammate Alonso with his final lap to take P1 and complete a McLaren front row lock-out. He can't be thinking that he will have an easy time of in the race though, as Alonso was actually faster than Hamilton in both the first two sectors but blew his chances with some mid-corner oversteer in the final chicane. The fact that Alonso backed right off in the final corner and lost sixth tenths, yet still had breathing space to P3 shows just how dominant the McLarens are.

Nick Heidfeld showed that his lap in Q2 was no fluke with a superb P3, equalling his best of the season. Ferrari will be dismayed to see a BMW inbetween themselves and their big rivals McLaren, but the simple fact is that they aren't quick enough at the moment. Raikkonen beat teammate Massa for the first time in a while which will be a big boost for his confidence. Webber showed good pace in the RB3 to take P6 and Rosberg too impressed in P7, although he did make more than his fair share of off-track excursions in qualifying. If he does that tomorrow his final placing won't be quite so impressive as things are mighty tight in the middle of the pack. Fisichella and Trulli round out the top ten.

Provisional Starting Grid

1. Hamilton
2. Alonso
3. Heidfeld
4. Raikkonen
5. Massa
6. Webber
7. Rosberg
8. Kubica
9. Fisichella
10. Trulli
11. Sato
12. Liuzzi
13. Barrichello
14. Coulthard
15. Button
16. Speed
17. Davidson
18. Schumacher
19. Kovalainen
20. Wurz
21. Sutil
22. Albers

[jorismo]

Great driving from Heidfeld. His reaction to his mistake in Q2 was perfect and he continued his line in Q3. Also nice to see Webber finally doing some good drving. And what was wrong with Coulthard? He seemed to be more drving on the grass instead of the track