It was the Canadian Grand Prix last weekend and it was one of the best ever. The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal is one of the favourite. Its usually one of the most exciting – plenty of chances to overtake. Stuff usually happens.
This years was no different. I missed the qualifying as I was at a wedding and was busy during some of the actual race. Thank goodness for Sky +.
It was raining on race day so the race started behind the safety car. It didnt seem that heavy the rain but it seems this year they are being “safe then sorry”. Instead of millions of £££ of F1 car being damaged, they are “playing it safe”. Seems a shame as its always good to see a bit of carnage and some sliding and aquaplaning!! The rain stopped after the start and some cars went on to intermediate tyres. However, it then got really heavy, so heavy in fact that the safety car was out again. It was SO heavy that the race was red flagged and stopped for about 2 hours.
Because of the 2 hour “break”, I almost managed to catch up with the race in real time. The last 20 or so laps were some of the best for a long long time. Vettel was out in the lead as usual and every time the safety car came out – I think 4 times – he managed to get away from the chasing pack really well. Button was having an eventful race having contacted Hamilton and also Alonso. In the end he went in pits 6 times. 5 times for changes to tyres and 1 time for a drive through penalty for speeding behind the safety car.
Best 20 laps ever??
The last 20 laps of the race were with a drying track with all cars changing from intermediate to slick. Vettel was about 12 seconds ahead at one point but Button was catching him fast – about 1.5 to 2 seconds a lap. Its debatable if Button would have caught Vettel (and crucially passed him) without the final safety car. On the final lap, Button got within the crucial 1 second between him and Vettel so would have been able to use DRS. Maybe Vettel was worried about this and ended up making a mistake before the “DRS active zone”. Button got past and won the race.
Elsewhere in the race, Schmacher ended up finishing 4th. Very close to 3rd but Webber was just fast enough to overtake. Hamilton had another race to forgot, going into Webber and coming into contact with Button.
Tumbling marshall
This race really did have everything with the rain, overtakes, crashes. Even marshalls falling over. First there was the one who fell over Vettel hit the wall of champions in Friday practice. Then the one during the race who tried to remove debris from track. It didn’t seem very organised and just a load of blokes going on track and throwing and kicking bits of carbon fibre off the track. One guy slipped and fell, then Kobayashi almost crashed into him and he fell/dived again.
If your in the UK, you can see the video of the guy falling here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13748154.stm
(If your in the UK, you can see the race summarised in 90 seconds on the BBC Sport site. Depending when you read this, you could watch the actual race on the iPlayer).
Its turning into a good F1 year 2011. Some really good races, especially Canada and China.
