The Canadian Grand Prix is very special to me, as it is my home Grand Prix. Unfortunately, I’ve never had the opportunity to attend the race because I am not in Montreal, I hope to add this to my list of things to do very soon. Last year, the race provided fans with a great show that was named as one of the most exciting races of the season. Hopefully it can provide us with an equal amount of thrill in 2015. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – named after the legendary Canadian Formula One driver that lost his life in 1982 – is a rather demanding one. It is a very fast circuit and drivers are using full throttle at many points throughout the lap. Because of the high speeds, the brakes are put through a very high strain. The weather won’t be a factor, as there is no possibility of rain on Sunday.
Last season, we saw Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo take his first career victory. The race experienced a lengthy safety car period in the opening lap, following a collision between the Marussia drivers Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton. This was not a dream race for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton dropped out of the race after a little more than half of the race, due to a brake issue. Nico Rosberg was also suffering from the same issue, allowing Ricciardo to snatch up a victory in the closing laps. This was the race that showed that Mercedes could be beaten, after having won all of the previous six rounds. We also can’t forget the spectacular crash between Felipe Massa and Sergio Pérez on the final lap.
The front row of the grid is the same as most of the other rounds this season and last season: Hamilton on pole with Rosberg right alongside. Unless there are some dramatic issues like last season or some strange strategy call like we saw in Monaco, this should also be the order in which they will finish. The Mercedes lap times were much faster compared to that of their competition’s.
Kimi Räikkönen will be the sole Ferrari that can challenge the Mercedes, as Sebastian Vettel claims the eighteenth grid position. Vettel was handed a five place grid penalty for overtaking one of the Marussia cars during a red flag in free practice three. The German also had some more bad luck, as he was unable to make it to the second round of qualifying because of a software glitch on his car. The good news is that Räikkönen has showed us just how fast and capable he is. He should have no issue maintaining his third position.
Räikkönen is not the only driver that finds himself without his teammate at the starting grid: Valtteri Bottas will be the lone Williams car at the front. Felipe Massa had an issue with his engine during the first qualifying round, resulting in a lack of power. His lap times were not enough to advance him to the second round and he was forced to take the fifteenth grid spot. Bottas is a great driver, but the Williams car doesn’t seem to be as competitive as it was last year, so he will have some issues clinging onto his fourth position. In the end, he will probably find himself in fifth position by the end of the Grand Prix.
Lotus was quite impressed with their qualifying performance, having locked out the third row of the grid. It was impossible for the team to sum up their performance thus far this weekend. Trackside operations director, Alan Permane, simply saying: “A decent day and there’s more to come.” Romain Grosjean leads Pastor Maldonado off of the grid. Unfortunately for the team, the curse of the number 13 may strike again this weekend. Maldonado has had a rather terrifying season so far and has only been able to complete one race. You can’t help but think that he will suffer the same fate here in Canada. Grosjean, on the other hand, should be able to make his way into fourth position before the race is over.
Best of luck to all of the teams in the race.
