The hardest braking point on the Île de Notre-Dame lies just ahead of the start/finish line. The driver has to brake down hard, decelerating by 210 km/h over just 122 metres. 2,456 kW of power are released in the process. Up to 5.6 g pull at the driver, who pushes with 171 kg onto the brake.
Tag: Canadian Grand Prix
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Max Verstappen gets penalty, blames Grosjean for crash
Max Verstappen has been handed a 5 place grid penalty for the Canadian Grand Prix for causing a collision with Lotus driver Romain Grosjean.
The Toro Rosso rookie started the Monaco Grand Prix from 9th place on the grid but lost a lot of time at his first stop. Verstappen was stationery for 31 seconds due to the right rear wheel not attaching properly.
Toro Rosso opted for another pit stop and switched Verstappen to the Option tyres. He made quick work of passing team mate Carlos Sainz Jr. and Valteri Bottas in his Williams.
The Dutch rookie announced over team radio that he was sticking to Vettel because the German lapping backmarkers was making it easy for him to pass his rivals on track. Something he should perhaps not have done since Lotus made quick work of warning Grosjean of the impending threat from Verstappen who by now was on the back of Vettel’s gearbox on a shoestring.
Young Max tried to pass Grosjean for 10th place but ran into the right rear of Grosjean’s Lotus under braking at Ste Devote and headed straight on into the barriers. Grosjean was sent into a spin and the Safety Car was deployed.The stewards judged that Verstappen was at fault and have handed in the grid penalty, as well as two points on his Super License.
Despite being hit with the penalty, Verstappen blames Grosjean for braking too late.
“The lap before I braked on the same spot as when I crashed,” Verstappen said.
“But you could see when I braked the car ahead braked early and when you are going that speed and are quite close to each other you can’t do anything, you don’t expect them to brake early.”
Verstappen will serve the 5 place grid penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix.
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FIA to Further Investigate Perez-Massa Crash
The FIA have announced that they will further investigate the incident between Williams’ Felipe Massa and Force India’s Sergio Perez at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The crash, which Perez was penalized for, happened in the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix when Massa attempted to pass a struggling Perez into turn 1. The TV pictures showed Perez jinked a bit to the left which resulted in contact with Massa which sent the pair of them careening into the barriers with Massa narrowly avoiding contact with Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
The hearing will be heard by the Austrian Grand Prix stewards at the Red Bull Ring tomorrow, after a request from Force India, who say that they have new evidence to bring to light.
Below is the statement from the FIA:
The FIA has received a request from Sahara Force India F1 Team, the entrant of Car 11, requesting a review of the Stewards’ Decision (Document 44 of June 8, 2014) in accordance with Article 13.10 of the FIA International Sporting Code. The request refers to the emergence of “new elements”.
The FIA has been advised that it is physically impossible for the Stewards of the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix to process this request prior to the Austrian Grand Prix and in accordance with Article 13.10.1 of the Code, has designated the Stewards of the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix to:
1. Determine as to whether or not a new element exists under Article 13.10.2 of the Code; and
2. If such an element is determined to exist, convene a new hearing to consider any such new element(s).In order to determine whether or not a new element exists the Stewards will convene at 09:00 hrs on Friday June 20, 2014. The driver and team representative of Car 11 are required to attend to present their case as to the existence of any new element(s).
In the event that the Stewards decide, in accordance with Article 13.10.1 of the Code, that a new element(s) exists, a hearing will be convened at 1600 hours on Friday June 20, 2014. The drivers and team representatives of Car 11 and Car 19 (Felipe Massa – Williams Martini Racing), will be required at this hearing.
Photo courtesy Sahara Force India Formula 1 Team
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F1 2014: Canadian GP Review – Ricciardo Wins Canadian Stunner
There is something about the combination of the circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Formula 1 that delivers the most astounding races.
It didn’t come as a surprise when Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row of the grid. Nor was it unexpected that the two fought a close battle for the lead of the race into turns one and two. It was expected when the pair of them comfortably pulled away from the rest of the field.
First, a crash between Max Chilton and his Marussia teammate Jules Bianchi brought out the safety-car. A significant amount of clean-up was required which had the safety-car out for seven laps. Yet, this would be the least dramatic ‘incident’ of the afternoon, by far.As the race resumed it seemed like any other afternoon in the 2014 season for the Mercedes pairing of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The two Silver Arrows ran within a few seconds of each other and pulled away comfortably from the rest of the field. However, Formula 1 never fails to dish up the most unexpected and the seemingly predictable was about to be obliterated.
Lewis Hamilton, known for his performances around the Canadian circuit, began to make serious charge for the lead of the race by closing the gap to Rosberg to a couple of tenths. As they battled wheel-to-wheel a sudden loss of power struck both at the exact same time. The high temperatures had caused both cars to suffer a devastating MGU-K failure. It meant that both Mercedes’ had lost all of its hybrid power.
The seemingly invincible pair were losing up to three seconds a lap. Too much astonishment Williams’ Felipe Massa emerged as the leader of the race after the first round of pitstops. A momentary recovery for Lewis Hamilton had the Brit in prime position to take over from Rosberg but he ran wide at the hairpin and lost the advantage gained in the pitstop phase. It went from bad to worse for Hamilton as he was forced into retirement with brake failure.A trip into the pitlane for Massa gave the lead back to Rosberg but the Mercedes was significantly compromised. A throng of cars led by Force India’s Sergio Perez and including Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel quickly closed the gap on the Mercedes. Miraculously, Rosberg was able to hang onto the lead despite running with 160 less horsepower than his pursuers.
The train of cars was quickly joined by Felipe Massa who had armed himself with fresh rubber. It seemed as if Sergio Perez had worked a one-stop strategy to a tee. Perez, known for his ability to run long stints, managed to hold Ricciardo at bay but a daring move around the outside of turn 1 gave the Australian second place.
The Red Bull driver closed the gap to Rosberg and with the help of DRS down the back-straight snatched the lead of the race into the final corner. While Ricciardo crossed the line to start the final lap of the race the drama was far from over. A spot on the podium beckoned Felipe Massa but as the Brazilian lined up a pass on Perez into turn 1 he tagged the back of the Force India. The duo, barely avoiding Vettel’s Red Bull, crashed heavily into the barriers. Both drivers experienced an impact of 27G but were declared fit by medial personnel. After an investigation the stewards announced that Perez had been given a five-place grid penalty for the Austrian GP for “changing his line” into the corner.As if the result was not astonishing enough Jenson Button brought the McLaren home in fourth place. The former champ started the final lap in eighth position but benefited as Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso tripped over each other.
Fernando Alonso counted himself as “lucky” to finish as high as sixth as the Ferrari continues to struggle for performance. Despite bringing several upgrades to the Canadian GP the F14T showed no improvement whatsoever. Kimi Raikkonen endured a similarly miserable race as early brake issues and traffic added to the gloom. A spin at the hairpin, attributed to a power delivery issue by the power unit, dropped the Finn out of the points. Raikkonen eventually finished tenth but the Maranello team has serious questions to answer after yet another failed attempt at development. The 2007 champion must hardly recognise Ferrari in its current depressing guise. It’s a far cry from the team with whom he won two constructors’ and one drivers’ title.
Daniel Ricciardo may have benefited from someone else’s misfortune but the courageous move around the outside of turn 1 on Perez and the never-say-die style of the Australian is what made him one of the most popular winners in the paddock.Sometimes the nice guy does finish first.
Photo Credits:
Red Bull images via @redbullracing
Lewis Hamilton retiring via @LewisHamilton
Massa-Perez crash sequence via @WSFMR -
Canadian GP Qualifying: Rosberg narrowly beats Hamilton to pole
Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after putting in a rocket fast final lap in qualifying denying teammate Lewis Hamilton the pleasure of his fifth pole position.
Hamilton dominated the entire weekend in Montreal but a mistake heading into Turn 8 on his final lap meant the Briton had to settle for second place on the grid. Rosberg beat Hamilton to pole by less than a tenth of a second.
Qualifying got underway with only 21 cars after Esteban Gutierrez crashed in the final practice session today, forcing Sauber to change his chassis. Valtteri Bottas was first out on track and posted the initial benchmark at 1.18.270 but teammate Felipe Massa went half a second faster to occupy the top spot on the timesheets until Rosberg came around to put his Mercedes up in first place.
Pastor Maldonado dropped out of Q1 once again – for fifth out of six times this season. He pulled his stricken Lotus over into an escape road ending his session. Things just aren’t going right for Maldonado at all this season and his Venezuelen sponsorship is already rumoured to be at risk.
With 16 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Ericsson brought out the red flag on the session when he binned his Caterham at turn nine. The session did not restart and Maldonado, Chilton, Bianchi, Kobayashi and Ericsson were eliminated from the proceedings.Q2 got underway with Adrian Sutil first out on track with the entire field heading out on the supersoft tyres. Felipe Massa was the early leader in the session ahead of his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, and former Ferrari teammate, Fernando Alonso. The two Mercedes drivers only headed out a little later in the session but neither could shift Massa off the top of board with their initial efforts. It became clear that the Mercedes duo were not as strong on the supersofts as the Williams drivers were.
Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean, Daniil Kvyat and Adrian Sutil were all eliminated at the end of Q2.
Q3 saw Bottas first out on track for a bit of clear air, setting the first benchmark at a 1.15.550. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes to cross the line, going six-tenths quicker than Bottas. Hamilton also managed to go quicker than Bottas but fell just short of Rosberg’s time putting the German on provisional pole.
Both Rosberg and Hamilton made slight improvements on their final runs but Hamilton just couldn’t find the pace to match his teammate and a small error into Turn 8 likely cost him the pole position. Sebastian Vettel pulled a rabbit out of the bag and pushed out a flyer to qualify third ahead of the two Williams drivers, Bottas and Massa respectively.
Daniel Ricciardo qualified sixth ahead of Alonso and Vergne, with Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen rounding out the top ten.
Hamilton will no doubt be frustrated to not have been able to convert his dominant performance throughout the weekend into a pole position but the Briton seemed to take it in his stride today and seemed pleased to have another all-Mercedes front row. “Let’s go make history tomorrow,” Hamilton said at the post qualifying press conference.History will indeed be made whatever happens tomorrow. We’re all set for a crack-a-lacking race and the stage is all set for a good battle upfront between Rosberg and Hamilton. The Williams drivers are looking exceptionally strong and they are definitely making a mark on the grid this weekend.
Please join us on Twitter for live chat and commentary as we watch it all pan out at 8pm GMT+2.
Full timesheets and your chance to win a VIP trip to the Belgian Grand Prix are below.
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Hamilton fastest in Canadian GP final practice
Lewis Hamilton has finished fastest in the final practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, repeating his earlier performance from FP2.
This time round, however, he was not followed by team mate Nico Rosberg, who had to settle for third place behind Felipe Massa’s flying Williams.
The session started out well, with Magnussen setting the initial pace, but was brought to an abrupt halt when Esteban Gutierrez put his Sauber in the wall and brought out the red flag. The car took a good deal of damage and it’s looking likely that he’ll need a gearbox replacement before qualifying. If this happens, Gutierrez will face a 5 place grid penalty. Marshalls made very quick work of clearing the Sauber and the session was back underway within 5 minutes.The front-runners headed back out quickly and it was Sergio Perez who was first to better Magnussen’s lap time before Hamilton ripped another seven-tenths off the Force India’s time.
Ferrari enjoyed a few brief moments in the top two spots with Fernando Alonso leading from Kimi Raikkonen, but Hamilton soon put them back in their places by going another half a second quicker.
The two Williams drivers soon joined in the fun at the top as Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas moved up into second and third places, only for Hamilton to once again stomp his authority everwhere and widen the gap by yet another half a second. Rosberg went just six-hundredths faster but with both of them still on the harder tyres, Mercedes clearly still have a massive advantage.
In the final ten minutes of the session, drivers attempted to complete their final qualifying simulations but Rosberg and Hamilton both chose not to set fast times on their supersofts. Felipe Massa jumped himself back into second place behind Hamilton leaving Rosberg to settle for third ahead of Fernando Alonso, Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton’s 4/10s advantage over the rest of the field is on the harder tyres so he’s looking set to claim his 5th pole position of the year. But let’s not forget Rosberg who will be keen to fight back and hold on to the championship lead. We should be in for a great battle between the Mercs up front during qualifying today, with the Williams and Ferrari drivers duking it out for the next few places.
Full timesheet below. Please join us on @F1_Madness for live updates on Twitter.
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2014 Canadian Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference
DRIVERS:
Adrian SUTIL (Sauber)
Nico HULKENBERG (Force India)
Kamui KOBAYASHI (Caterham)
Felipe MASSA (Williams)
Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
Jenson BUTTON (McLaren)
PRESS CONFERENCE
Jenson, we’ll start with you if we may. A 2011 winner here, of course, memorably, and you’re currently eighth in the championship. This circuit has the famous wall of champions on the outside of the final corner. The back of the cars this year, of these designs, is quite light. I wonder if you could a little bit about how you read the challenge of driving these cars around this track this weekend.
Jenson BUTTON: OK. Good morning. Yeah, it’s going to be tricky here, It always is, especially with the cold circuit temperatures we’ll probably have on Friday. So yeah, the last corner will be tricky, but we’re sort of used to that I think. We’ve been driving these cars all year and if we can drive these cars around Monaco I think we’ll be alright around here. It should be an interesting circuit. It’s a circuit where you don’t really use downforce so much, it’s a lot more mechanical grip. There are long straights, so we can use the power of the engine – for us that’s great, with the Mercedes engine. And it’s about working with the tyres. I think it’s going to be tricky around here. It’s supposed to be hot on Sunday, so you’re going to have to really look after them. But we’re reasonably good at that.
Talking about McLaren’s situation: how do you compare this year to last year and the competitiveness and the problems that you have? Are they more fixable than last year’s problems?
JB: Yeah, I think from the outside it doesn’t look spectacular, our season this year, and you’d say it looks quite similar to last year but it’s very different. In terms of the feel of the car, it’s much better. In terms of the development of the car, it is working and we’re going in the right direction. Yeah, it’s tough. When you’ve been fighting for wins and the team is used to fighting for wins, it’s difficult when you find yourself in this situation. But also there are a lot of positives right now. With Ron back in charge, and Eric, I think they’re doing a great job of really moving the team on and changing certain things so that we will be fighting at the front again. But it just takes time. Things don’t change overnight, even though we’re pushing very hard.
OK, thank you. Coming to you now Lewis. You’re a three-time winner here, three times on pole here. What is it about you and this Montreal circuit and it’s walls around the outside? Is it the braking? Is about technique? What is it that somehow clicks with you here?
Lewis HAMILTON: I’m not sure. Good morning everyone. I guess there are certain tracks you like more than others and this is one of those circuits I particularly like. I really like coming out to Canada, I always have a great response from the fans here. It is one of the best grands prix of the year in terms of the turnout, the city, just in general the weekend, it’s a good fun weekend and I guess all of that packed into one makes it fun to drive.
You’ve said this week that you and your team-mate Nico Rosberg are friends again after Monaco. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
LH: There’s not really much to say. I said it in my message. We spoke after the race and just like friends we have our ups and down, we’ve known each other a long, long time, so it’s done and dusted and we look forward to working together to try to help this team win the Constructors’ Championship.
OK, thank you for that. Coming on to Felipe. Three seventh-place finishes so far this season, your best result here in Montreal a fourth. Williams is tied with McLaren at the moment in the Constructors’ Championship with 52 points after six races. Is that in line with your expectations?
Felipe MASSA: No. Definitely I think I didn’t have great results until now. It should be much better than what I had until now. So I
had not very great races, starting with the race, where I didn’t get to corner two and you know in Bahrain I was fighting for third, fourth the whole race and then I lost a lot of positions because of the safety car. So I think it was not very great results but I’m sure we can do much better and I hope this track can be also a bit better for our car compared to Monaco, compared to other tracks. So really looking forward that we can have a lot better results, starting here in Montreal, a lot better than seventh I hope.I wonder if you could tell us what Rob Smedley has brought to the team, because you obviously have got a very long working relationship with him. He’s now in a senior role on the engineering side, can you tell a little bit about what he’s brought to the team?
FM: A lot of experience. A lot of good direction, different things in terms of how to work, you know, in many different areas. I think he’s a very intelligent engineer, has a lot of experience. For sure, things don’t change from one day to the other, so it takes a little bit of time but not just him, we have a lot of great engineers, a lot of good people and things are getting better all the time inside the team and I’m really looking forward that from now until the end of the of the championship things will get better and better all the time.
Nico, coming to you. Fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and points scored in every round so far but no podium personally yet. Given the confidence that Force India has in the package for this weekend in Montreal, is this you weekend do you think?
Nico HULKENBERG: I don’t know. Obviously I hope and like every weekend we’re going to try to make the most of our chances here. I think the track should be OK for us. Also, it’s one of my favourite grands prix, so I really look forward to this weekend – the track, the city, everything is pretty cool. So hopefully we can have a strong result again.
Q: Monaco showed that you can get results by doing a different strategy from the people around you. As a midfield team I wonder, is that something you feel you need to do to get the results or do you feel you can compete with front running teams on equal terms?NH: Not really, and I think looking back in hindsight we made it a bit harder for ourselves, starting on the harder tyre – the other way around with how it turned out, Safety Car etcetera may have been easier – but I think it’s always different and you always have to look at each race and each case and decide then but, generally, we’re having a good package, we’re competitive and that puts us in a good position in general.
Q: Kamui, you’ve twice finished in the points here in Montreal but after Marussia’s result at the last round in Monaco I wonder what the reaction was in the Caterham team? Is it encouragement that it’s possible to score points or concern about the position it leaves you in?
Kamui KOBAYASHI:
For us the Monaco result for us was a bit of a pain but at least we know Marussia made a great step from their updates so I have to say, I think, we have to say it’s a well done job. I think for us for sure I think we need to work. I think what happened in Monaco was a little bit… strange but at least we check with the FIA and that’s through so we have nothing to say but at least we have some upgrades for that first point.
Q: So what is the way forward for the Caterham team this season?
KK: The thing about a Formula One team is we cannot change day-by-day. We progress. Of course, it’s not an easy life for us, it’s a difficult moment right now but for sure everybody is working really hard and we know, I think, that we will progress. We need a little bit of time and we are looking forward to more later on this season.
Q: Adrian, two points finishes also for you in your career here in Montreal – but still none this year for you with the Sauber team. Your thoughts on the start that the team has made and how the upgrades have worked out so far.
Adrian SUTIL: Well, a difficult start of course. I thought it would be a little bit more easy but that’s how it is. That’s how our situation is. We try, of course, to get out and improve the car, improve general performance – yeah, coming here we try it again. We had a tough weekend in Monaco but I think Monaco was a little bit more on the better side, the car was behaving a little bit better and so it’s not only bad everything. There are a few positive things – but it’s very complicated to make it altogether at the moment. To understand the car is quite difficult for us still, so we have to work on that and we need a bit more time and hopefully it really goes soon in the right direction. It’s quite hard to be in the back there always, lot of problems come together in racing at the back.
Q: And tell us from your perspective what you think it will be like to race these hybrid turbo cars around this circuit – the specific challenges of this circuit?
AS: Well I think here we’re going to have quite high top speeds, with the new engines and the low drag the cars have so we should really be quick on the straights, maybe also a quicker overall lap time than last year – maybe – so I don’t know. It should be a circuit that suits the car in general. All the Formula One cars, not only us. And, as everyone said, it’s quite an enjoyable track with a lot of possibilities to overtake. The race should be quite interesting as well. Lot of chicanes… yeah, good weekend and I look forward to it, hopefully with a quite good result in the end.QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – PA) Jenson, I don’t know if you read the team’s pre-race press release this week but there were some very complimentary words from Eric Boullier with regard to yourself, taking about your quality of input, your experience, your ambassadorial role. It all sounded very positive and almost as if they’re looking to next year, perhaps wanting to keep you. Any further progress on that? As I say, it was all very complimentary towards yourself.
JB: er…no. No more progress at all. But that’s just the way it is. We’re here, we’ve spent four good years together already. In our fifth year together. And we both want to work together in the future but it’s just not time yet. Not the right time. We have a lot of other issues to solve first before we start thinking about the future too much. We’re in a good place and y’know, I think my experience does help me a lot. I still feel very young at heart, fitter than ever and I have all that experience. I’m in a great position and I feel I’ve got a lot more to give in the future in Formula One. I definitely can’t see an end to my career. This is my life and where I want to be in the future.
Q: (Bill Beacon – La Presse Canadienne) Because this track is different to most with the braking and long straights and everything, do you think that that in any way will close the gap between Mercedes and the rest of the field?
LH: I’d be guessing but I don’t feel that will be the case. We’re particularly strong on the straights, Mercedes are but I don’t know, maybe we will be surprised this weekend but long straights do suit us very well. We have a very good power curve on our engine, Mercedes have done the best job with the engines. Renault and Ferrari would have to have done an exceptional job coming into this weekend, in terms of that area, to be able to keep up with us on the straights..
FM: Definitely it can be a good track for most of the cars that are using Mercedes (engines) so I think maybe we will see even maybe a big difference compared to Mercedes and the other teams, because as Lewis said, the engine is amazing, it’s been a very good job done by Mercedes and they have a good car under braking and everything, so for sure maybe we can see maybe even a big difference.
NH: I don’t think it will be very different to the other weeks before.
Q: (Chris Medland – crash.net) Lewis, you said that the air has been cleared between yourself and Nico between races. Did you feel the need to do the same with the team and was anything different with the way the team handled the two of you between Monaco and coming here now?
LH: There was no difference. Collectively with the team… me and Nico spoke and we individually spoke to the team and saw the team. Nothing’s really changed. We know the team has done a great job in terms of supporting us and the way it’s run with Paddy and Toto. Their support for the both of us has been great. We’re now full steam ahead. We had dinner with the team yesterday and things have never been better. We’re just going from strength to strength. People have ups and downs, as I said, so it’s no different to any other experience me and Nico have had in our whole – God knows how many years we’ve been racing together. We move on, we’re pushing forward. There’s a long long way to go in the season so we’re looking forward to that battle.
Q: (Gerhard Kuntschik – Salzburger Nachrichten) Jenson, as kind of the older statesman, you raced on the old A1 Ring; we’re coming up to Austria again, Red Bull Ring, in a fortnight; what are your memories of the Austrian Grand Prix?
JB: Lots of campsites and lots of very merry Austrians over the Grand Prix weekend. It’s one of those races that they really embrace the sort of party scene and the camping scene, which is really cool. It reminds me very much of Spa, British Grand Prix and those sort of races. It’s a true racing fan’s Grand Prix, I feel. The circuit itself… you look at it and you think ‘there’s like seven corners, it can’t be that fun to drive.’ But it is, it’s a really good circuit. I’ve enjoyed racing there in the past, I don’t know what it’s going to be like with these cars. I’ve always had fun racing there. I don’t know how much has changed, either. Turn one, we used to drive off through the gravel because that was the quickest way on the exit. I’m sure it’s not going to be the case any more. I think we’re in for a good Grand Prix.
Q: (Luis Fernando Ramos – Racing Magazine) To all drivers: the World Cup is coming and your countries are going to be there, playing, so on a personal note, how much are you interested in football? Are you going to follow all the matches or you don’t care much about what’s going on there? And a second brief question: who do you think is going to win the World Cup?
Q: Kamui, would you like to kick us off?
KK: Me? On soccer? I don’t really care so I don’t follow anything. All I know is that Japan is not really strong so I don’t…
NH: Well I hope that Gemany is going to be good but I’m not a football expert but I’m sure I’m going to be behind the TV following the World Cup.
AS: I’ll be watching, cheering for Uruguay and Germany, because I’m half Uruguayan.
FM: Yeah, I love football, I watch everything, so I will maybe be watching most of the games. I really hope that Brazil can be there in the final. To win the championship at home would be fantastic so I will be there watching and supporting Brazil.
LH: I don’t follow it as much (as I used to) but I will probably catch a few games and I want to try and see if we can go out to one of the games at least. The dream will be to go and watch Brazil and England play, that would be pretty awesome.
JB: Yes, I totally agree. I’m not a massive football fan, I don’t support a team but when it comes to nationalities, countries playing, obviously I will be supporting England and I’m really looking forward to it.
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Broadcast Times for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2014
Formula 1 is in Canada this weekend for round 6 of the Formula 1 world championship at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
With the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg settling their differences, you can be certain that both of the drivers will be going all out to one up each other this weekend. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has always been a favorite of Hamilton’s and he will be looking to stamp his dominance over his team mate.
After a rather quiet drive at the Monaco Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo will be hoping to split the Mercedes pair or even beat them. Ricciardo has had an amazing start to his career at Red Bull and has out-qualified his team mate Sebastian Vettel on a number of occasions. Vettel supporters will be hoping that the young German’s luck will change after suffering yet another mechanical problem at the Monaco Grand Prix which forced him to retire from the race.
The rest of the teams will be looking for an overall improvement for their cars with some teams delaying their major update packages to be released at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The track itself is fast with long straights and very tight chicanes. And lets not forget the famous wall of champions at the exit of the final corner. The stop-start nature of the track makes it rather heavy on fuel consumption. Pirelli have brought the soft and super soft compounds to the track. With the slow chicanes and exit speeds of some of the corners the cars will depend heavily on mechanical grip provided by the two compounds.
With the race in North America, we can expect things to happen in the late afternoons and in the evenings for the folks in Europe and Africa. Below is the full broadcast schedule for the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2014
Free Practice 1: Friday 16:00
Free Practice 2: Friday 20:00
Free Practice 3: Saturday 16:00
Qualifying: Saturday 19:00
Race: Sunday 20:00
All times are GMT+2
You can get all your free practice updates on our Twitter account @F1_Madness. We’ll bring you live updates for qualifying and the race.
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Pirelli Announces Tyre Choices for Spain, Monaco and Canada
Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli announced the tyre choices for the Spanish, Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix.
Due to the high temperatures and high lateral loads on the Montmelo circuit, Pirelli will bring the Pirelli P Zero Orange hard and P Zero White medium.
For the Monaco and Canadian Grands Prix, the Pirelli P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red Supersoft will be used. This will be the first time we will see the Red Supersoft compound this season. Because of the smooth tarmac, twisty nature of the Monaco street circuit the cars rely heavily on the mechanical grip from the tyres.
The Canadian circuit is also reliant on high mechanical grip and Pirelli feel that the soft and supersoft is once again the ideal choice.
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Speculation around Red Bull cheating sends F1 fans into a flurry
F1 Fans are once again up in arms after speculation has surfaced that the Red Bull team are using traction control which is banned in Formula One.It seems that an Italian publication, Autosprint started the rumours and speculation around Red Bull cheating, stating that the team may be using traction control to gain a significant advantage over rival teams.
This follows the publication finding a picture of Mark Webber, shortly after his collision with Giedo van der Garde. They state that one can see evidence of a traction control system on the track, after Webber accelerated from the hairpin, toward Turn 11.
“You immediately notice the traces on the track,” Autosprint reported. “Those are not continuous (usually darker at the beginning and then gradually faded) of a ‘screech.’”
They go on to say that, ““It is the typical behaviour of a road car that goes ‘jerky’ with the traction control switched on.”
This is all entirely speculative and there has been no protest from any teams regarding the matter. We are pretty sure that if there was any truth in the rumour, it would not take rival teams very long to protest and request an investigation if they had even the slightest sniff of Red Bull cheating. Surely the FIA would have noticed something as obvious as traction control by now as cars also undergo thorough scrutineering.
According to F1 Madness’ technical expert, “all teams use the same electronic ECU which is supplied by the FIA as per Article 8.2.1 of the Formula One rules and regulation, so it is unlikely that it’s traction control”.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), as is often the case with Formula One and all the politics that go with it, it would seem that this was nothing more than sensationalist reporting. Of course the “news” has sent fans into an absolute flurry with Twitter being abuzz with further speculation around the validity of the claims.
We will keep you updated if any news develops.
