The Finishing Straight - Canada (by HappyDude88)

FORMULA One 2011 should definitely come with some sort of health warning, after another unforgettable Grand Prix in Canada last weekend.  The entertaining action this season has certainly dome damage to my health, and I bet it’s the same for many others.

SENSATIONAL: Button drive was a champions fightback

     Jenson Button’s fighting drive to victory on Sunday will go down as ‘The Greatest Comeback Victory.’  Button was 21^st and last with two-thirds of the race gone, so for him to win from there is something really special.  The pace of his McLaren in the dying stages, even though it was on a drying track must have everyone sit up and take notice.  Red Bull certainly will.  Button made up for his team’s strategy errors that cost him a shot at the Monaco Grand Prix and to pressure Sebastian Vettel into a rare error takes a lot of skill and determination, considering how unflappable and invincible the world champion has been this season.  For the past three races now, McLaren have had the fastest car on a Sunday afternoon.  They were beaten in Barcelona due to its lack of overtaking opportunities, Monaco by poor strategy and an unlucky Safety Car, and even in Canada, they threatened to completely throw the advantage away.  Gambling on a wet setup for qualifying on Saturday was such a big risk and although it did end up working, could you imagine if Button hadn’t past Vettel.  This was probably going to be Red Bull’s weakest circuit on the calendar, so if they won here, the rest could write off the season and forget it because Sebastian Vettel would simply be uncatchable.  He still will look difficult to beat, but McLaren do have a chance, as long as one driver calms down and they stop making poor strategy calls.

SPIN: Webber faces the wrong way, after contact with Hamilton

      Whilst Button was driving to victory, Lewis Hamilton was cheering him on in the McLaren hospitality lounge.  However, Hamilton’s impatience cost him again, like in Monaco and has finished any hope of a second world championship this season.  He was frustrated by qualifying fifth and once again, his race effort is what you would expect from a mad motorist on the M25 during rush hour!  I will give Hamilton the benefit of the doubt in regards to his collision with Mark Webber, once the Safety Car had released the pack.  Webber gave him space and Lewis understeered into the Red Bull.  The contact spun Webber around and left him with a mountain to climb.  It was a risky attempt to pass, but there was more opportunity than there was in Monaco with his rash overtaking attempts.  After a near-miss with Michael Schumacher, Hamilton then went onto colliding unbelievably with Button, with the damage ending his race.  Button was slow out of the final chicane on the eighth lap and Hamilton got a run on his team-mate onto the start-finish straight.  Once Jenson started moving across to take his normal racing line, you would have thought that Hamilton, with his experience now, would shuffle to the outside and attempt a pass from there.  Instead, he went for a gap that was narrowing more and more and was always going to close.  It was lucky that Jenson wasn’t taken out either.  His radio call shortly afterwards; “What’s he doing!” said it all.  A collision between the McLaren drivers was always on the cards this season, especially when you think back to their private duels in China and Turkey earlier this year.  The drivers have agreed to put it aside and move on, but we saw what happened between Webber and Vettel last season after their contact at Istanbul Park.  The next few races will be interesting to see how the dynamics flow within McLaren and whether team harmony has been damaged by this touch between its drivers.

TRICKY: Conditions were undriveable at one point

     The Canadian Grand Prix was the first race this season to be rain-affected and the first in the country since 2000.  Despite limited experience of the wet Pirelli tyres to a soaking day of testing in Barcelona and one practice session in Istanbul, I was disappointed to see the drivers prefer a Safety Car start.  The track was not dangerous at this point, and although it was a tough call, I’ve seen standing starts in far worse conditions.  When the race was suspended, it was a late call by race director Charlie Whiting.  As soon as the rain came down and waterlogged the Casino Hairpin on lap 18, the race should have been stopped immediately.  Conditions were undriveable, so why go behind the Safety car unnecessarily for another five laps!  Commonsense needed prevailing.  Despite a two-hour delay afterwards for conditions to improve, it was the right decision to go racing again, despite my initial reluctance.  However, the track was ready to race after one Safety Car lap, not five!  These are the best paid drivers in the world, and of course, danger is an element of this game, but I do think at times that the caution around a race of changeable conditions is absolutely ridiculous.  This is why I prefer the bone dry, standard race, so this caution can be avoided in future.

     Force India had an opportunity to pick up big points in Montreal and their drivers show impatience, which cost the Silverstone based-team dearly.  Paul di Resta was very strong all weekend; only narrowly missing out on Q3 and running as high as fifth.  When he tried an optimistic move on Nick Heidfeld into the final chicane, I could not believe how stupid Paul had just been.  It was a lacklustre and lame overtaking attempt and surely di Resta must have thought that Heidfeld would probably turn in as he had the racing line.  I do agree with the rookie that a drive-through penalty was extremely harsh, considering the contact was minimal and it didn’t destroy Heidfeld’s race, it only wrecked di Resta’s.  He had another run-in with Rubens Barrichello towards the end of the race (which wasn’t picked up by the TV cameras) that ended his race.  The maturity di Resta has shown in his rookie season has impressed me, but these rash moves are costing the team big points.  To make it worse, Adrian Sutil ran into the back of Nico Rosberg behind the Safety Car; such an elementary mistake for an experienced driver and then rather than benefiting from being the first driver to gamble on dry tyres, he dropped it into the unforgiving barriers.  Force India’s main championship rivals are Toro Rosso and Williams.  When you consider Toro Rosso picked up a double points finish; (Jaime Alguesuari was 8^th, Sebastian Buemi 10^th) and Barrichello bought his Williams home in 9^th, Force India could lookback on this as the day they got rooted into ninth place in this year’s constructor’s championship.

     Another team struggling for form is Renault.  They made a very strong start to the season, with two podiums in the first two races, but are struggling to keep up with the developments from a rapidly improving Mercedes and Ferrari.  Nick Heidfeld had a messy Grand Prix and his demise was spectacular to say the least.  Big points were his for the taking, when he drove into the back of Kamur Kobayashi out of turn two.  His front wing was broken, and collapsed underneath his chassis yards later, which led to an acrobatic flying lesson that failed to match Vitaly Petrov’s Malaysian effort.  Petrov did stay out of trouble to record a morale boosting fifth place and there is no doubt that the Russian has improved greatly in his second season of Formula One.  However, Renault will do well to score any more rostrums, and badly need Robert Kubica back.  The Pole’s presence in the team is valuable, as is being proven by this year’s results, compared to last year’s.  

      Canada was a race too soon for Sergio Perez.  Perez was passed fit after three medical examinations, following his qualifying shunt which ended his participation in the Monaco event early.  However, he complained of dizziness after driving Friday’s first free practice session and opted to pull out for his own health.  It was a surprising move, but one that won a lot of praise in the paddock.  There is no point for Sergio to risk his long-term health to take part in one Grand Prix, but it does raise the question of the FIA medical test of how he could pass it in the first place.  For some reason, Sauber’s reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez didn’t travel to Canada, so the team were forced to swallow the bullet and ask McLaren if they could borrow Pedro de la Rosa.  This is the driver they fired from the team with five races left to go in 2010 and it was a fractious relationship to say the least.  Of course, de la Rosa was never going to say ‘no’ to another chance at a racing environment, no matter the team or the consequences.  He got into Q2 and finished a solid, if unspectacular 12^th, which was a good effort at short notice.  Team-mate Kamur Kobayashi continues to rack up the points for the team, with seventh, but for a poor decision on changing to the dry tyre too late, a podium was there for the taking.  Kobayashi did a great job and deserved more for the result he ended up collecting.

FORM: Schumacher was eventually denied a podium position

      So too did Michael Schumacher.  On a track where he has won seven times in the past, he found form and produced the best drive of his failed comeback so far.  Schumacher qualified only 0.1secs behind Nico Rosberg and raced very strongly.  He made up for a rash decision by Ross Brawn to put him on intermediates just before the Montreal downpour and ran as high as second, even briefly challenging his compatriot Vettel for the lead.  Unfortunately, the Mercedes still isn’t on the same path as Red Bull and McLaren and he was overpowered by Webber and Button.  It was a shame, because Michael deserved a podium for his efforts.  Nevertheless, fourth place is the team’s best finish of the season and gives hope that Schuey can still deliver and perform at the highest level.  Let’s hope the revival of his form can continue and prove me wrong (having urged him to walkaway after his mere in Istanbul last month.)

      Hispania Racing deserves a mention too for their improvements.  After the Melbourne shambles, the team has shown little danger of not making the 107 per cent in qualifying and performed admirably in Canada.  Vitantonio Liuzzi finished in 13^th at the chequered flag, which might not sound great, but it could be priceless to the team.  It moves Hispania above Virgin Racing in the constructor’s championship, which would mean extra travel and prize money for the Spanish team that is always strapped for cash.  To make it better, Narain Karthikeyan was right behind him at the finish, as the team beat both Virgin’s of Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio and Jarno Trulli’s Lotus fair and square.  Even Heikki Kovalainen, who retired with a transmission problem, was running behind them at the time of his departure from the race.  It is nice to see progress in Formula One, no matter how small it is and Hispania are doing a creditable job, considering the laughing stock they were at the start of the season.

      The Bahrain Grand Prix has finally been cancelled and the Indian Grand Prix restored to its initial date of October 30.  There has been a great deal of uncertainty about the race and I’m pleased to see the Bahrain authorities have produced the commonsense that the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone couldn’t see.  Bahrain has got big problems and they need dealing with, so I was flabbergasted to hear the race was rescheduled in the first place.  You can’t play with people lives and the event was bound to be overshadowed by events elsewhere within the country.  No sooner had the race been rescheduled, more video footage of demonstrations was being planted on YouTube.  I hope the country can sort out its pressing issues in a calm and dignified manner and maybe, Formula One can return there in 2012.  However, the running battle over the race organisation has been one which F1 didn’t need.  It definitely has covered itself in any glory.

      Finally, time to crown my Driver of the Day and Driver of the Weekend.  Driver of the Day has to go to Button.  Despite the Hamilton incident and another racing clash, which saw Fernando Alonso eliminated, his searing fightback and the pressure he put on Vettel was immense.  This was his greatest Grand Prix win, for sure.  Driver of the Weekend in Canada is Michael Schumacher.  Maybe a surprising nomination, but whereas Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Alonso all made errors at some point during the weekend, Michael didn’t.  He showed his experience in such tricky conditions and his result was well merited.  What a race, what a season!  If Valencia can provide half the drama Montreal managed then I will be satisfied, considering a car park would be more interesting to race on than that particular circuit!  More of the same next week please!