The Formula One circus has travelled across the pond for the back to back North American races which have “Ferrari must win” written all over them.
The Scuderia, boasting arguably the fastest car, has seen the gap to leaders McLaren in the Constructors’ table widen to 20 points while the two Mclaren drivers also lead the standings, with Felipe Massa third, five points adrift. These races are especially important for Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn won his debut race for the Scuderia in Melbourne, but bad luck, technical gremlins and a costly mistake in qualifying for the last race in Monaco have since conspired to drop him to fourth in the standings, 10 points behind team-mate Massa.
Over the past week he has rightly insisted that the campaign is still young, things go from zero to hero very quickly in formula one and his championship ambitions are still very much alive. But he knows as much as the next man that he cannot let Massa, let alone the McLarens, get too far ahead if he wants to remain in contention. Over at McLaren, reigning champion Alonso did some stamping of authority in the way he won at Monaco (despite the team orders controversy) but he has still to break free from rookie Lewis Hamilton.
“Obviously the team can still have doubts over who should be the first driver. We are tied in the points, we have the same chances, but winning at Monaco was clearly important from this point of view and I must take advantage of it now,” he told the Spanish media.
The way the silver arrows won in Monaco, lapping everyone except Massa, who finished 70 seconds behind, raised alarm bells in some quarters, but McLaren themselves insist that Monaco and Montreal are “poles apart” . The first is the slowest circuit on the calandar, the latter one of the fastest. Indy is another.
And while Ferrari’s long wheel base may had contributed to the dismal result in the principality, the Scuderia would now appear favourite for the next two races. Top speed and efficient braking are the hallmarks of the low downforce Montreal circuit and the red cars, like many others on the grid, with feature new front and rear wings.
There has been no testing since Monaco, but Kimi Raikkonen dominated testing on the Montreal-configured Paul Ricard circuit last month.
A factor to watch out for in this Sunday’s race will be tyre performance. Bridgestone have taken the soft and super-soft tyres for this mostly-street circuit, where grip is generally poor. How the super-softs will handle the heavy braking will be a factor for strategists to consider. Ferrari could have an edge here because their long wheel base means the cars are easier on the rubber.
The battle for third, fourth and fifth could be hotting up as much as the brakes this weekend.
BMW have continued to make steady progress, but the fastest progress over the past few weeks has been made by Renault and Red Bull. Giancarlo Fisichella was snapping at Raikkonen’s heels at the Paul Ricard tests and the Italian has gone so far as to claim that Renault “are back”. Red Bull’s Newey creation has also been getting faster, although it still suffers from reliability issues.
Williams too have been surging and have declared their intention to target fifth. Amid growing interest in Nico Rosberg, Frank Williams this week also made clear that the driver will remain on his books at least for the next season as well. The driver market could, however, see a familiar face. The forthcoming races may be make or break for Ralph Schumacher. He has had a torrid season with Toyota, and although the car has been far from competitive, the German has been regularly outpaced by Jarno Trulli and he could well be facing the drop. Sacrifical lamb perhaps? Ralph won in Montreal in 2001 and was second in 2003 with Williams. But that will be too much to hope for this time around.
The Scuderia, boasting arguably the fastest car, has seen the gap to leaders McLaren in the Constructors’ table widen to 20 points while the two Mclaren drivers also lead the standings, with Felipe Massa third, five points adrift. These races are especially important for Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn won his debut race for the Scuderia in Melbourne, but bad luck, technical gremlins and a costly mistake in qualifying for the last race in Monaco have since conspired to drop him to fourth in the standings, 10 points behind team-mate Massa.
Over the past week he has rightly insisted that the campaign is still young, things go from zero to hero very quickly in formula one and his championship ambitions are still very much alive. But he knows as much as the next man that he cannot let Massa, let alone the McLarens, get too far ahead if he wants to remain in contention. Over at McLaren, reigning champion Alonso did some stamping of authority in the way he won at Monaco (despite the team orders controversy) but he has still to break free from rookie Lewis Hamilton.
“Obviously the team can still have doubts over who should be the first driver. We are tied in the points, we have the same chances, but winning at Monaco was clearly important from this point of view and I must take advantage of it now,” he told the Spanish media.
The way the silver arrows won in Monaco, lapping everyone except Massa, who finished 70 seconds behind, raised alarm bells in some quarters, but McLaren themselves insist that Monaco and Montreal are “poles apart” . The first is the slowest circuit on the calandar, the latter one of the fastest. Indy is another.
And while Ferrari’s long wheel base may had contributed to the dismal result in the principality, the Scuderia would now appear favourite for the next two races. Top speed and efficient braking are the hallmarks of the low downforce Montreal circuit and the red cars, like many others on the grid, with feature new front and rear wings.
There has been no testing since Monaco, but Kimi Raikkonen dominated testing on the Montreal-configured Paul Ricard circuit last month.
A factor to watch out for in this Sunday’s race will be tyre performance. Bridgestone have taken the soft and super-soft tyres for this mostly-street circuit, where grip is generally poor. How the super-softs will handle the heavy braking will be a factor for strategists to consider. Ferrari could have an edge here because their long wheel base means the cars are easier on the rubber.
The battle for third, fourth and fifth could be hotting up as much as the brakes this weekend.
BMW have continued to make steady progress, but the fastest progress over the past few weeks has been made by Renault and Red Bull. Giancarlo Fisichella was snapping at Raikkonen’s heels at the Paul Ricard tests and the Italian has gone so far as to claim that Renault “are back”. Red Bull’s Newey creation has also been getting faster, although it still suffers from reliability issues.
Williams too have been surging and have declared their intention to target fifth. Amid growing interest in Nico Rosberg, Frank Williams this week also made clear that the driver will remain on his books at least for the next season as well. The driver market could, however, see a familiar face. The forthcoming races may be make or break for Ralph Schumacher. He has had a torrid season with Toyota, and although the car has been far from competitive, the German has been regularly outpaced by Jarno Trulli and he could well be facing the drop. Sacrifical lamb perhaps? Ralph won in Montreal in 2001 and was second in 2003 with Williams. But that will be too much to hope for this time around.