2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Hail22
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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So far the whole RB8 Floor is in the air, hopefully its revised and removed without causing an official protest which would slow the race down etc.

Qualifying:

1. Alonso
2. Massa
3. Schumacher
4. Button
5. Rosberg
6. Hamilton
7. Webber
8. Vettel
9. Raikkonen
10. Grosjean
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.

Gilles Villeneuve

MrBlacky
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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This will be Schumachers race.








Hopefully.

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Shrieker
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Hamilton has almost always gone well round here. It's one of his strongest tracks. If he can't win this one, I can't see him winning the title.
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raymondu999
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Shrieker wrote:Hamilton has almost always gone well round here. It's one of his strongest tracks. If he can't win this one, I can't see him winning the title.
Agreed

About the Pirelli scaremongering I don't think it'll come up to much to be honest. The Pirellis seem to degrade - and there's not much of that around Canada. There's very little in the way of high speed corners (I think the flat out turn 5 is about as fast as it gets) and the track surface isn't very abrasive. It's graining that's the issue, because they keep on using the finely packed asphalt which is slippery. Other than Mercedes in Monaco 2011, I don't remember Pirelli having graining issues at all. Last year after Friday in Canada most teams were saying they expected 2-stop strategies based around the option (option-option-prime)

I just hope they fix the blasted DRS this time around so that not everyone gets past before the braking area of the first DRS zone.

With such a stop-start circuit with long straights, ironically, I'd expect Red Bull and Lotus to do well. Lotus not so ironically. Both were cars that were good in Bahrain - with similar stop-startedness, heavy braking into hairpins before heavy traction onto long straights.
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myurr
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Shrieker wrote:Hamilton has almost always gone well round here. It's one of his strongest tracks. If he can't win this one, I can't see him winning the title.
The circuit doesn't suit the McLaren though as there are no fast corners, the area their car is strongest. They're all mid to slow speed. Should go a bit better than Monaco though as they have good aero efficiency and Canada is a fast circuit, and Hamilton is immense around here so maybe he can make the difference.

I actually think Silverstone is his next best shot for a convincing victory. Fast open circuit with high downforce requirements and plenty of high speed turns. Should suit the McLaren as long as they can keep tyre wear in check.

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raymondu999
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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I won't even say Canada has a mid-speed corner, except turn 5. But even there everyone is pretty much flat out anyways.

Hamilton is indeed fantastic here. I wouldn't bet against him for the victory and/or pole position, that's for sure. He's had a fairly erratic string of results here though, although he is consistently very quick. He's always on pole here, except for last year, where he was bizarrely 5th (I think). His record over 2007-2008-2010-2011 has been win-crash-win-crash. And when he's crashed - it's always been with someone competing for the same WDC position (1st in 2008, 2nd in 2011)

Who's going to be the first into the wall of champions? I actually think... dare I say it... the Maldinator. :mrgreen:

Strategy will be either OPP or OOP. You heard it here first :mrgreen:
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myurr
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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raymondu999 wrote:Strategy will be either OPP or OOP. You heard it here first :mrgreen:
Overtaking here should be pretty easy so I expect them to be more aggressive with tyres than usual. So OPP is probably the way to go, with OPPP being an option if degradation is high (don't think it will be).

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raymondu999
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Nah I don't think OPPP. OOOP maybe, but not OPP. If last year's DRS is anything to go by, I expect teams will just go for the quickest race distance as opposed to any fancy shmancy strategies. Just get pace, even if it sacrifices track position. Maybe - I might be crazy - but maybe, a car that is sort of stuck between the midfield and racewinning pace, a la Red Bull or Ferrari - could try for a POOO strategy. But I don't think we'll see POOP :mrgreen: (ok that was a bad joke)
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myurr
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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That was terrible!

Nando
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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I think Hamilton will be on pole here, the car has great aero efficiency.
But we might see Rosberg or Schumacher on pole as well.

It should be noted RBR took pole last year so top speed isn´t everything around here.
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myurr
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Nando wrote:I think Hamilton will be on pole here, the car has great aero efficiency.
But we might see Rosberg or Schumacher on pole as well.

It should be noted RBR took pole last year so top speed isn´t everything around here.
Top speed isn't everything - aero efficiency should in theory be rewarded most as you need good traction out of the slow corners, where downforce will help, but good straight line speed. I think it'll be between McLaren and Mercedes. Lewis in particular tends to shine in low downforce situations where car control is king, part of the reason he's always gone so well here.

Red Bull will probably be hurt by their inability to shed drag as they no longer have a downforce advantage over the rest of the field. Ferrari are harder to read - they suck in a straight line but seem good in through the slow corners.

Gerhard Berger
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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raymondu999 wrote:
Shrieker wrote:Hamilton has almost always gone well round here. It's one of his strongest tracks. If he can't win this one, I can't see him winning the title.
Agreed

About the Pirelli scaremongering I don't think it'll come up to much to be honest. The Pirellis seem to degrade - and there's not much of that around Canada. There's very little in the way of high speed corners (I think the flat out turn 5 is about as fast as it gets) and the track surface isn't very abrasive. It's graining that's the issue, because they keep on using the finely packed asphalt which is slippery. Other than Mercedes in Monaco 2011, I don't remember Pirelli having graining issues at all. Last year after Friday in Canada most teams were saying they expected 2-stop strategies based around the option (option-option-prime)

I just hope they fix the blasted DRS this time around so that not everyone gets past before the braking area of the first DRS zone.

With such a stop-start circuit with long straights, ironically, I'd expect Red Bull and Lotus to do well. Lotus not so ironically. Both were cars that were good in Bahrain - with similar stop-startedness, heavy braking into hairpins before heavy traction onto long straights.
In FP and Quali last year there was almost no degradation. I remember in quali that the Ferraris were happy to do long runs in order to get heat into the supersoft tyres, whilst not having to worry about degradation. Even if we do have a lot degradation, i think teams will pit for new tyres rather than try and conserve they're current tyres since the pit lane is short and overtaking is quite straightforward on this track.

I would probably put the DRS on the straight just before the hairpin, though tbh i don't think this track really needs a DRS zone.

Bahrain is the best indicator, since it is another stop start circuit. However, Lotus said they struggled with traction at Monaco and this led to the tyre problems for Kimi. You'd imagine they would have similar problems at Canada.

Gerhard Berger
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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Nando wrote:I think Hamilton will be on pole here, the car has great aero efficiency.
But we might see Rosberg or Schumacher on pole as well.

It should be noted RBR took pole last year so top speed isn´t everything around here.
Hamilton and Schumacher are both great at this track. This is probably Schumacher's strongest track along with Magny Cours and Spa. I think Massa and Webber will push they're respective teammates very hard.

RBR brought a specific low downforce package for Montreal last year. Mclaren didn't and that is what cost them in qualifying.

astracrazy
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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tbh it doesn't matter how well Hamilton goes, its down to Mclaren. Hamilton's gone well a few times this year already and been let down by Macca

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Teechnical
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Re: 2012 Canadian GP - Gilles Villeneuve

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myurr wrote:
Nando wrote:I think Hamilton will be on pole here, the car has great aero efficiency.
But we might see Rosberg or Schumacher on pole as well.


Red Bull will probably be hurt by their inability to shed drag as they no longer have a downforce advantage over the rest of the field. Ferrari are harder to read - they suck in a straight line but seem good in through the slow corners.
I wouldn't say Ferrari suck, they're not that bad, on the F2012 forum Hail22 showed me that they were only 3 km/h off Mclaren in Barcelona.

They're slightly behind Mclaren and Mercedes maybe, but Lotus is way too fast.
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