2012 Canadian GP Heroes and Zeroes

[Scott]

Wow - what a race.  Hope everyone at least got to see the highlights.

Heroes:

Hamilton is the man.  Great race.  I was nervous when he got passed by both Vettel and Alonso on the first pit stop, but even though he was nervous about taking another one, Mclaren made the right call and he easily passed the others with 7-8 laps left.  Even RBR corrected it's bad call late in the race so they didn't fall back like Alonso.  I'm sure the boys at Lotus were grinning because Ferrari didn't learn from their mistake earlier in the season.

Lotus - great calls, pretty good car.  Great driving by Grossjean.  Even Whitmarsh remarked in the driver lounge at the end that they were more worried about Grossjean at the end of the race than Alonso.

Sauber - ditto.  Perez on the podium again.  I bet it won't be the last this year.

Rosberg, Webber, Raikkonnen.  Fun racing for the last 10 laps.  Massa was with them for a while, but...oh, Massa 

Zeroes

Um, Ferrari's strategy.  I fear Luca will be at the factory this morning with a bullhorn.  Alonso couldn't do a thing, and thankfully didn't feel the need to wipe out Hamilton as he came by (but I expect nothing else - Alonso himself gets a  ).  And just WHAT were they thinking when they threw on another set of SS when he couldn't drive with the first set??

Button or his engineers.  Why they can't set up the car so he can drive it without shredding the tires, I don't know.  He has really struggled.  So the question is, can he not drive with Hamilton's setup?  Seems to me it is working for Hamilton, so maybe migrate it over to Button's car and just tell him to drive it.  I really hope Button steps it up in the next couple of races.  I know he has it in him, and he is my favourite Mclaren driver.

[Dare]

Wish I had seen the race.I was disappointed to see MS having
another dnf.

What's up with the cars this year?One driver struggles while
the other has a good race.

Wonder who's going to become the next lone winner of the seasosn?

[Jericoke]

Heroes

Pirelli has once again proven that having a less than perfect tire makes for a fantastic spectacle.  Alonso might feel it's the lottery, but McLaren got it right, Ferrari got it wrong.  With such a short pitlane, I'm surprised that this is the race they chose to minimise the number of stops!

Zeroes

Hamilton just can't catch a break on those pitstops.  Although that might have worked out in Hamilton's favour.  If he had come out ahead, Vettel and Alonso might have ducked in, but they decided to pounce on those 2 seconds.  (Extra Hero:  Hamilton was very gracious about the pit delays in his interview:  he took the blame)

BBC Coverage.  David was good as always, but there seemed to be some technical issues.  Q3 went without commentary for about 5 minutes, and during the race, there were a few times it seemed that Coulthard was all alone.  Oddly distracting to watch F1 in silence.

[Ian]

BBC coverage, GGRRRRR, they are rascist, they penalise the British viewers who are paying their wages. The BBC are the biggest ZERO's ever.

[lkjohnson1950]

Heroes: All three podium finishers. Hamilton really cranked it up when McLaren finally
          decided Alonso and Vettel weren't stopping. Grosjean and Perez made their
          tires last without giving up too much pace. Grosjean's tires were only a
          couple laps newer than Alonso's. Frankly Grosjean has finally impressed me.
          He is taking the fight to Kimi in a way I didn't think he could. And his
          obvious delight at being on the podium was refreshing to say the least.

Zeros: Ferrari. The instant Hammy started closing on Ferd at a second a lap, they
          should have pitted him for fresh tires. They might have salvaged 3RD.

Steve Matchett had an interesting take on Button's problems. Her thinks Button is TOO EASY on his tires. He can't get the fronts up to temp without overheating the rears. When the teams decided a couple seasons ago to forgo KERS in favor of adjustable ballast, the FIA mandated a weight distribution so that adjustable ballast was essentially banned. This is hurting Button, as a smoother style requires a different set up and without the adjustable ballast, they can't get it right.

[David]

Didn't get to see the race myself, damm BBC! 

[Ian]

The links were terrible over here David, jumping and freezing(not Cos, Dares or Scotts fault.) I gave up in the end, got the hump and switched everything off. Won't be watching links again.

[John S]

My hero was the Sky TV coverage of the race, -  I never missed a minute of commentary or pictures.     BBC - bah humbug. 

Biggest laugh of the race was seeing Schumi's DRS stuck in the open position, for about a lap and a half, when DRS default is supposed to ensure failure results in the closed position. It had the Merc pit crew stumped for over a minute on camera before they retired the car and wheeled it away. So much for super dooper double DRS, the more involved the tech the more it can go wrong. 

Zero - those Pirelli tyres.  Now who wants to say it's not a lottery with those tyres this year.    It wasn't Grosjean or Perez' driving that got them on the podium it was stupidity by Ferrari and Red Bull tacticians.

[lkjohnson1950]

I disagree. It took both, plus the design of the car. The Lotus is easy on it's tires, but at the same time Grosjean beat Kimi who was on a similar strategy in the same car. Likewise, the Sauber is very good, but Perez beat Kamui. It isn't a lottery if Ferrari could have stopped, but didn't. That is just a bad call. They all had the same tires, they all were close in speed, Hamilton and McLaren got it right, Ferrari and R/B didn't.

[cosworth151]

It wasn't Grosjean or Perez' driving that got them on the podium it was stupidity by Ferrari and Red Bull tacticians

.

It wasn't the tires, it was the stupidity. And you can't fix stupid. F1 has long compared itself to chess. The race engineers at Ferrari and RBR were playing checkers.

The failure of Schumacher's DRS should be a cause of concern for F1. They said the system was fail-safe. What happens when a driver hits the brakes just before a turn at the end of the DRS zone and the wing stays open? I did get a laugh from the Mercedes mechanic beating on the wing trying to close it.

[Scott]

After that DRS fiasco at Merc, I guess a hammer should be standard equipment for F1 teams, not just NASCAR.   

[David]

The links were terrible over here David, jumping and freezing(not Cos, Dares or Scotts fault.) I gave up in the end, got the hump and switched everything off. Won't be watching links again.

I'm the same Ian, I can't be bothered with link hoping. Our American friends are seasoned to this, we have just been spoiled over the years.

[Jericoke]

It wasn't Grosjean or Perez' driving that got them on the podium it was stupidity by Ferrari and Red Bull tacticians

.

It wasn't the tires, it was the stupidity. And you can't fix stupid. F1 has long compared itself to chess. The race engineers at Ferrari and RBR were playing checkers.

The failure of Schumacher's DRS should be a cause of concern for F1. They said the system was fail-safe. What happens when a driver hits the brakes just before a turn at the end of the DRS zone and the wing stays open? I did get a laugh from the Mercedes mechanic beating on the wing trying to close it.

Agreed.  Enzo always said that aerodynamics were stupid, because Ferrari couldn't figure it out.  Now Ferrari complains the tires are creating a lottery, because they can't figure them out.  The Pirellis are behaving exactly how they should.  Whether you agree or disagree with the philosophy of tires that don't last the whole race, you've got to learn how to use them.

Also agreed with the DRS.  I like what it adds to the sport, but it's not worth adding danger.  I hate 'standard parts' on an F1 car, but how about if your DRS fails at any time, you spend the rest of the season with the standard FIA DRS installed?  (Also the BBC commentator said the drivers want the DRS only availalbe in the DRS zone during practise and quali, like the race.  I agree)

[John S]

(Also the BBC commentator said the drivers want the DRS only availalbe in the DRS zone during practise and quali, like the race.  I agree)

That's only because one team has got super DRS, the rest couldn't get it banned and can't change their cars to get it themselves so they just want to make a fuss about it. Doesn't seem to do Merc all that much good in races, and that's when the points are scored, so I really can't see what anyone is squealing about. We've already got cars not pushed to the limits in races for fear of the mouldy old tyre drop off point, do we really want to see below the absolute limit quali as well?     
 
Practice to me is to get race and quali ready not to have a dress rehearsal for the race, and anyway if any team wants they can just limit their DRS use to the actual zone during some practice sessions if they want some laps as race simulation.

 

[Scott]

The links were terrible over here David, jumping and freezing(not Cos, Dares or Scotts fault.) I gave up in the end, got the hump and switched everything off. Won't be watching links again.

I'm the same Ian, I can't be bothered with link hoping. Our American friends are seasoned to this, we have just been spoiled over the years.

It's not that, just that apparently you have crappy internet