Canadian GP Heroes and Zeroes

[Scott]

Hartley/Stroll incident.  Not sure how it happened (the puncture), but Stroll did seem to lose that back end suddenly as if a tire went down.  Too bad Hartley was right there, but he may have contributed to the tire going down, so it might have been karma.  Sorry for him to have another bad finish that was probably not his fault.

Heroes

Vettel - pole to checker, although it was for most of the race really tight, he didn’t make a mistake (his tires looked really pooched when he came in for the second pit stop…might have been a lap or two too late).

Bottas for running a good race.  A bit surprising that a car which can match Ferrari's time by less than 5seconds for almost 70 laps doesn't have that little bit extra (or perhaps the driver doesn't have that little bit extra) to get within the DRS zone at least once.  I wonder what a driver like Alonso could have done in the same car.

DR for a great start managing to get past Kimi.  Good for Kimi to keep him honest and left just enough room.  Nice job taking Hammy at the first pit stops.  Too bad he couldn't stay with Max to the end, but great race.

Leclerc for doing a fantastic job.  He may be my new midfield/backmarker hero.  I speak for all of Switzerland when I say we are proud of you.

Nice drift by Perez after getting hit by Sainz, but his re-entry was a bit sketchy.

Michael Douglas.  What is he, a hundred years old and he still looks 60.  I know there has been some intervention, but still, he even walks like he’s a young guy.

Zeroes

WHAT THE HECK????  FIA let some idiot throw the checker a lap a lap too early?  Glad cooler heads had the wherewithal to keep things going for another lap.  The Swiss commentator suggested that the race was technically over as soon as she threw the flag, it doesn't matter that it was a lap short...if the flag is thrown...even by a moron, the race is over.

McLaren…should have had the right tires ready in case of a first lap incident.  ALL teams should be ready to change their tire strategy in such a situation.  That kind of thing should be calculated in advance.

Liberty, because for sure they had something to do with that stupid looking Heineken star graphic on the track which was annoyingly fake every time I saw it.  Advertising belongs on signs and stickers.  Graphics distract from the race.  Oh, and the GoPro on the champagne bottle is idiotic. 

McLaren…crappy weekend.  Sorry for the team.  Zack Brown’s days are numbered I think.

Max kept his nose clean, and apparently stayed ahead of his teammate on merit, but he is still a zero in my opinion (especially after the head-but comment earlier in the week).  RBR is the big zero for not supporting the driver with the most chance at the championship. They should have been using team orders and making Max pull over for Ricciardo.  Now they effectively handed 3rd place in the championship to Bottas.  Should have put Max in front of Hamilton so Ricciardo could escape.

[Ian]

Sorry Scott, not gonna read your post as I have to flaming watch it on highlights, not keen at all on highlights but I do like the Canadian GP, tried streaming but got totally fed up with it freezing and dropping out.

[lkjohnson1950]

Hey Scott, you assume Max would let Danny through. I highly doubt it. Max would hold his position to the death.

Heroes: An honorable mention to Gasly and Grosjean for nearly getting points from the last row. Romain made his first set of tires (Ultras, I believe) last 50 laps. I don't understand why they put him on Supers for the 20 lap run to the finish.

[Dare]

Looked like Hartly was going for a space that wasn't
there. Might have been p*ssed stroll passed him and
didn't have the patience to wait till later

I'm betting Leclerc is at Ferrari next year.

[Andy B]

The later views of Hartley's move and stated by Stroll he lost the rear end and when he corrected he run into Hartley. I feel for the guy and he needs a break if the move had come off he would have been praised. Remember they said you could not pass around the outside of 130R but Alonso did on Schumi but if it had not come off they would all have said he was a plank!

The race finished once the chequered flag was waved and under the rules as it was not waved at the leader it went back to lap 68 so DR missed out on his fastest lap and Mad Max got it.

Sadly due to the fact that the cars cannot run nose to tail, even with three flappy wing sections, no race is going to create excitement and overtaking becomes a rare event. I have to agree with Lewis that F1 is going down the wrong road and reducing the number of engines, constant changing of the rules is not going to change that so bring back normally aspirated V8's along with the noise remove the all the aero that disturbed the air behind the car and let them race.
Rant over!

[Calman]

Heroes:  The people who still try to see the best in F1 and treat it like the Motorsport is has always been, no matter what year it reports against the winning driver.

Zeroes:  The people who are slowly, but surely, turning F1 into a glitzy game show, by letting someone who can barely understand Martin Brundle's "clean" English accent, throw a flag a lap early, like a tablecloth catching fire from a knocked over candle!!!!

I'm not really going to touch on the traditional expectations of driver heroes/zeroes, as there wasn't really much to through into the pot.   Lewis could be considered a zero, but Romain/Charles could also be considered a hero ... th, tha, that's all folks!

Best Regards,
Cal

[cosworth151]

To those previously listed, I'd add:

Heroes-

I never thought I'd say this, but Max. He may actually be maturing. I think an earlier Max would have taken out Bottas when they were dicing in the first lap.

ABC TV, for putting the race live on broadcast TV.

I'm going to repeat Grosjean. (Hey, you all know I'm a Haas fan)

Zeroes-

The whole idea of getting "celebrities" directly involved with the race. They put some super model in the flag stand to wave the checkers and look what happens. Didn't they learn anything from IndyCar's pace car debacle at Detroit?

Bad Luck Award: Grosjean, for having his faulty intercooler blow at the start of quali. Think of waht he could have done with a decent grid spot.

Good Luck Award: Kimi. Grosjean's intercooler failure caused Ferrari to recheck all of them. Kimi's unit had the same problem that Romain's did. It would never have lasted the race.

Moment of the weekend: The look on Danny's face when Brundle told him that he didn't get fast lap because of the early checkers. I tried to find it on YouTube. Priceless!

[Monty]

I still like the track - that is about the only positive thing I can say!
The race was more or less decided by Qualifying. I (reluctantly) have to give some credit to Verstappen for being fast all weekend and not being a jerk at the first corner and therefore retaining his position. It seems they all had more pace available (even Hamilton in a very sick car) but they don't even bother closing on the guy in front because they know they can't overtake.
F1 either needs to change the regs to make the aero design more helpful to overtaking or they are going to have to introduce something artificial like a push to pass system. None of us will continue to watch a 'racing' series with no racing.
I watched British Touring Cars on the same Sunday - loads of overtaking right through the field; different winners in all three races; guys driving from the back well into the points; - proper racing!

[Jericoke]

I wasn't home all weekend and forgot to tape the race.  Sad to hear the race was dull, but glad the one I missed was dull.

I do have a question though:  if Hartley qualified well with the new Honda, and Stroll qualified poorly with the Williams, how did they come together on the first lap?  Did Stroll have a great start?  Did Hartley have a poor start?  Was there something up with the cars around them?

[Monty]

Did Hartley have a poor start?  Was there something up with the cars around them?

Jeri - I was still awake at this point so...... from what I saw, Stroll had a very good start (something he seems to be good at). It was definitely a racing incident but it must be said that Hartley had forgotten the golden rule: you can't win a race in the first corner. If he wasn't under so much pressure or he was slightly more experienced he probably would not have left himself on the outside.

[John S]

Did Hartley have a poor start?  Was there something up with the cars around them?

Jeri - I was still awake at this point so...... from what I saw, Stroll had a very good start (something he seems to be good at). It was definitely a racing incident but it must be said that Hartley had forgotten the golden rule: you can't win a race in the first corner. If he wasn't under so much pressure or he was slightly more experienced he probably would not have left himself on the outside.

Hear Hear Monty, Hartley was never going to get anywhere overlapping Stroll on the outside there. Reckon the red mist came down after seeing Stroll from some rows back come steaming through so easily.
Without that coming together, which was deffo a racing incident - more so than Sainz on Perez a little bit later - Lance would be near the top of the heroes column for such a blinding start. 

[Calman]

Sad to hear the race was dull, but glad the one I missed was dull.

..then you can afford to miss a good few races this season, as there have been more dull races than non-dull races to date in 2018!!!

Best Regards,
Cal

[Jericoke]

Did Hartley have a poor start?  Was there something up with the cars around them?

Jeri - I was still awake at this point so...... from what I saw, Stroll had a very good start (something he seems to be good at). It was definitely a racing incident but it must be said that Hartley had forgotten the golden rule: you can't win a race in the first corner. If he wasn't under so much pressure or he was slightly more experienced he probably would not have left himself on the outside.

It's interesting that Stroll can set himself apart with being a strong starter.  In a non-passing formula, that's a very valuable skill to have.  If he had a better car, would he be able to overcome his inconsistent driving and get points Trulli style?  (The Stroll Snake?)

[Alianora La Canta]

Heroes:

Vettel: clean conversion of a well-earned pole.

Leclerc: his defensive work kept me awake for much of the race.

The local wildlife: for not getting in the way at any point this race. For a group of animals that have always been poor at understanding the Green Cross Code, this is a welcome improvement in performance.

Williams: for winning the raft race, which by all accounts was more fun and had closer competition than the motor race.

Zeroes:

Race control, the race starter and the flag-waver (who I still can't name): the flag got waved a lap early (which triggered a situation as if the red flag was waved) because all three agreed that the race was on a different lap to the one it was actually on. The celebrity may well have been the most clued-up of the three involved in that decision - at least she realised she didn't know enough about what was going on to answer the question herself. The two professionals in the situation apparently didn't even know that much.

If any of them had so much as glanced at the TV pictures (which race control, at minimum, should have had), they'd have figured it out. If one of them had been keeping a lap count, there probably wouldn't have been any confusion in the first place.

It is no use calling for a professional to wave the flag if their judgment is going to be overruled by race control and the starter, neither of whom is apparently any better at checking laps than the celebrity. For me, I'll settle for someone - anyone - who can count to [insert the number of laps the race has] and pay enough attention to the race for that ability to be useful.

Stroll - I can think of better ways to celebrate a home Grand Prix...

The FIA - for thinking a race ruined with the introduction of a second DRS was somehow going to improve by adding a third one. That's like thinking the way to fix a wooden bridge with two elephants on it is to add a third one...

I want to make Sainz a zero for hitting Perez... ...but I needed something to wake me up, even if it was my favourite team summing up a bad race for it in one shaky, tense, but could-have-been-worse response move.

[lkjohnson1950]

I've heard many people try to explain why the flag was thrown early, but no one has addressed why it was shown to the wrong car. Vettel lead the race start to finish, but he was halfway round the circuit when the Checkered came out.