German Car Forum

Any thoughts to on the upcoming Grand Prix in Montreal? Do you think McLaren's dominance in Monaco was a one off and we will see the Ferrari's return in Montreal? I personally think this race will be much closer!

On another note, is anyone else from the forum going? I missed out on the race last year but will once again be making the trip there this year. I can't wait! I will post pics after the event.

I don't know since the mcmercs and tifoseria cars are different each favoring some tracks.

In the last 2 years Montreal wasn't Ferrari's favorite.

Going by the chassis designs, Monaco is supposed to be the worst case for Ferrari with Montreal offering some challenge albeit not on the level as Monaco.
Considering that the last Ferrari victory was in 2004 by MS who by the way won 2002,2003 & 2004 Montreal GP, I still see Ferrari mounting a strong challenge but will they be very strong- I doubt it.

Alonso describing Montreal:

A lap of the Montreal circuit
Saturday 2nd June 2007



McLaren driver Fernando Alonso describes a lap of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, home of the Canadian GP.

"This is a great race track. It is a semi permanent circuit which means that basically during the race weekend the track gets quicker and quicker as more rubber is laid down.

"Also there are many overtaking opportunities, especially into the hairpin at Turn 10, and the final chicane before the start / finish straight, where you can slipstream and get the advantage if your car is good, you have extra end of straight speed and you can brake later than the guy in front of you.

"It is a low to medium downforce track and it is really hard on brakes. The key to be quick around this long circuit is to have good braking stability, to make your car really soft over the kerbs and to have very good traction so that you can come out of the chicanes with a lot of speed.

"It is also very important to run a minimum amount of downforce so that you can to get maximum end of straight speed.

"It is very important to finish the race because even on the last lap there are many people that run into problems with the brakes and there are many surprises on the last 10 laps as brake discs run out.

"The pit lane is fairly long and as a result you aim to do few pit stops, basically if you can get away with two that is better than three.

.....
source = A lap of the Montreal circuit - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com


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So Tycoon will be happy, it's a speed track.

Well BMW said they will show up in force in Montreal... I'm curious if they can actually challenge the top 2.

Eitherway, I'm happy to say that I'll be right there in the middle of the action! It has been many years since my last GP attendance, so I can't wait!

Absolutely! F1 is about overtaking and speed and not about some crappy Monaco streets...

Lucky bastard!

Some day i hope.......

Pics, Martin...Don't forget 'em!

One day, I will go to Montreal and attend the Montreal Grand Prix.......likely when the kids are older.

Montreal is a fast track. I still think Ferrari has the faster car in terms of straight line speed. Ferrari and McLaren will be up there fighting.....but don't discount BMW......I suspect they will mount a big challenge to the other 2 top teams. The only thing BMW is missing are first class drivers (like the Alonso's and Raikonnen's of this world).

i am going there, tho i don't really follow F1 racing, all i know is ferrari and mclaren are the top dogs, and renault used to be good too. i am invited to go to the vip area and perhaps have dinner with the drivers, so i do want to learn a thing or two before i fly to montreal next friday. can someone enlighten me on this?

What would you like to know?

IMO, i think Ferrari will take both races, Montreal and Indy. they have been traditionally strong there.

my pick in Montreal will be Kimi, and in Indy, it'll be Massa. minus 2005, Ferrari have been competitive in both tracks since 2000. and remember, Ferrari won both events back in 2004, using more less the same BS tyres. so, there's an advantage there.

anyways, lets cross our fingers and hope it'll be a good race with plenty of overtaking.

Sweet seat! I'm over in Grandstand 31. I only really spend qualifying and race day in my seat though... I love walking around and checking out other vantage points of the track.

I would love to see BMW do well I'm really happy with how much progress the team has made in such a short time. BTW does anyone know if BMW is doing the Peel street events again?

I got my Dad's camera so you bet!



I've been in sections 31 & 33 before, those are good seats!


Make sure to check out the festivities related to F1 which start Thursday night through Sunday.

Check out the following:

• Crescent Street (between “Ste. Catherine” and “de Maisonneuve” streets)
• Peel Street (between “Ste. Catherine” and “de Maisonneuve” streets, 1 street east of Crescent)

Also, typically Mercedes McLaren are set up at the Place Ville Marie (info link here) and BMW had their Pit Lane Park last year behind the Bell Centre (info link here) but I don’t know if it’ll be there again this year.

Sweet, thanks for the tips Siko.

The last time I was there for the race was in 2005 when BMW was set up on Peel for the M6 premier. It was so packed it was like being in a night club!

I will certainly be out on Crescent Street for a few nights... I arrive on Wed afternoon.

jokes

Trulli looks like Senna! Unfortunately, he will never be in the same sentence as Senna based on his driving and ability on the track.

Prediction: Alonso wins pole and his car has a mechanical breakdown right after his final qualifying lap.

Free practice 1 results
Pos Driver F1 Team Time Laps. Source:Formula 1 - *Free Practice 1 - Canadian GP Practice Live 1 - Yahoo! Eurosport

1 F Alonso (ESP) McLaren Mercedes 1:17.759
2 L Hamilton (GBR) McLaren Mercedes 1:17.967
3 K Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:18.136
4 F Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1:18.167
5 M Webber (AUS) Red Bull 1:18.301
6 G Fisichella (ITA) Renault 1:18.620
7 N Heidfeld (DEU) BMW 1:18.634
8 R Schumacher (DEU) Toyota 1:18.652
9 D Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull 1:18.717
10 A Davidson (GBR) Super Aguri Formula One 1:18.896
11 T Sato (JPN) Super Aguri Formula One 1:18.898
12 J Trulli (ITA) Toyota 1:18.925
13 J Button (GBR) BAR Honda 1:18.932
14 H Kovalainen (FIN) Renault 1:18.997
15 S Speed (USA) Red Bull 1:19.234
16 K Nakajima (JPN) Williams BMW 1:19.273
17 R Barrichello (BRA) BAR Honda 1:19.937
18 V Liuzzi (ITA) Red Bull 1:20.331
19 C Albers (NLD) Spyker 1:21.251
20 A Sutil (DEU) Spyker 1:21.630

Free practice 2 results.
Source:Formula 1 - *Free Practice 2 - Canadian GP Practice Live 2 - Yahoo! eurosportPos Driver F1 Team Time Laps
1 F Alonso (ESP) McLaren Mercedes 1:16.550
2 F Massa (BRA) Ferrari 1:17.090
3 L Hamilton (GBR) McLaren Mercedes 1:17.307
4 K Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:17.557
5 N Heidfeld (DEU) BMW 1:17.827
6 N Rosberg (DEU) Williams BMW 1:17.992
7 R Barrichello (BRA) BAR Honda 1:18.108
8 G Fisichella (ITA) Renault 1:18.130
9 M Webber (AUS) Red Bull 1:18.181
10 T Sato (JPN) Super Aguri Formula One 1:18.309
11 D Coulthard (GBR) Red Bull 1:18.316
12 R Kubica (POL) BMW 1:18.399
13 J Button (GBR) BAR Honda 1:18.474
14 V Liuzzi (ITA) Red Bull 1:18.493
15 A Davidson (GBR) Super Aguri Formula One 1:18.545
16 S Speed (USA) Red Bull 1:18.602
17 A Wurz (AUT) Williams BMW 1:18.871
18 J Trulli (ITA) Toyota 1:18.895
19 R Schumacher (DEU) Toyota 1:19.331
20 C Albers (NLD) Spyker 1:19.453
21 A Sutil (DEU) Spyker 1:19.662
22 H Kovalainen (FIN) Renault 1:20.519

Williams BMW ?!

williams toyota

Some serious speed from Alonso. Hamilton looked ordinary on the few laps that I saw at a restaurant. Kimi, well, he's always ordinary.

Kimi was a ghost... true that he posted the 4th best time... but nothing spectacular from him all day.

McLaren seems the better car, although there was a serious push from the reds at the end of the session.

It's funny how many hit the wall... Kovalainen, Trulli (twice I think), Kubica, Heidfeld... if this continues, I think we'll have more accidents than in a typical Monaco race.

I was amazed when i seen how trulli's susoension broken.
Btw here is vid that shows the flexiblity of the Maca front wing ( compare the space between upper plate of the wing and the front of the car before and after the long straight line).

He had hit the wall earlier and went in for repairs and I believe they misdiagnosed his car and let him back out... because his wheel just busted while driving.

latest news says that thats a suspension failure on trulli's car. if the team doesn't find the solution, it seems that the team will pull out of the Canadian GP.

too early to say things anyways.

this may be indirectly linked to the grand prix, but I have got to say that all of a sudden Montreal has really come to life with the arrival of the grand prix. It's 11 pm and there are traffic jams in downtown montreal. Usually the streets quiet down quite early.

Siko, did you check out the Ferrari cars on Peel?

Nope... didn't get a chance today. But I will go tomorrow (Crescent & Peel).

Did you go? If so, how was it & anything particular to keep an eye out for?