Matt 'Trumpets' Ragsdale
Ambient 21° Track 47° Humidity 26%
Wind 0.9 m/s
Prelude
Stunning and glorious weather
encompassed the paddock as the teams got to grips with the final
adjustments needed before the rigors of qualifying, blue skies filled
with cotton candy clouds, breezy and warm a magnificent day for all.
The most immediate concern for
Mercedes, aside from Ferrari being quicker than them in FP3 (coff
sandbags coff) was the fact that Lance Stroll blew up his brand new
Spec 2 Mercedes engine on an outlap in FP3. Looking at times, it
seemed a reasonable assumption that Racing Point were probably
running party mode, with Perez into the top 10 whilst Mercedes were
saving it for the qualifying session. Without time to determine if
the failure was installation related or something more ominous, a
real question of risk vs reward for Mercedes fast approached, to risk
it all for pole or play it safe and hope to make it up in the race,
where by all accounts they had an easy half a second on Ferrari.
Not to be left out of the picture,
Christian Horner was quick to point out that if it was hot enough on
the Sunday then he felt they had a good car to be competitive with
Mercedes. Perhaps of more interest, were the rumblings about the 2021
regs, with a cap of $175 million to be established from the off, but
with important carve outs for driver salaries, executive salaries as
well as marketing etc.... Along with that there was a sudden, but
entirely unsurprising push from Ferrari and Red Bull for Pirelli to
consider rolling back the tyre changes that were instituted for 2019
(thinner tread, stiffer sidewalls), as the upshot of was that they
essentially moved the window where they operate optimally and handed
an advantage to Mercedes that, if we are being honest, they didn't
really need....
Renault finished out the session best
of the rest, trailed closely by McLaren, who had strong race pace
during FP2. HAAS had some interesting results running their new rear
suspension for the first time, although they struggled with race pace
and were not quick in FP3. Grosjean, in particular, struggled with
the balance of the car and still seemed not entirely settled at the
conclusion of FP3.
OF course, one of the features of the
Montreal circuit is it's walls and both Verstappen and Hamilton
managed to do a number on the championship one, Verstappen ripping
apart one of his front wheels and erasing a big chunk of the Pirelli
logo whilst Hamilton saw himself out of the bigger percentage of FP2
by clouting it thoroughly with his rear wheel and picking up a
puncture......
As the clock ticked down to the opening
of the pitlane, Racing Point had managed to screw the spec 1 engine
into the back of Stroll's car and was finishing up their work while
Grosjean's brush with the wall had ensured he had no Soft tyre
running in the final practice session.....
Summary
Green Light!! Williams were first on
the circuit, Kubica leading Russell and it was little surprise that
Stroll was the next runner out, the missing of all of FP3 spurring
him on to run as many laps as possible. Giovinazzi was next along
with Raikkonen as Kubica rounded the final turn and headed towards
the first hot lap of the session. In his wake the HAAS duo emerged,
on their outlaps in the large space between Kubica and Russell.
As expected, Russell was the winner of
that duel, with Stroll going to the top with a 1:13.219 as traffic
ramped up with Toro Rosso out along with McLaren in the interlude.
Kmag was next to seize the top step, ahead of Grosjean and into the
1:12's until Norris came through 0.3s ahead. Albon took P3 and
Hulkenberg P4 as with 12 minutes left Vettel and Leclerc had taken to
the circuit on their outlaps with Mercedes still in the garage.
As the clock rolled towards 10 minutes
to go, Mercedes finally emerged, as Leclerc got the better of his
teammate and was up to the 1:11s. Verstappen slotted in between the
pair as Hamilton and Bottas were about halfway round their first
efforts. Hamilton was first across the line, P3 and then Bottas
slotted behind him, with Vettel having been dropped to P7 with under
8 minutes left.
At the other end of the field, Albon
was in the hotseat, with Grosjean, Raikkonen, Russel and Kubica on
the outside looking in. Hamilton, after a slow lap was up to P2, for
a moment, until Bottas finally surpassed Leclerc taking P1 and
pushing Lewis down to P3. Vettel had improved to P4 and as the track
emptied for the hangers on to prepare for their final shot at glory,
the Ferraris had one more go, and the result was Vettel taking P1 and
Leclerc P2...
3:30 to go and Grosjean was back out,
needing a small miracle to get out of the bottom 4, but potentially
with the car to do it and he did so in style, going P7 whilst Kmag
rocked up to P9. Albon, who had an earlier incident (looking to have
been impeded by Sainz), then went P6 followed by Norris doing the
same and in the blink of an eye, Kmag was P13 and Grosjean P10....
1 minute to go and the top 5 plus
Gasly, who had dropped to P8 were in the pits while all eyes were on
track as the last glorious efforts to make Q2 were fully underway.
Stroll, Hulkenberg and Sainz were all out but on a hot lap. Sideways
for Stroll and up to P14. Sainz P6, Ricciardo P8 put him on the
bubble and then it was done. Giovinazzi went P15 and put Raikkonen
out and then that was that, Perez, Raikkonen, Stroll, Russell and
Kubica going no further and off in search of some poutine as the rest
turned it around for Q2, where the question would be who, if anyone,
might try the Medium tire to get through.
Q2 was off with Bottas, Hamilton, and
then Giovinazzi leading the way. After a minute or so of thought,
Ferrari decided to join the party. AS they rocked onto their first
hotlaps, it was Hamilton, significantly faster as Bottas backed off
in the second sector. Hamilton, on the Medium tyre, was through with
a 1:11.336 while Bottas had nearly lost it in T3, causing him to back
off. Vettel was through then, with a 1:11.309 and to the top with
Leclerc as well, going 10 seconds slower and ala Bottas, with a
moment and having to have another go to get a decent time in.
Meanwhile, the rest of the field had
decided to get in on the action and it was fast and furious on the
circuit. One by one the midfield flashed through the start/finish and
when the dust settled, well, it just kinda refused to settle so at
the randomly picked point of 8 minutes left, it was Ricciardo and
hulkenberg leading the way, followed by McLaren and then Magnussen,
with Gasly and Grosjean yet to set a time. Verstappen, having tried
the Medium tyre, was in P10 and looking at having to go back out with
a set of Soft tyres to get through.
On his first run, Grosjean had missed
at the chicane and was into the pits without setting a time. Gasly
with the Softs rocked a P2 and at the interlude, it was Mercedes, out
into the quiet and it was a 1:11.01 and to the top for Hamilton as
Bottas was on his push lap and up to P2 he went. On the outside with
4 minutes to go were Verstappen, Giovinazzi, Kvyat, Albon and
Grosjean, with Magnussen on the bubble.
Albon was up, going faster but no
improvement on his P14. Verstappen was out on the Soft tyre and then
just after the chequers fell Magnussen was into the wall of
champions, bouncing across the circuit and it was a red flag moment.
That brought an immediate end to the festivities with Verstappen
STILL P11, and Kvyat, Giovinazzi, Albon and Grosjean, who was just
behind and on a brilliant lap, all going no further and off in search
of liquid solace in the form of maple sap vodka (yes it's a thing,
really) as the remainder, sans Magnussen who was rated as highly
likely to need a new gearbox, along with owing his mechanics a case
of beer, got themselves ready for the ultimate glories of Q3. With an
added time bonus for clean up time to prepare....
Q3 started with Gasly on a solo effort,
followed by Hulkenberg and then the Ferrari duo..... Mercedes wasted
little time launching their effort and with just under 10 minutes to
go the outlaps were in full flow. Gasly in with a 1:12.185, not the
quickest of things although with rising track temps it was hard to
know if conditions had drifted from optimal. It wouldn't be long, as
the Leclerc was leading a gaggle of drivers down the back straight
and onto their hot laps with 8 minutes to go. Bottas was off in T2
but unlike Magnussen, there were no flags to interfere and then
Leclerc hit the line, P1 just long enough to for Hamilton to rock by
with a a 1:10.493. Vettel was 0.188 seconds back in P2 and Hulkenberg
was P4 followed by Gasly, and Ricciardo. On replay it was an amazing
bit of luck that Bottas had managed to avoid the walls with his
mistake, losing the rear on the kerbs and then sliding down the track
and just missing the opposite side wall with his front wing....
4 minutes to go and the full weight of
Red Bull's glory was on Gasly's shoulders, as Ferrari were the last
to roll into the pits. Norris led the way out, followed by Hulk and
Ricciardo, then Sainz, Bottas and Hamilton. A big gap and then
Leclerc led Vettel onto the track with Gasly last one up.
It was tight at the top, with the
battle looking more to be between Vettel and Hamilton, Bottas still
scrappy and fighting the car and Leclerc just hot and cold through
the mini sectors. P3 for Ricciardo as Bottas went P5. Hamilton
improved to a 1:10.446 but it was Vettel, on fire and to the top with
a 1:10.24 pole position and first chink in the armour of Mercedes.
Leclerc managed a P3 and that left Ricciardo P4 AHEAD of Gasly
(admittedly by 0.008 seconds) and likely to make some trouble. Bottas
could manage but P6 followed by Hulkenberg, Norris, Sainz and then
the non-participant Magnussen.
Even Hamilton sounded a bit happy that
Vettel had finally got the job done and with even hotter temperatures
predicted, tomorrow's race is getting just a bit more interesting.
Add an out of position Verstappen, Ricciardo looking for redemption
and the inevitable tangle in the midfield in a race that melts tyres
and brakes, and it looks to be a race that will certainly yield some
highlights, if not a proper scrap at the sharp end of the field. With
Sainz facing a possible penalty and Magnussen likely to need a new
gearbox, Verstappen's miss of Q3 might well see him start P8 with his
choice of tyres, perhaps brightening his race a touch. Well done to
Giovinazzi for finally getting one over on Raikkonen, and more than a
few questions for Racing Point, with neither driver out of Q1.....
Discuss!!
Remember, Play Nice in the Comments!
0 comments