Canadian GP – THE POINT
As it has happened many times since the beginning of the season, last weekend was a double-faced weekend for Ferrari and a one-sided one for Red Bull. Once again the final result was influenced by weather and tyres.
It was a very difficult Saturday for Ferrari but excellent for Red Bull, especially for Vettel who achieved Sunday’s great success thanks to a very good qualifying session. He ran very fast since the beginning, taking a good advantage over rivals. They were so good at turning a difficult situation around to their benefit, but they were also so lucky, because, despite Sebastian brushed a wall and ran off the road on the first corner, he didn’t break his stride. The two driver errors are a clear symptom that even the German driver can make mistakes.
Fernando Alonso drove an excellent race; the Spaniard showed to be a crushing driver, as he ran an aggressive race. His second place tastes like a victory. There’s also a little bit of regret for losing time, being held up by Rosberg and Webber. Felipe Massa delivered a positive performance, as well. After an accident ruined his qualifying session, he was able to gain several positions and set excellent times, driving a very good race and scoring precious points.
Mercedes demonstrated to have solved tyre issues, finishing 3rd with Hamilton after a hard struggle against Alonso. They can play the role of Championship’s arbiters. Among the four teams Lotus could be the less dangerous, as I’m not sure the team will have enough financial resources to carry out the car development programme until the end. I hope that Sunday’s performance doesn’t sound like an alarm bell for the team. I think that track’s low temperatures had a bad influence on their performance: 28°C is a too low temperature for them. Despite that, Kimi was able to finish in the zone points, unlike his teammate.
Congrats to Vergne and Toro Rosso. They not only finished in the zone points, but also in the top 6, fighting against top teams on equal terms. In the past the top 6 limited the zone points, luckily today the zone points limit has been broadened to the top 10. Nowadays, finishing 7th or 8th is an important result, while in the past it meant to finish outside the zone points. This is the reason why, finishing 5th means achieving a very good result for a second-tier team’s driver. Sunday’s result was the Faenza-based team’s best result achieved after the victory at Monza and demonstrates the team is going to the right direction. The Italian team’ drivers are very competitive.
Force India demonstrated to be an excellent outsider once again. The Indian team finished 5th ahead of McLaren, which didn’t manage to finish in the zone points.
F.1 will be back to Europe in three weeks. Races will be run on European historical tracks; teams have two weeks to make further upgrades.
