Five things to look for, ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix

As it always has been, Monaco was every bit exciting and full of surprises. F1 now moves on to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. The circuit is another tricky one, though in an entirely different sense compared to Monaco. It features a kilometre long straight road, high end hairpins and difficult chicanes, which test the performance of the drivers very well.

Canada circuit layout

The weather looks fine with 20% chances of rain, and things will spice up indeed if it does rain, much like the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, which saw Jenson Button coming from the last position to take the race victory.

We bring you 5 things to look for ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix:

1. Mercedes and how they will pay Hamilton back:

There’s no denying the fact that Mercedes made a huge blunder in the Monaco Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was running comfortably up ahead and deserved to win the race. They made the wrong call and ultimately lost Hamilton the race to his team mate and championship rival, Nico Rosberg. Mercedes will look to settle the issue with Hamilton especially considering his 3 year deal with the team, and will seek ways to win his confidence back. Things might culminate to them asking Rosberg to move aside if such a situation arrives, but clearly Rosberg’s Monaco victory wasn’t his fault. How Mercedes does that or go on with the strategy is something everyone is keen on, especially Hamilton and his fans, who were quite disheartened. Hamilton has won the Canadian GP 3 times, more than any other in the grid, and he’ll be more determined than ever to win the race after his team denied him his 37th race victory.

2. What’s going wrong with Kimi?

Bahrain was the single piece of achievement in Raikkonen’s 2015 season so far. His team mate, Sebastian Vettel has by far managed to secure 5 podiums in 6 races, with Kimi just one.  Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari’s team principal, has been pretty vocal about Kimi and his current performance, a few times threatening his seat in the team as well. The Ice Man does need to work a lot on his qualifying performance, because he surely does know how to overtake and drive aggressively. Canada, being a wide fast circuit rather than the cramped streets of Monaco, will help Kimi in the race, but his performance in qualifying needs a major upgrade.

3. Where is Red Bull this season?

Daniel Ricciardo won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, his first of the three victories. It was an impressive drive that certainly earned him a lot of laurels. Currently Red Bull stands nowhere close to a victory, but the Monaco race was a good improvement for the team finishing fourth and fifth. They might receive a penalty in Canada if their current engine blows up, which certainly will mix things up nicely in the field. They seem to have caught on to Williams as of now, let see what they’ll be able to do in Montreal. Ricciardo will be pretty optimistic about the race, and so will be Kvyat considering his fourth place finish in Monaco.

4. Is Verstappen dangerous for the grid?

It was a smooth Monaco Grand Prix until on lap 64 Verstappen banged on to the back of Grosjean, bringing out the safety car almost instantly. While Verstappen was quick to say that he was a victim of Grosjean’s brake testing, FIA felt otherwise and rewarded the 17 year old rookie a 5 place grid penalty for Canada. Felipe Massa was also pretty vocal about Verstappen, calling him ‘inexperienced’. To be fairly honest, we felt it was a pure racing incident. Despite the crash, Verstappen was brilliant throughout the race! His early race overtake of Maldonado at Sainte Devote was to us, the move of the race. Later in the race, he used Sebastian Vettel very cleverly to overtake fellow lapped cars by staying in the dirty air of Vettel. The move was cheeky to say the least, but very effective indeed. The boy does lack some experience, but there is no shortage of skills. F1 needs more like Verstappen, aggressive, attacking, and ready to take risks, someone of the type of James Hunt or Ayrton Senna. Many people will be looking forward to his performance in Canada, and he will also seek to settle all his critics in the next race.

5.  McLaren’s Progress in Monaco:

Although McLaren-Honda campaign breathed a huge sigh of relief after Jenson Button’s eighth place finish in Monaco, things may not go well in the Canadian Grand Prix. The circuit with its fast corners and long straights, might not suit the McLaren car very well due to the lack of raw pace and horse power of the Honda power unit. The McLaren team has won the Monaco Grand Prix a record 13 times over the past, and this year might be a little too tragic for them if they don’t even finish it in points. Both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have won the race once. For them any good result would only come if they are able to capitalise on other’s mistakes, especially since Canada is a tricky circuit. They might spring a surprise here and there, but they’ll surely be exciting.

But they must keep reliability a major concern for them, especially since Fernando Alonso couldn’t finish the race neither in Monaco, nor in Spain.