Pull your socks up, Michael!

Suddenly Michael Schumacher’s huge lead in the championship is down to 12 points.

Time to start worrying, Michael.

I know that you have always said that Hakkinen is a greater threat than Coulthard, but I have been watching him and he is pretty good. He does not get demoralised (like Hakkinen) when the wheels come off his race plan, he just hangs in there and does his best. And his best is getting better!

Both Hakkinen and Coulthard can eat your lunch if you do not watch it. Both are fast and the McLaren looks faster than the Ferrari.

Built on an island in the St. Lawrence River on (or around) the site of the 1967 Expo exhibition the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is a low downforce circuit. Wings will be small to minimise drag on the two, long, sweeping sections before and after the hairpin bend at Virage Du Casino.

Most of the teams worked on set up during the week at Monza, which requires a similar low downforce configuration. That is however almost the only similarity between the two tracks. At Monza there are no corners slower than 100mph, in Montreal 6 of the 11 corners are slower than 100mph and three of those are below 40mph! Average speed at Monza is a blistering 240+km/H (just over 150mph) while we may see the leading car average around 200km/H (124mph) in Canada. Average speed in Canada is below average (apart from Monza there are 9 other tracks faster in the season).

So why a low downforce set up?

The answer to that question is in the track layout. More than half of it is fast and the stretch from the hairpin to the chicane at the start of the pits is very fast (we could expect to see cars get up to 200mph). Carry enough wing to maximise speed through the slower corners and the drag will kill speed on the faster sections. As most of the time and distance is on the fast sections, that is what the aerodynamics must cater for.

It will mean that the cars will seem very loose and slippery through the slow corners. Accelerating out of these slower corners will also be tricky, as drivers may not have the downforce to cope with the wheel spin. In these corners cars with higher mechanical grip will fare better but most, if not all, cars with high mechanical grip are down on power and will not have the pace on the fast sections.

It may mean that we will see a bit of overtaking. Low downforce configurations have less turbulence and are also more tolerant to turbulence and the long fast sections may allow a car to get alongside. We will just have to see.

One of the things that I would like to see changed at this circuit is the exit of the pit lane. At present cars exiting the pits do so right into the racing line of the first corner. It would not cost much to extend this to the second corner where it can join the track off the racing line. That would be a lot safer.

Ferrari.

Still marginally slower than McLaren. The Ferrari has a good aerodynamic chassis but appears to not have as much power as the McLaren, which makes it difficult to match McLaren’s aerodynamic grip on all the circuits. It is possibly this compromise that makes the Ferrari so hard to set up for some of the circuits.

If Ferrari have slightly more mechanical grip than McLaren (and I am starting to doubt that after comparing the teams at Monaco) they could be faster through the slower (first half) of the circuit.

If I am right in suspecting that Ferrari do not have as much power as the McLaren I expect to see the Ferraris very loose and twitchy around corners. A bit like they were all of last season.

Michael Schumacher

Arguably the best driver on the circuit today. His strengths show not only on the racetrack where he has the ability to consistently drive at very close to his maximum for very long stints, if not whole race distances, but also in his ability to think and plan on and off the track. He is very good at setting up for races and qualifies well too.

Starting is not one of his strongest cards. I am not sure that this may not be a Ferrari problem (or possibly a problem that he has with the car), as I cannot remember him struggling with starts at Benetton.

If I am right in suspecting that the Ferrari will be set up loose and twitchy we can expect another brilliant drive from Schumacher. He will probably carry the least wing of all of the leading cars and it will show.

Last year Schumacher started off pole but retired due to an accident. In the last 6 years he has been on pole 4 times and won the race 3 times. In the last 8 years he has finished on the podium 5 times but two of those (2^nd in ‘93 and ’94) was when he was driving for Benetton.

Barrichello.

Barrichello is a very fast driver who appears to have no affinity with his car. I am not suggesting that he does not know how to set up a car, but there is a lot of evidence that he does not know how to set up a Ferrari. At the moment a car that cannot support him is constantly baulking his very considerable ability.

Winning depends a lot on the ability to get the best out of the car. Rubens must find a way of doing that soon or he will not retain his equal status in the team.

Barrichello finished on the podium in Canada once: second in 1995.

McLaren.

McLaren are still ahead of the rest. They seem more powerful and better balanced than any other team.

Based on their power superiority, McLaren should be fastest in Canada. Over the years they have not done well at this circuit and that jinx may continue.

McLaren have always done well when they can set the car up for relatively high downforce. In Canada aerodynamic set up will cater for just a little over half of the track and for the rest balance, and sound mechanical grip is needed. I do not believe that the McLaren car handles that compromise well.

Coulthard

Coulthard has developed into a very fast driver. So far this season he has shown that he has learnt a lot from the mistakes that he was criticised for in the past. He has maximised his opportunities in every race, never lost motivation and was a model of consistency.

He appears relaxed and has a wonderful confident, but not arrogant, press interview style that is guaranteed to boost his popularity.

I predict that he will be a world champion within the next three years.

Coulthard started from pole in 1998 but he has never finished on the podium in Canada.

Hakkinen

He is, in my opinion, the best qualifier of the current F1 drivers and is also a very fast driver on race day. He has not lost any of his determination and is a formidable contender for this year’s championship.

He seems to get disheartened on those rare occasions when he is not in the leading group and, when that happens, he seems to lose motivation and focus. To win the championship he needs to fight for every point he can get.

Hakkinen has never been on pole in Canada but he did get on the podium once in the last 8 years. That was last year when he won the race.

Williams.

A very fast car that is still in development. The BMW motor is amazingly fast and reliable, taking into account that this is its first year of racing.

Williams is a very experienced team with a great track record but I am still surprised that they managed to get the whole package so competitive this early in the season.

Reliability remains their biggest problem and we must expect quite a few more engine failures over the season. Once they get the motor reliable they will be able to focus more on performance improvement and I would not be surprised to see them compete for the lead before the end of the season.

I really do not know how well Williams will do in Canada. They have a great chassis and should have the speed for the faster sections. We will just have to wait and see.

Ralf Schumacher

Ralf is very fast and has improved a lot in the last year. Recently he has had a few unforced errors, reminiscent of his early years in F1. He may be trying a little too hard.

Button

Button is very young and although fast, seems to lack the experience or maturity to get as much out of the Williams as Ralf. I am sure that he will get better, but possibly not fast enough to secure a seat in the Williams team for next year.

Benetton.

Benetton will not do well on most of the circuits this season. Their engine is not up to scratch and even with the changes made by Renault and Flavio Briatore after buying this team they need a new engine before they can be competitive.

They do have a very good mechanical grip chassis that will be competitive on the really slow circuits (but there are only two of those).

In Canada the Benetton because of its good mechanical grip and should be very fast through the first third of the circuit. I do not know if they will have enough power to stay in touch on the faster sections.

Fisichella

Fast, consistent and accurate, Fisichella may be one of the fastest drivers in F1 today but until Benetton build a car that can prove it we will never know.

Fisichella has an astounding track record in the Canadian GP. In the last three years he has been on the podium every year (second twice and 3^rd once). He obviously likes the track and could therefore make up for a lot of the deficiencies of his car.

Wurz

He is not getting a break this year. But then I get the feeling that he is not trying to make the breaks happen.

Jordan

If you asked me at the end of last season I would have said that Jordan had the potential to be very strong this year. They are not trying out a new engine, the formula has not changed and all they needed to do was to evolve last year’s car.

This year they are slow and unbelievably unreliable!

They should be able to take advantage of circuits like Montreal as they certainly appear to have the mechanical grip it takes to at least finish in the points. But then what are their chances of finishing?

Frentzen

Michael Schumacher has always maintained that Frentzen was fast and last year, when the Jordan had some pace, H.H. did very well.

I felt that Frentzen was very tentative when overtaking, but that could have been the early symptoms of this year’s no overtaking disease. Either way it does not matter as on track overtaking is virtually eliminated.

Trulli

Trulli was very fast at Monaco (while his car lasted) where aerodynamics played a smaller role than normal. This may be an indication that he prefers tighter, slower circuits or like Alesi may come into his own when driving on the edge of mechanical grip.

Again, it is hard to assess a driver when his car is always breaking down.

BAR.

They have a long way to go before they will be competitive.

With Honda taking an active interest we could expect some improvement from BAR but I suspect that the problem may lay with the expertise that came with the Reynard partnership. For years Reynard have supplied most open wheel formulas with chassis but they have not to my knowledge built chassis for F1 and it is showing.

Villeneuve

Many make the mistake of thinking that this flamboyant driver is more concerned with the limelight and fame than winning races. Villeneuve is very competitive and in the right car could easily be in the hunt for the championship.

He has never really done well here in front of his home crowd. The best he achieved was 2^nd in 1996.

Zonta

Another driver that can not be assessed until we see him in a competitive car. He is not as fast as Villeneuve, but then he also does not have Villeneuve’s experience.

Sauber.

A middle of the road team. Sauber must have known when they contracted to use last year’s Ferrari engine that they were not going to be the fastest on the circuit and would be forced to compromise on aerodynamic and chassis design. That has produced a car that is not particularly fast under any circumstances but also not slow.

Their formula may just work at this track.

Salo

Salo can be fast. He has certainly been faster than Diniz for most of the year. Give him a reliable and fast car and he could surprise us.

Diniz

Diniz appears to be quite fast but not as fast as Salo.

Jaguar.

Jaguar has finally managed to finish and even gained some points.

At the beginning of the season I predicted that this team was going to make rapid progress. I was wrong.

All the potential was there. A huge budget, the most promising team at the close of the previous season and Ford backing.

Somehow it took forever to get the momentum going. Reliability was appalling and even when they got everything right the car was pretty ordinary.

I am happy to see that they are starting to show some pace as well as reliability. Now if only they could challenge Williams . . . . .

Irvine

Irvine has never been one of the fastest drivers in F1 and I do not expect him to ever be regarded as the equivalent of Michael Schumacher or Hakkinen. He has however shown that he can be fast if given the right car and if the Jaguar picks up pace Irvine could do well.

Irvine has done very well in Canada over the years, finishing in third in 1999, 1998 and 1995.

Herbert

It almost looks as if Herbert has lost motivation. I will be surprised to see him continue beyond the season, and if he does, he needs to find another team with a different challenge.

Arrows

A fast team with a slow car. I am always amazed at how well they do on practice circuits but have come to accept that we cannot expect much on race days.

Verstappen

A driver with a reputation for crashing and if the last few races are anything to go by he is working hard at not spoiling his reputation.

De la Rosa

I think he is quite capable and he has managed to do some very fast laps on the off season. With a decent car he could do well.

Prost.

Not only is the Prost pathetically slow in all aspects but it is unreliable.

Alesi

As Alesi is the oldest driver in F1 there is probably little point in offering an opinion as his most exciting future is already behind him. I believe that he is driving for the sheer pleasure of being there and no longer has any aspirations to win a championship.

Alesi won the Canadian GP in 1995 and over the last 8 years has been on the podium another 4 times once in second and 3 times in third place.

But this time he is driving a Prost and I do not like his chances.

Heidfeld

A promising driver that has to suffer the embarrassment of poor equipment.

Minardi

When you have a budget as small as Minardi’s it is hard enough to attend every race and qualify.

Gene

Another fast driver that is unable to show his potential. He may be lucky and get offered a drive with a faster team.

Mazzacane