Not only are McLaren, who were the team to beat as little as three years ago, way behind the dominant Ferrari team but they have only half the points of Sauber. Sauber do not even get on the radar screen of the constructors championship having less than a tenth of Ferrari's and less than one third of Williams' points who are in fourth place.

Not only are the McLarens off the pace but the rather pedestrian performance that they can come up with is now constantly marred by reliability issues.

A sad year for Raikkonen who everyone expected was going to be the driver to challenge Michael Schumacher this season (along with Alonso who we all expected to be down on power).

Oh, well. There is always next year. But will McLaren ever get it right again?

The European race was rather uneventful except for yet another example of the Williams drivers getting in each other's way. When are they going to learn that there is more than one lap in a race?

Renault are getting better all the time and BAR/Button are continuing to impress. Toyota, like always, are showing progress but not enough to mention.

The Canadian track is a power circuit (Track Layout) demanding top speeds of at least 320km/H (198mph) to be competitive along the Droit du Casino and Pont de la Concorde.

The start is reasonably close to Coin Senna, a sharp left/right turn (1 and 2), where the drivers will be braking down to 80km/H(50mph) before accelerating through a gentle right hand curve (where speeds will get up to 270km/H or 166mph) , before turns 3 and 4, another "S" formation where speeds will again come down to around 135km/H(77mph), then accelerating through turn 5, a fast right hand kink, to turns 6 and 7 a further left/right "S" which is taken at around 150km/H(93mph).

From here it is flat out to over 330km/H(204mph) before braking down to 100km/H(62mph) for yet another loose "S" (turns 8 and 9). After that they get up to 265Kmh/165mph before braking down to 80km/H(50mph) for turn 10, a tight right hand hairpin that leads on to the straight.

Now we get to the fast part of the circuit as cars will get close to 350km/H(216mph) before braking for turns 12 and 13 that could almost be described as a chicane. (For those who have noticed: yes I did not mention turn 11 as that is a mild sweep soon after the exit of turn 10, that in my opinion is pretty much part of a straight that has been defined as a turn).

Turn 13 exits onto the pit straight and we are ready for another lap.

The very slow exit out of turn 10 makes the section between turns 10 and 12 the best overtaking opportunity. Cars will be running at their maximum speed and a car with superior pace should be able to get by.

The slow exit out of turn 13 onto the pit straight (if you can call it a straight) and out of turn 7 could also create an opportunity in the following faster sections.

The circuit is an interesting combination of power straights that are not quite straight where speeds are so high that the required downforce can be achieved with pretty small wings and slower corners where a lot of wing is needed to be fast. Setup is always a compromise between grip and drag and on any circuit it could severely affect a team's ability but here that compromise is crucial.

Sadly, I cannot add much to what I wrote before.

Ferrari are in a class of their own. Even Barrichello, who rarely comes up with an inspiring drive, is romping away from the rest.

Renault are gradually establishing themselves as the best of the rest but if BAR can stop the Honda engines failing they are in a better position to take advantage of the higher speed circuits to come.

BAR are likely to be faster than Renault in Canada. They have a lot more power and will be able to carry more wing which will make them considerably faster on the fast corners. Renault will have to rely on mechanical grip which is less effective on faster circuits like Canada.

On the other hand I will be surprised to see both Honda engines make it for the entire race. Button is more likely to finish the race (Sato is a little hard on his car) and if he does I expect that it will be in third again.

Williams may do better if they can keep their drivers from eliminating each other but is unlikely to have the pace to finish on the podium.

Sauber, like always, will be unable to capitalize on the current Ferrari motor but could finish ahead of McLaren who are likely to retire.

Toyota will circulate ahead of the Ford/Minardi tail again.

Jaguar could be the wild card again. I do not think that they will have the pace and reliability to get anywhere near the front but if this is one of those rare weekends where they do find pace Webber could do well.

Canada is always hard on cars and brakes. This is likely to favour Ferrari most as they have the reliability and pace to again plan the race from the front.

I have noticed that Ferrari are gradually reducing the amount of fuel that they are starting races with. In Europe they pitted very early and I would not be surprised to see that again.

Michael Schumacher and Ferrari are now so much faster than the rest of the field that they seem to be confident that Michael can gain enough time in a handful of laps to control the race. Starting with little fuel has huge advantages if you can make it stick.

Firstly it increases the potential of qualifying on pole. The car should get off the line fast enough to get clear of the pack for the first corner and then has a clear track ahead to immediately start building a gap to the rest of the field. It also dramatically reduces the stress on the engine and transmission train at the start.

Michael has the ability to take advantage of all of the above. He can consistently lap at close to qualifying speed while being easy on his car. A great strategy if you can pull it off and he does.

Barrichello, on the other hand, always seems to go out with a much heavier car and frequently stops less than Michael.

It is possible that he just does not have Michael's ability to consistently post qualifying times for more than one or two laps. If that is the case it is sensible to fill him up and let the race settle down before he can realize the potential of the Ferrari.

I do not know that I buy that. Sure, Barrichello is not as fast as Michael but he is fast enough to take advantage of his Ferrari in the early laps too. He may rarely be able to match Schumacher over those half dozen or so laps but he is certainly fast enough to stay in touch. Regardless of pit stop strategies and initial fuel loads the Ferrari is fast enough to almost guarantee a second place for Barrichello unless he gets caught up in the field.

So, why do they do it?

I think that the Ferrari team has got it down pat. Barrichello is likely to end up in second place after everyone has finished their first pit stops and his job is to control the pace of the race from second place, going just fast enough to make sure that the field stays behind him, so that Michael can save and pace his car to win the race at the most conservative speed.

But then again, there are no team orders, so I am probably wrong.

Agree or disagree ?
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