Try not to dramatize, Fernando Alonso.
"The next two races will not be decisive; the World Championship will remain open until the last Grand Prix, in Abu Dhabi".
Avoid overloading the Ferrari environment with excessive tension.
"Here in Canada, we should be competitive. In Valencia, the car will have many updates, which should allow us to make a big leap forward. We need to have two good races and collect as many points as possible, but that doesn't mean we're putting everything on the line".
A commendable attempt. But there is no doubt that Ferrari is at a decisive crossroads. With twelve races still to be contested, we cannot speak of the last chance, but Ferrari knows that it can no longer afford mistakes. Montreal, on paper, seems like the right track for a comeback after the bitter Turkey, abrupt stops, and many chicanes, long straights where you can try to overtake, top speed (where Maranello has little to envy its rivals) that matters more than aerodynamics. The only discordant note, and not by chance, Alonso does not wish for it, could be the rain, as Montreal seems immersed in a cold winter, and with the cold asphalt, the Ferrari tires could struggle to reach the right temperature. Ferrari can, indeed must, show signs of awakening, and the Spaniard (only twice on the podium in seven races) is aware of this.
"Red Bull has dominated on the track so far, but not in the standings".
True, they could have and haven't opened up a gap, and Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber continue to argue about the Istanbul incident, your fault, certainly not mine, shouted by the young German, rejected by the Australian. Alonso observes these skirmishes with joy.
"You always said there would be a war between me and Massa, and instead, Felipe has extended for another two years. Our relationship is perfect, while I don't think the same can be said for other pairs".
But this internal and suicidal struggle cannot last forever, and if Ferrari does not start to curb this Red Bull dominance, it risks finding itself out of the game soon. Alonso calls for a turning point.
"This track reminds me of Melbourne, where we were very competitive. I smile now and hope to do the same on Sunday evening, finding myself again ahead of everyone like in the first race in Bahrain".
Happiness that Massa would especially like to experience, who has never won in Montreal.
"Yet it's a track I like".
The problem is that the wait has lasted since November 2, 2008.
"Abstinence is not a burden; it doesn't weigh on me".
But a spark is needed.
"That brings me back into the title race. Here, I expect to be on par with Red Bull and McLaren".
If so, there is a recent signature on the contract.
"That brings enthusiasm".
On Friday, June 11, 2010, FP1 passed without incident, except for minor off-track excursions by several drivers and a spin by Pedro de la Rosa at l'Epingle. Lucas di Grassi was the only driver who failed to set a time in the first session after stopping on the circuit. While reigning World Champion Jenson Button set the fastest time of the first session, Hispania Racing improved dramatically, beating both the Virgins, while Karun Chandhok also beat the Lotus of Jarno Trulli. In FP1 passed without incident save for minor off-track excursions by several drivers and a spin by Pedro de la Rosa at l'Epingle. Lucas di Grassi was the only driver who failed to set a time in the first session after stopping on the circuit. While reigning World Champion Jenson Button set the fastest time of the first session, Hispania Racing improved dramatically, beating both the Virgins, while Karun Chandhok also beat the Lotus of Jarno Trulli. The session also showed the progress of the new teams as a whole, with Heikki Kovalainen finishing the session just over a second adrift of Jaime Alguersuari; the difference between the new and established teams had been as great as three seconds in the first race of the season. Kovalainen would go on to repeat his feat in the second session, finishing just over half a second behind Alguersuari and a full second ahead of Chandhok, the next-fastest driver. The biggest story of the day was the extreme tire degradation the drivers experienced while running on the super-soft compound. Several sections of the circuit had been resurfaced since Formula One's previous visit in 2008, with the net result being that they offered comparatively little grip compared to other circuits. Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tire development, commented that the problem was a result of the tires being unable to reach their optimum operating temperature. With several teams expecting rain at some point during the weekend, the lack of grip and unpredictable conditions made setting the car up exceptionally difficult. Sebastian Vettel was the fastest driver in the session, narrowly outclassing the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg. Despite setting the fastest times of the first session, the McLarens both struggled, with Lewis Hamilton finishing seventh and Button only managing eleventh. Sebastian Vettel is in the lead as usual, and the best is the usual Red Bull. But this time, Ferrari is also in the mix; Fernando Alonso is competitive, closing the last free practice session in second place, just 0.086 seconds behind the young German driver. The Spaniard seems pleased:
"I'm a bit concerned about tire degradation, but I think it's a common issue for everyone. Otherwise, the car is good, more competitive than in Turkey; we can talk about victory again".
Felipe Massa is fifth, 0.5s behind Sebastian Vettel:
"I don't like talking about it beforehand; successes are commented on only when they become a reality".
But the Brazilian is also satisfied:
"We had some issues with the setup, but we're solving them. In the first session, some details weren't working, but everything was resolved in the second session".
Transforming the twelfth position from the first practice session into a fifth position. And now, the fight for pole position.
"We can conquer it".
Felipe Massa assures, battling with the Mercedes, Mark Webber's other Red Bull, and the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. On Saturday, June 12, 2010, McLaren bounds back in time for the third session, with Hamilton comfortably setting the fastest time of both the session and the weekend, ahead of Webber, Alonso, and Schumacher. Hamilton is sighted clipping the concrete walls lining the circuit at one point, as does Felipe Massa, but both are able to continue without damage. Pedro de la Rosa very nearly comes unstuck at the same point, but Karun Chandhok is less fortunate, his Hispania F110 stopping on the circuit early on. Nico Rosberg is sidelined with a clutch problem for most of the session. The only other incident is Lucas di Grassi losing control under braking at l'Epingle and coming to rest in the gravel trap shortly after he recorded the fastest speed - 324 km/h - through the speed trap. To compound the problems associated with heavy graining, overnight rain washes away whatever rubber had been laid down on the circuit during the Friday practice sessions, further reducing grip. With ambient temperatures being no higher than on Friday and the forecast predicting more of the same for the race, Bridgestone projects that a one-stop strategy in the race would be impossible with the harder prime compound losing up to seven seconds over half race distance, and the super-soft option tires losing over sixteen seconds in the same window. With the rules dictating that drivers must start the race on the tires they set their best qualifying time on, tire selection for qualifying is therefore crucial. On Saturday afternoon, qualifying starts without rain on the track. The first qualifying session has no surprises when both drivers from HRT, Virgin Racing, and Lotus fail to make the cut; they are joined by BMW Sauber pilot Kamui Kobayashi. The second qualifying session sees Michael Schumacher miss the cut as the only surprise elimination. With two more cars setting faster times, Schumacher starts the race from thirteenth. Barrichello is the fastest of this group, followed by Hülkenberg, Schumacher, Petrov, Buemi, Alguersuari, and de la Rosa. In the third and final session, all eyes are on Lewis Hamilton as he has set the fastest time in both qualifying sessions. But it is Mark Webber who grabs the lead early on. The teams are running different tires, making the results unpredictable.
On the very last lap, Hamilton snatches the pole from Webber who cannot answer. With Hamilton ending Red Bull's run of pole positions after seven races, Webber is set to start second right in front of his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Fernando Alonso is fourth, Jenson Button fifth followed by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who qualifies at a career-best sixth; Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil, and Nico Rosberg complete the top ten. On the cool-down lap, Hamilton is instructed by his team to slow down and stop on the circuit because the team realizes he would not have enough fuel left in his tank for a sample to be taken by the FIA. Hamilton turns his car off and lets it continue rolling down the back straight of the circuit. He undoes his belts and sits higher up in the cockpit of his car, relaxed until his McLaren nearly comes to a stop. Hamilton then gets out and starts to push his still rolling car down the back straight. A group of circuit marshals finally comes to help him, and he is picked up by the course car and taken to the press conference. The FIA later hands Hamilton a reprimand and fines the McLaren team $10.000 for not completing the cool-down lap in the given time, with Hamilton retaining his pole position. The ideal man for any bettor. Bet on Lewis Hamilton in Canada and you're on the safe side - three poles in as many attempts, on a track where in 2007, on his Formula 1 debut, he clinched the first triumph of his career. Hamilton in Montreal is a certainty, so strong that it crumbles the Red Bull dominance, a car that had monopolized Saturdays so far, always the fastest, four shouts of joy for Webber and three for Vettel. Only this time, the prowess of the McLaren driver raises dubious protests, unleashes controversies because Hamilton turned off the engine immediately after crossing the finish line, avoiding using more fuel since there was just a liter left in his tank (the minimum allowed by the regulations for fuel legality checks). Before celebrating, he got out of the car, placed himself in the middle of the track, and started pushing it, jeopardizing his own safety and obstructing the opponents' progress. Then he didn't adhere to the minimum time imposed for the return lap to the pits, committing a series of infractions that could not go unnoticed. He defends himself candidly:
"I had a splendid lap on a special day; Canada never betrays me. I'm attached to this track with beautiful memories. After the exploit, I heard on the radio, they asked me to turn off the engine to avoid the risk of running out of fuel, and I did. Where's the problem?"
For him, there probably isn't one, provided he's not playing smart. But for others, the unsportsmanlike conduct exists, and this McLaren genius move is not liked at all, as Felipe Massa states:
"If he didn't have mechanical problems, he should be penalized because otherwise, a dangerous precedent is created, and next time, everyone will load a glass of gasoline, enough for two laps, without even thinking about the third. We all stop after the finish line, what are we risking?"
Protests, not only in Ferrari but also at Red Bull, the big loser of this Canadian Saturday, immediately set the FIA's measured justice in motion. Hamilton is summoned by the stewards, who impose only a reprimand and a $10.000 fine. Setting aside the controversies, it does not take away from the fact that his performance was exceptional, also stemming from a precise strategic choice, common to Ferrari and different from Red Bull's, to use Soft tires (and he will have to start the race with them) and not Hard ones, better for a single lap but destined for rapid degradation in the race. Webber, second on the grid, and Vettel, third, can't believe their eyes; for the two Red Bulls, the Hard compound was a forced choice:
"And we hope it turns out to be winning. It made us slower in qualifying, but it will make us stop later than the others in the race".
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton's move is a gamble, explaining:
"On this circuit, accidents are frequent; the safety car can come out at any time. It's better to start in front and then think, trying to understand how the race evolves".
A reasoning also followed by Fernando Alonso.
"We are fourth, a few hundredths behind Red Bull. The car gives good sensations; with an intelligent strategy, we can finish on the podium and maybe even win. Because here, the driver can make a mistake at any time. I'm quite happy; the car has been very competitive all weekend. I'm quite optimistic for the race".
To those suggesting a one-stop strategy, the Spaniard replies:
"There is a lot of tire degradation on the soft tires here; we must keep an open mind regarding the strategy".
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal, also had positive comments:
"The most important thing for us is that we have returned from a performance perspective close to the front group".
Felipe Massa's task seems more complicated; he's seventh, also behind Vitantonio Liuzzi in sixth, enjoying the best qualifying of his life. Michael Schumacher will start thirteenth.
The German driver of Mercedes was eliminated in Q2 and qualified behind Rubens Barrichello and his teammate at Williams, Nico Hulkenberg. On Sunday, June 13, 2010, the Canadian Grand Prix is the first of the season in which all twenty-four cars start on the grid; prior to the Montreal race, at least one car - usually from Virgin, Lotus, or Hispania - is forced to start from the pit lane with a mechanical issue of some kind. Mark Webber is demoted from second place on the grid to seventh after Red Bull finds iron filings in a sample of oil taken from the gearbox used in Webber's car during qualifying. This finding, which suggests damage to the internals of the gearbox and necessitates a gearbox change under parc ferme conditions, results in the five-place grid penalty. The opening lap sees drama unfold before the field has even cleared the start gantry. While Lewis Hamilton wins the drag race to the first corner, in the middle of the pack, Vitaly Petrov jumps the start and is forced onto the grassy verge as he attempts to go around the outside. This results in a spin that forces Pedro de la Rosa to take evasive action; Petrov earns two drive-through penalties in the space of one hundred meters for his efforts and spends the rest of the race fighting with the new teams. Felipe Massa and Vitantonio Liuzzi make contact three times in one corner, with the Italian getting spun around in the process and sliding down the order. As Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso establish the running order, Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hülkenberg tangle on the run into the final corners. While the Williams driver cuts the chicane to avoid further contact, Kobayashi is not as lucky, and he becomes the Wall of Champions' 2010 victim. He retires a lap later with accident damage. After avoiding the spinning Petrov at the start, Kobayashi's Sauber teammate Pedro de la Rosa joins him on the sidelines shortly thereafter and gives the team the unenviable record of eleven retirements from sixteen starts. The predicted early round of stops passes without incident, although Red Bull elects to run their drivers on separate strategies; Mark Webber runs the harder prime compound back-to-back with a finish on the softer options, while Vettel runs the options in his middle stint and picks up the primes for the run to the finish. Every other driver except Robert Kubica has qualified on and subsequently started the race with the softer options.
Subsequently, an accident between Michael Schumacher and Robert Kubica is narrowly avoided as Schumacher emerges from the first of his scheduled stops. Schumacher refuses to yield on the approach to the fourth corner, and the two take a short trip across the grassy verge. The altercation damages Kubica's undertray while the incident is investigated by the stewards. It is the first of many incidents involving Schumacher, with the Mercedes driver later tangling with Adrian Sutil and Felipe Massa. Massa's race is marked by a perpetual battle with the Force India drivers, including several near-misses in the second corner, the scene of his first-lap tangle with Liuzzi. Massa later forces his way past Sutil as the two close in on the Lotus of Heikki Kovalainen, the cars running three-abreast into turn six. His late altercation with former Ferrari teammate Schumacher requires him to pit for a replacement front wing, and, like Hülkenberg before him, the Brazilian driver is cited for speeding in the pit lane. Twenty seconds are added to his time after the race as punishment. Webber's tire strategy initially pays off, but, as the race wears on, his tires begin to deteriorate rapidly. Hamilton, running second at the time, quickly reduces the Australian's lead and catches him with twenty laps to go, dragging the Ferrari of Alonso through in the process. Webber eventually pits, emerging behind teammate Vettel in fifth place as Vettel struggles with an unspecified but serious problem that he has to nurse to the finish; the team later clarifies this as being related to the gearbox. As Hamilton settles back into the lead, reigning World Champion Jenson Button takes Alonso by surprise, passing him around the back half of the circuit and positioning McLaren for their second consecutive one-two finish. Button briefly attempts a run at his teammate, narrowing Hamilton's lead to just two seconds with ten laps to go, but Hamilton responds with a fast lap that dissuades Button from making further attempts. The top five - Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Vettel, and Webber - remain in place until the very end with Vettel stopping on the circuit just after he crosses the finish line at the end of the race. Nico Rosberg fends off a late surge from Kubica to claim sixth while Buemi finishes eighth and a lap down. Liuzzi and Sutil both find their way past Schumacher on the final lap - in Sutil's case, this is in the final corner - as the Mercedes driver struggles with tires that are almost completely out of grip and leaving the seven-time World Champion scoreless.
Kovalainen is the best of the new teams, two laps down and fighting off Petrov for the final phase of the race, while Karun Chandhok and Lucas di Grassi are the final cars home, four and five laps down, respectively. And three: in eight races, McLaren achieves the third double of the season. A result that speaks volumes about the frenzied work done by the British technicians, who seem to have closed the gap that separated them from the monstrous Red Bull, now surprisingly out of the podium. Because behind the dominator, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso took second and third places. However, the problem for Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber came from the pits, where they completely botched the race strategies, leaving the drivers (especially Webber) on the track for too long, futilely hoping that the tires would last longer than they should. Mistakes that cost Red Bull dearly, but still do not overshadow McLaren's performance. A significant turning point for the World Championship, as with the victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton also secured the lead in the Drivers' Championship with 109 points. Second now is his teammate and defending World Champion, Jenson Button, with 106 points, and third is Mark Webber, with 103 points, losing the lead. Fernando Alonso is fourth with 94 points. But it's also a turning point for the future, as it appears that the Red Bull monopoly has ended. If McLaren continues its development (and Ferrari finally wakes up), we could witness a highly contested second part of the championship since even Alonso is not ruled out of the race for the final victory. As for the rest, dropping off the podium in fourth place is Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, ahead of his teammate, Mark Webber, and Nico Rosberg's Mercedes. Seventh is Robert Kubica's Renault, followed by Sebastien Buemi's Toro Rosso and Vitantonio Liuzzi's Force India. Finally, a bad move by Michael Schumacher, who, a few laps from the end, squeezed Felipe Massa against the pit wall, forcing him to return to the pits once again to change the front wing. A fitting conclusion for a nightmare race for poor Massa, first involved in an incident at the start with Liuzzi and then forced to unnecessarily duel in the back with the Force India cars.
"It was a difficult race where it was hard to understand how to manage the tires. It was a great race. It's nice to be back on the podium, another double for the team. But I would have preferred the roles reversed, with me in Hamilton's place".
Says Jenson Button, while Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal, regrets:
"I'm not happy; today we could have done more. We had a race pace that would have allowed us to win, but at least we managed to send a signal. Still, there is great regret; we should have scored more points".
Mark Webber is nonetheless satisfied with the fifth-place finish:
"I'm happy with my race. We knew that McLaren and Ferrari would be in front, but we fought until the end".
And Red Bull's team principal, Christian Horner, is moderately satisfied:
"We knew this track was suitable for McLaren, but we managed to limit the damage".
Is Fernando Alonso happy to have found the podium?
"Not too much. I aim to win the World Championship: we have taken a big step forward, but with a bit more luck, we could have won".
What was missing?
"Small details that ended up making a difference. I was caught in traffic, had difficulties with some lapped cars".
Your friend Trulli, for example.
"He must not have seen me. Of course, he slowed me down at a crucial moment".
And then?
"Chandhok, when Button had the opportunity to take away my second place and he seized it".
He seems more disappointed than happy.
"We had the pace to win, and we didn't succeed. We wasted an opportunity, although I recognize that McLaren is really strong. Anyway, we're all there; the World Championship is long and far from over".
Is there something to blame the team for?
"Absolutely not; in fact, in the pit stop, they were exceptional. Exciting to pass Hamilton in that way, side by side for so many meters, neither of us giving up, lifting the foot".
The next Grand Prix will be held in Valencia.
"Second in Barcelona, I hope to be first again in front of my people. We have shown signs of improvement; Ferrari is back, and I am convinced that in Spain, we will be even stronger".
Lewis Hamilton swears to love Canada. The food, the people, but above all, the track, his track. Where on Saturdays, he can play it smart, a pole lap with a glass of gasoline, the judges sparing him and only giving him a fine. But on Sundays, he is practically perfect, ruthless, aggressive, and untouchable for rivals. Hamilton in Canada knows no adversaries. And from Sunday evening, after the second consecutive triumph, he knows none even in the standings, as he jumped to the top with 3 points more than Button, 6 ahead of Webber, and a whopping 15 more than Alonso. Almost a runaway, which could have gone sideways only at the beginning of the eighth lap when his mechanics hesitated, those of Ferrari frantically waved their hands, and Alonso surprised him with an unexpected overtaking in the pits. It could have been a knockout blow, with Hamilton dazed, at least psychologically, but instead, the English champion returned the favor with interest.
"Because this place is magical and never betrays me. Before going up on the podium, I thought about 2007, my first win here, the chills on my skin. Now I feel less emotion but the same joy. This is a complicated World Championship, but we are strong, and we will fight until the end to win it".
Hamilton maximized the tactics devised in advance. Overtaking Alonso at the end of lap 15, he only had to defend his lead. His McLaren is strong, as evidenced by Button, again second as in Turkey, a new double, useful to greet everyone in the Constructors' World Championship.
For months, wonders were said about Red Bull, and now it turns out, with a very energetic but also very fragile car, a master in wasting golden opportunities, as happened in Istanbul, that the real car to beat is McLaren, good initially with Button and now ruthless with Hamilton. The English substitute, however, the defending World Champion, was fourth at the start and retained the position in the first lap, then passed Vettel with the strategy and, in the only opportunity he had, fooled Alonso.
"There was space, and I slipped through".
Ferrari's fans leave Canada with a suspended soul. Because on the day when Red Bull comes out a bit diminished (Webber breaks the gearbox before the race, neither he nor Vettel ever find the right feeling with the tires), Ferrari shows signs of awakening but does not achieve what it could. Alonso does not show the usual sacred fire (he only does it in the overtaking of Hamilton in the pits), and Massa encounters the usual troubles, spinning at the start after contact with Liuzzi and being bumped by Schumacher in the finale when, with tenacity and effort, he had managed to climb back to tenth place and aimed for ninth. The Brazilian is angry with the old German friend:
"He threw himself to the left suddenly, impossible to avoid him, we were fighting for ninth place, it didn't seem necessary".
Annoyance, not supported by the judges, who fully acquitted the episode. Massa complains, and Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal, too.
"Because as a performance, we deserve a nine; there is relief for the growth, but also anger because we could have won, and we didn't succeed".
Attempts to escape are more challenging than overtaking in Monte Carlo. Escaping in the standings, this year in Formula 1, in the most balanced World Championship that recent history remembers, is not successful for any driver. It even brings bad luck to think about it; as soon as one believes he has a super car in hand, in the next race, he is immediately reabsorbed by the group. Initially, it was Alonso, triumphant in Bahrain on debut, but since then, March 14, 2010, the Spaniard has not won a race and has only stepped on the podium in Spain and Canada. Then, after a quick appearance by Felipe Massa leading the standings, it was Jenson Button's turn, a newcomer to McLaren but already more cunning than others in strategies, resulting in victories in Australia and China. The Englishman was already dreaming of a magical back-to-back championship when the Red Bull fairy tale began, first Sebastian Vettel's victory and then Mark Webber's double, and everyone went back to the drawing board, declaring that in this World Championship, no one could break the dominance of the energy car. Even this prediction, nullified by the self-harm of the Austrian team, lasted a short time, and now, after two consecutive victories, it's Lewis Hamilton's turn, the umpteenth leader of a classification that systematically enjoys changing. Five drivers within 19 points after eight races, all capable of winning the title, with a gap that should not deceive since this year, with the victory earning 25 points. In practice, looking at the past years, it's as if between Hamilton (first) and Vettel (fifth), there were 9 points, a narrow margin in which Button, Webber, and Alonso find room and ambitions. Excluding 2007, Ferrari's Raikkonen, who mortified the McLaren duo Alonso-Hamilton by one point, we haven't seen such balance since 1999, with Hakkinen's McLaren victorious over Irvine's Ferrari but with Frentzen (Jordan) and Coulthard (the other McLaren) long in the fight for the title. Many contenders for a captivating World Championship. Now the focus is on Hamilton, but he specifies:
"It's a terrible championship that will only be decided at the end. To triumph, we still have to grow a lot".
Beware of talking about escape. After all, no one would believe him. Alonso has been repeating it for a long time:
"Only in Abu Dhabi, the last race, will we know who is the best. And reliability will be decisive for the sprint".
Vettel, at the moment, the most detached, has no intention of giving up:
"It would be enough for me to win the next race in Valencia to get back into the race".
How competitive do Button, 3 points behind Hamilton, and Webber, third 6 points behind, feel?
"I like my McLaren more and more".
And Webber, convinced that his Red Bull remains the best car.
Everyone is eager after dividing the stage victories (two triumphs for Hamilton, Button and Webber, one for Alonso and Vettel) and with only one real fear, the backmarkers. Yes, because in 2010 there is also the novelty of the six slow cars, and if you end up in that vortex, you're in trouble. Ferrari calculated that Alonso behind Trulli lost 3 seconds and perhaps the victory. The Spaniard didn't make a drama out of it:
"In the future, I'll be more careful".
But in this World Championship, backmarkers can become a decisive factor.