13-06-2013, 22:01
Vettel's Canada dominance down to circuit layout - Gary Anderson
By Gary Anderson
BBC F1 technical analyst
Sebastian Vettel's domination of the Canadian Grand Prix was all about the circuit layout.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is fundamentally a traction track. There is only one quickish corner and the lateral forces are low. To be quick, a car needs good traction coming off the corners and for the tyres not to grain - where the surface starts to tear.
All that plays to the strengths of the Red Bull and minimises its weaknesses - there are none of the high cornering forces that caused them such trouble in Spain, one of only two places so far this season where Vettel has not been on the podium.
As with Monaco, Canada is a unique track with unique demands. So, impressive as Vettel's win was, it does not necessarily mean he is going to carry on like that for the rest of the season.
Having said that, there is no denying that the Red Bull is a good car and Vettel's early laps in the race were like so many of his victories have been - blistering pace to take him out of the DRS range. The difference this time was that he kept pushing afterwards as well, rather than just managing the gap.
It was interesting that Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber had a fairly major part of his front wing knocked off but continued to be competitive, even setting the fastest lap of the race. That is an indication of the lack of high-lateral-force corners in Canada. Had there been, Webber would have killed the front tyres with that damage.
FERRARI NEED MORE DOWNFORCE
As far as Vettel's title rival Fernando Alonso is concerned, Canada provided the same lessons as so many races over the past couple of years - the Ferrari is a quick race car but they need to get more pace out of it in qualifying.
If Alonso had been on the front row with Vettel, could he have disputed the win? He certainly lost a lot of time fighting with other cars - he did not get past Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes into second place until seven laps from the end.
Ultimately, Alonso took away the maximum he could have done considering he started sixth. Ferrari have to make the car fast enough to enable him to start alongside Vettel so he can go racing with him. And for that, they need more downforce.
If he starts higher up, Alonso will be OK. Ferrari are good on the tyres, but he needs to be able to push the Red Bulls to make them use their tyres harder.
MERCEDES' TYRE CONUNDRUM
Force India's Paul di Resta did a fantastic job to climb up to seventh from 17th on the grid on a one-stop strategy. The Scot went 57 laps on a set of medium tyres - and that was from the start of the race, when he was on a full fuel tank.
Had Hamilton gone for a one-stop strategy in his Mercedes, he would have had to do 50 laps after his first stop to make it to the end of the race.
The Englishman had an 8.3-second lead over Alonso when the Ferrari made its second stop, to which Mercedes immediately responded. Had they kept Hamilton out there, his lead would have been 23 seconds with 22 laps to go.
Would that have been worth trying? Did they look at the fact Di Resta was in very good shape after a very long run?
Mercedes have more problems with their rear tyres than any other team - Pirelli said they were running 20C hotter than on the other cars - but, even so, they might have had a look at it. Higher temperatures are a problem, but the new set would suffer in the same way as the one he already had on. So do you drive conservatively and try to protect a lead, or put on another set and have them overheat within two laps anyway?
Hamilton pitted when his lap times were still competitive. Had he done a one-stop, he might have been able to hang on ahead of Alonso.
I think Mercedes knew Alonso was going to have Hamilton if they both did the same strategy - the Ferrari is simply a quicker race car. Opting for a different strategy might have been a chance to throw the dice. But then Ferrari and Red Bull did try that in Canada last year and it failed to come off.
Beyond that, it's difficult to understand why Mercedes can't get on top of that tyre problem.
The controversial test they did with Pirelli at Barcelona, which has led to their forthcoming disciplinary hearing in front of the FIA international tribunal, has obviously not helped them with that. So that was an opportunity gone begging, and they got a lot of flak for it, too.
McLAREN IN A MESS
sigue
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22844748
By Gary Anderson
BBC F1 technical analyst
Sebastian Vettel's domination of the Canadian Grand Prix was all about the circuit layout.
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is fundamentally a traction track. There is only one quickish corner and the lateral forces are low. To be quick, a car needs good traction coming off the corners and for the tyres not to grain - where the surface starts to tear.
All that plays to the strengths of the Red Bull and minimises its weaknesses - there are none of the high cornering forces that caused them such trouble in Spain, one of only two places so far this season where Vettel has not been on the podium.
As with Monaco, Canada is a unique track with unique demands. So, impressive as Vettel's win was, it does not necessarily mean he is going to carry on like that for the rest of the season.
Having said that, there is no denying that the Red Bull is a good car and Vettel's early laps in the race were like so many of his victories have been - blistering pace to take him out of the DRS range. The difference this time was that he kept pushing afterwards as well, rather than just managing the gap.
It was interesting that Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber had a fairly major part of his front wing knocked off but continued to be competitive, even setting the fastest lap of the race. That is an indication of the lack of high-lateral-force corners in Canada. Had there been, Webber would have killed the front tyres with that damage.
FERRARI NEED MORE DOWNFORCE
As far as Vettel's title rival Fernando Alonso is concerned, Canada provided the same lessons as so many races over the past couple of years - the Ferrari is a quick race car but they need to get more pace out of it in qualifying.
If Alonso had been on the front row with Vettel, could he have disputed the win? He certainly lost a lot of time fighting with other cars - he did not get past Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes into second place until seven laps from the end.
Ultimately, Alonso took away the maximum he could have done considering he started sixth. Ferrari have to make the car fast enough to enable him to start alongside Vettel so he can go racing with him. And for that, they need more downforce.
If he starts higher up, Alonso will be OK. Ferrari are good on the tyres, but he needs to be able to push the Red Bulls to make them use their tyres harder.
MERCEDES' TYRE CONUNDRUM
Force India's Paul di Resta did a fantastic job to climb up to seventh from 17th on the grid on a one-stop strategy. The Scot went 57 laps on a set of medium tyres - and that was from the start of the race, when he was on a full fuel tank.
Had Hamilton gone for a one-stop strategy in his Mercedes, he would have had to do 50 laps after his first stop to make it to the end of the race.
The Englishman had an 8.3-second lead over Alonso when the Ferrari made its second stop, to which Mercedes immediately responded. Had they kept Hamilton out there, his lead would have been 23 seconds with 22 laps to go.
Would that have been worth trying? Did they look at the fact Di Resta was in very good shape after a very long run?
Mercedes have more problems with their rear tyres than any other team - Pirelli said they were running 20C hotter than on the other cars - but, even so, they might have had a look at it. Higher temperatures are a problem, but the new set would suffer in the same way as the one he already had on. So do you drive conservatively and try to protect a lead, or put on another set and have them overheat within two laps anyway?
Hamilton pitted when his lap times were still competitive. Had he done a one-stop, he might have been able to hang on ahead of Alonso.
I think Mercedes knew Alonso was going to have Hamilton if they both did the same strategy - the Ferrari is simply a quicker race car. Opting for a different strategy might have been a chance to throw the dice. But then Ferrari and Red Bull did try that in Canada last year and it failed to come off.
Beyond that, it's difficult to understand why Mercedes can't get on top of that tyre problem.
The controversial test they did with Pirelli at Barcelona, which has led to their forthcoming disciplinary hearing in front of the FIA international tribunal, has obviously not helped them with that. So that was an opportunity gone begging, and they got a lot of flak for it, too.
McLAREN IN A MESS
sigue
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/22844748
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