FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Kovalainen: That was my mistake

Heikki Kovalainen admits he was to blame for his crash in Practice One and has thanked his mechanics for getting him out onto track later in the day.

Kovalainen suffered a huge shunt when he lost control of his CT01, slamming sidewards into the wall at Turn 9.

The impact caused significant damage to his car and the session to be red-flagged as there was debris strewn all over the track.

But despite the massive repair job awaiting his mechanics, Kovalainen was back on track before the midway point of Practice Two and went on to set the 16th best time.

"First I want to say thank you to the team for doing a great job and getting the car fixed and ready for most of FP2," said Kovalainen.

"I made a mistake on the exit of Turn 9 and hit the wall, obviously doing some pretty substantial damage to the car but, thankfully, not to the chassis.

"As soon as we got it back to the garage the guys started work on rebuilding it so to get that job done and giving me FP2 track time was a very good achievement.

"Before the FP1 off the car had felt good pretty much from the first lap. In FP2 I had the same sort of positive feel from the balance and I think we look ok here - not quite as close as we were in Monaco but certainly close enough to have a good race on Sunday."

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Schumi: Times are not representative

Michael Schumacher is confident Mercedes are quicker than their lap times showed during Friday's practices in Montreal.

The seven-time World Champion, who is bidding to become F1's seventh race winner for this season in Canada, finished Friday's running in seventh place.

Schumacher's best time, a 1:15.697, was 0.438s slower than Lewis Hamilton's P1 time, while his team-mate Nico Rosberg was a further two-tenths down.

However, Schumacher believes Mercedes are closer to the front than their times indicated.

"It was a bit of a compromised approach because this rain we have right now was supposed to be all day long," the 43-year-old told Autosport.

"We took the opportunity - thinking it was going to be wet in the afternoon - to compromise the way we use the tyres.

"We didn't have the option tyres available in the afternoon because we had used them in the morning.

"So it doesn't represent the quickest times in the end.

"What does it mean tomorrow? We'll find out. We are certainly not far off."

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Ferrari gets McLaren style exhaust upgrade

Ferrari has followed the same exhaust development path as McLaren after introducing a significant upgrade for the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

The Italian outfit has struggled in this particular area and has trialled several different versions over the course of the last six races.

The latest development, most similar to McLaren and Sauber, uses the downwash coming over the sidepods to direct air into the diffuser, rather than previous iterations which have attempted to channel the air directly through floor.

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Paul Di Resta hoping for good qualifying in Canada

Force India's Paul Di Resta reveals he is "hoping to get into Q3" in Saturday's qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix after a strong showing in free practice.

The Scot says the team have "shown we're competitive" after posting the fifth-fastest time in the second session , revealing he is enjoying the challenges posed by the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and says he "can't tell if it's a street or a race track".

Di Resta will be hoping to improve on his best result so far this season in Sunday's race, a sixth place at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

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Canadian Grand Prix: David Coulthard's inside track on Sunday's race

Former F1 driver says there is every chance of another new face taking honours in the seventh race of the season.

1 Who to watch

Everyone is watching to see whether Formula One can produce a seventh winner from seven races for the first time. You can quite easily see it happening.Michael Schumacher took pole at Monaco last time out and Mercedes are expected to be quick here, Lewis Hamilton is still awaiting his first victory of 2012, while either Lotus driver is a decent shout. Some are saying the unpredictability is too much, but I disagree. Just as tennis has moved on from the era of Roger Federer winning everything to having three or four guys capable of victory, so F1 is now ultra-competitive at the top. We should be applauding that.

2 Where the race will be won

The key to Canada is getting the balance of your car right. You need to find the right compromise between straight-line speed - the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve has so many long straights that teams bring a special, one-off, low downforce package to use here - and decent low-speed cornering. Track position is not as important here as it is at some circuits, although with only one DRS zone this year (which has been shortened) we probably won’t see as much overtaking as we did last year. In theory that might hurt Mercedes’ chances since their DRS is so powerful.

3 Sub-plots

Everyone made a big deal of Michael Schumacher’s pole lap at Monaco, as if it was proof his return to the sport was justified and he should now stay beyond this season. I look at it in a slightly different way. It was a great lap, but I expect that of him. Michael is a seven-time world champion with 91 wins to his name. What is a surprise to me is the fact that he has been consistently outperformed by his team mate over the last two and a bit years. Whether Michael can get the better of Nico Rosberg on a consistent basis is what matters, rather than one great qualifying performance.

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VETTEL ON POLE FOR CANADIAN GP:

Sebastian Vettel gave himself the best chance of becoming the first driver to win a second race in 2012, by taking pole by 3/10ths of a second from Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

If he could do it, it would be the first win for Red Bull in Canada, which has been something of a bogey circuit for the team. Vettel made a mistake on the last lap in 2011, losing the win to Jenson Button.

It was Vettel’s second pole in a row in Canada and the 32nd of his career in just 88 Grands Prix. It was Vettel’s second pole of 2012 after Bahrain – a race he won from pole position.

“We had a fantastic weekend so far,” said Vettel. “We’ve learned quite a bit from the last few weekends, where we didn’t get as much as we should have from the car. It’s not just a hole in the floor that makes a difference. We never feared a big impact (from the forced changes to the car).”

Qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix is usually close but Vettel’s margin was larger than expected. Whereas Vettel and Hamilton improved on their final runs Alonso didn’t improve. He set the fastest time in all three qualifying sessions. Hamilton said that the higher temperatures on Saturday compared to Friday had affected his pace, as he found it tough to get the tyres up to temperature and he was surprised in the circumstances to be on the front row.

In Q1, Jean Eric Vergne failed to make the cut for the third time this season. He had an off in the morning session which cost him valuable track time. The Caterhams ended up ahead of him, with Kovalainen getting ahead of team mate Petrov.

Of the front runners, both McLaren drivers and Raikkonen used up a set of option tyres to get through Q1, finding around half a second advantage from it over the soft.

At the start of Q2, the two Ferraris went out on softs initially, the only cars to do so.

Critically, both Ferraris, the Mercedes and Red Bull cars all got through into Q3 using only one set of the super soft tyres. Button had used all three sets of his – he flat spotted one set and lost them – and was vulnerable to a last minute attack from Maldonado, but the Venezuelan hit the wall in the final corner and that allowed Button to go through in the top ten.

Raikkonen and the two Saubers failed to make the cut. Raikkonen said that he had a hydraulic problems which affected the performance of his differential.

Hamilton had only one new set of supersofts to take into Q3.

After the first runs, Vettel was fastest from Alonso and Hamilton. Vettel found 3/10ths on his second run, crucially Alonso was 2/1000ths slower than his first run; the final sector letting him down.

Meanwhile Massa had his best qualifying performance of the season in sixth place in the upgraded Ferrari.

Button set his Q3 time on soft tyres and will start the race on those tyres from 10th place, a different strategy from the other front runners and one that gives him the possibility of one stop if he thinks it’s possible. An early safety car would help him a lot in the race.

Nico Rosberg was fifth, the fastest Mercedes – his car had a fuel connector problem in the morning session, which stopped him out on track as soon as he went out. He lost the session. This follows Schumacher’s fuel pressure problem which curtailed his Monaco Grand Prix, showing that Mercedes still has one or two reliability concerns in that area.

Meanwhile Vettel had set the fastest time in FP3, despite Red Bull being forced to make a second modification to its car in a week, again a matter of disputed holes – this time the FIA requested a change to holes in the wheel hubs as they were felt to have an influence on aerodynamics, energising the air flow to the front wing rather than performing a simple cooling function.

The strategies for tomorrow’s race will be very interesting and track temperature will play a part as will the high possibility of a safety car. Strategies with fewer stops can bring you out ahead at the final stops, but with overtaking being so easy at Montreal with long straights and DRS zone, making the right call at the first stop will be critical.

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX, Qualifying

1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m13.784s

2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m14.087s + 0.303

3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m14.151s + 0.367

4. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m14.346s + 0.562

5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m14.411s + 0.627

6. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m14.465s + 0.681

7. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m14.645s + 0.861

8. Paul di Resta Force India 1m14.705s + 0.921

9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m14.812s + 1.028

10. Jenson Button McLaren 1m15.182s + 1.398

11. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m14.688s + 0.501

12. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1m14.734s + 0.547

13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m14.748s + 0.561

14. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m15.078s + 0.891

15. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m15.156s + 0.969

16. Bruno Senna Williams 1m15.170s + 0.983

17. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m15.231s + 1.044

18. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m16.263s + 1.602

19. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m16.482s + 1.821

20. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m16.602s + 1.941

21. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m17.492s + 2.831

22. Timo Glock Marussia 1m17.901s + 3.240

23. Charles Pic Marussia 1m18.255s + 3.594

24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m18.330s + 3.669

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Schumacher 'disappointed' with ninth

Michael Schumacher is confused about why Merc said he did not have time for another flying lap when he believes he crossed the line in time in qualifying.

Progressing in Q3 in Montreal, a race that he has won on seven occasions, Schumacher was one of the last in the queue for the final run.

The German, who was P9 when he headed out of the pits, appeared to be on track for two flying laps.

However, instead Schumacher was caught on camera aborting his final lap and waving his arms in frustration.

And although it was initially thought the arm waving was at a rival who may have held him up, Schumacher revealed that it was more out of frustration with a call from his Mercedes team.

"I don't think you can talk about satisfaction, rather disappointment, because we've been on a good run," the 43-year-old told Sky Sports.

"We've been [in] Q1, Q2 everything perfect. We tried the first run in Q3 on a single lap, didn't work and then we reverted back to a two-lap run.

"I started my second lap, see the green light, and then the team called me and said 'no, you're too late'. So that's it and I don't understand why. I saw the green light, passed it just on time but..."

Schumacher, though, concedes he can't change the situation and will now look ahead to Sunday's race.

"We could not have achieved pole today as we could not do the times the guys up front were doing, but I could most likely have been able to do the time I was doing earlier in qualifying and start the race from a bit a better position.

"I now have to take it how it is and make the attack in the race tomorrow that I could not do today."

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Button: I shouldn't have bothered

Jenson Button reckons he wasted a perfectly good set of tyres by even bothering to run in Saturday's final qualifying segment.

On the back foot and off the pace after missing a large part of Friday's running with a hydraulic leak, Button only just made it into Q3 and would have dropped out if Pastor Maldonado had stayed on track instead of putting his Williams into the wall.

In the final segment, which decides the front row of the grid, Button again lacked pace and qualified down in tenth place having opted to run on the harder compound Pirellis.

However, if the Brit had sat out the session entirely, he would have still been tenth - and could have started on the harder tyres anyway.

"We wanted to start the race on the prime tyre, and looking at it now we shouldn't have bothered running it," Button said.

"It was going to be tricky to beat anyone on the prime tyre, and we had no new options left. We were going to be P10 on an (old) option tyre, so we thought we'd give it a go on a prime and start the race on a prime.

"Maybe we shouldn't have put five laps on it. But you get in the car and you want to go out and see what you can do with the tyre, and that's exactly what we did."

The Brit, though, is refusing to give up on securing a solid result come Sunday's grand prix as last season he claimed the victory in Canada.

"I think today wasn't great. Maybe as I said we shouldn't have put laps on the prime tyre, because now we have five laps on the tyre starting the race, and the guys behind me have brand new tyres.

"It's not the best way to start tomorrow, but it's going to be a hot race, and I think it's probably going to be the hottest race we've had this year.

"It will hopefully throw up a few surprises for everyone, and we can still have a good afternoon."

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Vergne: Little mistake cost me a lot

Jean-Eric Vergne believes his qualifying efforts in Canada were undone by his crash and the lost track-time in final practice.

Vergne's running on Saturday morning came to an abrupt end when he lost his car on the grass at Turn 1 and put it into the barriers nose first at Turn 2.

Although there wasn't any significant damage to the car, the accident did put the Toro Rosso driver out of action for the session.

Vergne therefore went into Saturday's qualifying lacking track-time and could only manage a disappointing 20th place.

"My little mistake in FP3 cost me a lot," he said.

"I didn't get any running this morning and then this afternoon, I never really got a clean lap, encountering a lot of traffic which is therefore very disappointing.

"On top of that, my car was quite different today to yesterday, so it was not the easiest thing to adapt to it in just a couple of laps in Q1.

"Even if the traffic would not have made a huge difference to my position on the grid, some cleaner laps would have allowed me to improve my performance and get a better feel for the car with this different set-up.

"As for the morning problem, I got a little bit on the grass which was wet from all last night's rain and the car just got away from me, but the guys worked well to get everything back together for qualifying.

"We always have a good car for the race, so let's wait and see how much ground we can make up tomorrow."

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HAMILTON STICKS TO PLAN AND WINS THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX:

Lewis Hamilton became the seventh different winner in seven Grands Prix this season with a cool headed drive on a day of strategy gambles.

It was his third Canadian Grand Prix win and the 18th of his career. It gave him the lead in the drivers’ championship by two points over Alonso and three points over Vettel. It was McLaren’s 13th win in Canada.

The victory was built on a two stop strategy which proved the right one, although it gave some nervous moments after his second stop, when it became clear that main rivals Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel were only stopping once. Getting the tyres switched on in the first lap was also crucial to Hamilton’s success. He and the team admitted after the race that they would not have been able to one stop with the energy they were putting into the tyres.

The pair however threw away podium finishes by risking a one-stop strategy. Instead, Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez drove brilliantly and took second and third places. They too had one stopped, but with better tyre wear they had better pace at the end of the race. Perez started 15th and finished third.

Vettel finished fourth, ahead of Alonso, Rosberg and Webber.

Seven seconds covered the top four at the end. It was a thrilling finish to a race which had a lively first third and then a long period of inactivity.

“I want to dedicate this one to all the fans who send messages and are constantly sending messages and being supportive,” said Hamilton. “I loved every single minute of it. I never had a doubt that there wasn’t a possibility (of winning). I assumed the guys (Alonso and Vettel) were one stopping as they were falling behind.

“It’s been five years since I won for the first time here. But it feels just as good. This feels like one of the best races I’ve had for a long time.”

The temperature rose steadily in the moments running up to the start of the race and was 40 degrees when the race started, the highest it had been all weekend. This got team strategists thinking about the various ways the race might unfold depending on tyre degradation. Button, Raikkonen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Maldonado and De La Rosa all went for the soft tyre at the start.

At the start the top five got away in grid order with Vettel leading from pole, while Rosberg attacking Webber, who held him off into the first chicane.

Massa passed Rosberg at the end of lap two for fifth place and Di Resta took Rosberg for sixth a lap later. Massa undid all the good work by spinning and dropping down to 13th place.

Vettel had a 1.4 second lead over Hamilton in the first couple of laps, keeping him clear of the DRS zone.

The ease of making DRS passes might have influenced decision making on the pit wall, as a driver on worn tyres would clearly be vulnerable in the closing stages.

On lap 16 Hamilton and Alonso both got within the DRS zone of Vettel, Vettel pitted for new softs and Hamilton and Alonso put the hammer down.

Hamilton reacted and pitted the next lap, while Ferrari left Alonso out once again. Hamilton came out ahead of Vettel, despite a slow get away from the pit box.

Meanwhile Alonso went around again, as Vettel attacked Hamilton on lap 19. Alonso had done enough in his two laps to pass both Hamilton and Vettel and he emerged from his lap 19 pit stop ahead.

But Hamilton was in the DRS zone at the end of the lap and he passed him into the final corner at the end of lap 21. The softs took a little longer to come in than Alonso needed and Hamilton was able to make the decisive pass for the lead.

Grosjean led the race at this point, having not stopped, but he stopped on lap 21, giving Hamilton back the lead.

Hamilton looked stronger on the soft tyres in the second stint, relative to his pursuers. He pulled out 2.4 seconds in 3 laps and by lap 26 the gap was up to 2.6 seconds. He was now where he wanted to be, out front with a clear track ahead, which as we have seen all year, is extremely important to keeping the tyres in good shape.

Raikkonen and Perez were going well on the soft tyres in 4th and 5th, only five seconds behind the leader.

Hamilton drove away from Alonso and Vettel through the middle part of the race, the gap climbing to 3.7 seconds by lap 33.

Pirelli’s Paul Hembery tweeted on lap 34 that the tyre wear was greater than in free practice, the right rear was the limitation and hence two stops were on the cards for the leaders.

Raikkonen and Perez, the two cars who were one stopping, made it to lap 40 before coming in, but Rosberg was able to resist both of them and despite Raikkonen getting ahead initially, he repassed him for P7.

Schumacher’s DRS rear wing got stuck open and he was forced to retire for the fifth time in seven races, yet more reliability issues for him and Mercedes. After missing his hot qualifying lap by hundredths of a second at the end of Q3, it was another highly frustrating weekend.

Hamilton’s gap to Alonso started to come down as the Ferrari again performed better at the end of the stint. Hamilton stopped on lap 50 and it was another slow stop for McLaren, he lost at least a second.

Hamilton responded by setting the fastest lap of the race to that point, keeping the gap down to below the crucial 15 second margin which Alonso would need to stop and rejoin ahead.

On lap 53 Alonso had a poor lap, 1.1 secs slower than Hamilton, which swung the balance back towards Hamilton. Vettel stayed out with Alonso.

With 15 laps to go, the thought occured that Alonso and Vettel might be one stopping. Hamilton had asked his team earlier in the second stint whether they were sure his rivals would be stopping again and they answered in the affirmative.

Hamilton was a second a lap faster than Alonso and Vettel as they missed the moment to make a stop.

There was some good racing between Rosberg, Massa, Perez, Webber and Raikkonen as the different levels of tyre degradation kicked in.

Hamilton reeled in Vettel and Alonso as it became clear that they were not going to stop again.

Hamilton caught Vettel and passed him easily on lap 63, then set off after Alonso.

Vettel pitted on lap 64, dropping behind Grosjean and Perez.

Hamilton passed Alonso for the race lead on lap 65 on much fresher tyres and with the DRS wing making overtaking very easy.

But Grosjean was now a threat to Alonso, lapping almost two seconds a lap faster than the Ferrari.

His tyres were only 2 laps younger than Alonso’s but he passed him easily, as Ferrari’s strategy gamble looked increasingly problematic.

On fresh tyres Vettel was pushing like mad and touched the wall on lap 68 but got away with it.

Perez passed Alonso on lap 68, despite also being on a one stop strategy. He had pitted on lap 41 for a set of supersofts and had pace at the end.

Vettel passed Alonso, demoting the leader at half distance to a 5th place finish.

The gentle action of the Lotus and the Sauber on the tyres had a significant effect as Grosjean and Perez also drove smoothly and fast to take the podiums at the end.

It was another disappointing race for Jenson Button, who finished 16th, a lap down on his team mate, having made three stops. He started the race in tenth place with the same tyres as Perez. With 45 points, he is now well adrift of Hamilton on 88 points.

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX, Montreal, 70 laps

1. Hamilton McLaren 1h32:29.586

2. Grosjean Lotus + 2.513

3. Perez Sauber + 5.260

4. Vettel Red Bull + 7.295

5. Alonso Ferrari + 13.411

6. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.842

7. Webber Red Bull + 15.085

8. Raikkonen Lotus + 15.567

9. Kobayashi Sauber + 24.432

10. Massa Ferrari + 25.272

11. Di Resta Force India + 37.693

12. Hulkenberg Force India + 46.236

13. Maldonado Williams + 47.052

14. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1:04.475

15. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1 lap

16. Button McLaren + 1 lap

17. Senna Williams + 1 lap

18. Kovalainen Caterham + 1 lap

19. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

20. Pic Marussia + 2 laps

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Red Bull left to lament 'tricky' race

It was a case of what might have been for Red Bull in Canada on Sunday as strategic errors saw Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber err.

Vettel was forced to settle for fourth spot after leading from the start until the first round of pit stops and then spending much of the remainder of the race behind Fernando Alonso in second.

However, with Vettel looking to go the distance on one set of tyres, Lewis Hamilton on a new set steamed by the duo, causing Red Bull to pit the German for a second time with only seven laps to go.

The second stop proved a damage limitation exercise for the team and Vettel was able to come home in fourth.

"It was a difficult race today," said Vettel. "We found ourselves in third place, quite far away from Lewis. He decided to box again, but Fernando and I took the decision to stay out. I felt pretty comfortable on the tyres and obviously we were hoping to get the place back, but as it turned out it was the right thing to go for the second stop.

"We decided a few laps from the end to do a pit stop - a stop here is not so long, about 15 seconds - and in the end it was the right decision. Before the stop we were three four seconds behind Fernando, but we ended up six seconds ahead of him. It was a good call considering what you can lose with only eight laps to go. It's easy now to analyse and know everything, but I think we learned a lot today."

Webber - who finished seventh - was also hampered by what proved a less than ideal strategy.

"I knew it was going to be mixed up today, but not that mixed up," he explained.

"In the first ten laps, we had a small issue with the engine which we had to manage, but then I settled into the pace. We pitted and came out behind the one stoppers. It's hard to get it right here - if you push to try and pass you kill the tyres but if you wait, then you find you're on the same strategy and finish behind them anyway.

"I think ultimately we were quick at times today and it's good that we finished in the points. With hindsight we could have done a different strategy, but it's easy to say that now and I've had worst days than today."

Having started the race in pole, a fourth place finish for Vettel is certainly not far from ideal, but team principal Christian Horner admitted that things could have been worse.

"A tactical race, a tricky race," he mused. "But nonetheless we have still managed to salvage respectable points today."

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Grosjean: Waiting game paid off

Romain Grosjean had a clever one-stop strategy and some nifty driving to thank for his second podium position of the season at the Canadian GP.

The fact that Grosjean was able to pit just once and remain out until the end - and with great pace too - says something of the Lotus' easy riding form, with the Frenchman getting 49 laps out of a set of soft tyres while the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull faltered with the same strategy.

Grosjean's Lotus team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, had spoken in the build-up to the race that the team would thrive in warmer conditions and this proved just the case.

With those around him either requiring a second stop or going backwards on worn out tyres, Grosjean steamed through the field to finish second in Montreal behind Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.

"We thought about going for one stop and seeing what happened," explained Grosjean.

"The car felt pretty good. I was in a battle with Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg for a long time but I didn't know what they were doing. When Webber came in, I didn't realise I was third but my tyres were quite fresh. Then suddenly I went past Fernando Alonso who was slowing, and I was second. It was a crazy race."

The 26-year-old paid tribute to the Enstone team's efforts.

"The team did a fantastic job in giving me a car that was good on its tyres. We knew with the heat today we would be better. It's fantastic," he added.

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Schumacher searches for positives

After suffering his fifth retirement of the season, Michael Schumacher was left scratching his head as to how things went wrong in Canada.

The German was forced to end his charge on Sunday when his DRS flap jammed. Initially, a mechanic unsuccessfully tried to bang the device back into place during a scheduled pit stop, but even when Schumacher returned to the pits on the next lap to have the problem fixed, the team were unable to get it to close.

"It's a mix of hydraulic and mechanical system and we need to understand what exactly the problem is," Schumacher told Sky Sports. "We had it in Bahrain; we're not yet clear whether it's the same problem, but we'll find out soon."

Schumacher insisted that no good could come from looking to assign blame for the incident.

"Of course it's disappointing for all of us but it's not a question of pointing fingers; stuff like this happens. I know the team are doing their best and that it probably hits them even harder than me. We'll be back on the attack in Valencia," he added later.

Despite this, team principal Ross Brawn apologised to his driver after the race.

"He suffered a hydraulic issue which left his DRS jammed open and it was not possible to fix it in race conditions," said Brawn. "I can only apologise to Michael for a further technical failure."

The former World Champion tried to take some positives from the race, pointing to team-mate Nico Rosberg's sixth spot as giving the team valuable points in the Constructors' race.

"Maybe the positive is that Nico can sort of drive and get the points for the team, so at least we're not completely lost and nowhere in the championship, but certainly for the boys on my car it's disappointing," he said.

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Ferrari: Always right with hindsight

Ferrari admit that in hindsight the decision not to pit Fernando Alonso in the latter stages of Sunday's Canadian GP was the wrong one.

Fighting with Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel for the victory in Montreal, Ferrari opted not to pit Alonso, instead hoping his second set of tyres - tjhe softs - could carry him through to the chequered flag.

McLaren, though, did pit Hamilton, dropping him over 14 seconds behind Alonso. With Hamilton fast approaching Red Bull called Vettel in, a move that initially raised eyebrows.

But as Hamilton came storming by Alonso and Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez, a very late one-stopper, Alonso fall off the podium. He was also overtaken by Vettel, finishing P5.

"With hindsight you're always right but today a podium would have not been possible," Ferrari said on Twitter.

"If ALO had pitted when VET did, maybe we would finish P4.

"Tyre degradation was the key today. It is the area where we have to look very carefully."

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Perez: 'From 15th to the podium unexpected'

Sergio Perez admits he wasn't expecting to finish on the podium in Canada after starting the race from 15th following a poor qualifying session on Saturday.

The Sauber driver successfully made a one-stop strategy work, whilst others, including Fernando Alonso, couldn't.

"To be honest, starting 15th the last thing you think about is to end up on the podium," said the Mexican.

"We went quite aggressive, the first stint was quite good, the stop very good, and the second stint very, very good."

Perez hailed the result a 'great boost' for the team after failing to score since his second place in Malaysia a handful of races ago.

"It's a great result for the team after such a bad day yesterday. We had a lot of troubles with the brakes, and today it's just great to finish on the podium, it's a great boost for the team.

"After Malaysia it is our second time we get into the points and our second podium - hopefully we can keep it this way."

[riazp]

Great race. Perfect race management by McLaren and great piece of driving by Hamilton. Very pleased with his win. Love hearing god save the queen played in montreal!

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CANADIAN GRAND PRIX 2012 - IN PICTURES:

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Jenson Button 'lost and confused' by complete lack of pace

Jenson Button says he hasn't got a clue how to rectify the grip problems he currently faces with his McLaren after finishing the Canadian Grand Prix a lap down in 16th position in what he called his 'worst race in many years'.

The 2009 world champion started the race on the harder of the Pirelli compounds but still had to pit before the cars around him using super-softs, having suffered from severe tyre degradation and an overall lack of grip.

Afterwards, the Australian Grand Prix winner described himself as "lost and confused" and admitted he had no idea whether he would be able to resolve the issues in time for the European Grand Prix at Valencia.

"I haven't got a clue what to do at the moment and every time we have good ideas we don't seem to make any progress," he said.

"I love driving an F1 car so I am confident every time I jump in and then after two laps there is no grip anywhere.

"Out of the front pack I was the slowest by a long way, and I am not two seconds a lap slower than Lewis [Hamilton]."

Button added that he didn't believe the problems stemmed from the Pirelli tyres directly, when asked whether the harder compounds on offer in Valencia could help him solve his problems, and pointed towards it being a set-up problem.

"It's not the tyres, it's definitely not a tyre issue. I'm the only person who can't drive the tyres? No, it is impossible."

"I have massive degradation and I stopped before most runners and I was on the prime tyre. Obviously the car with a certain set-up is very quick but what I was driving was not a winning car.

"It's been the same for the last couple of races and I don't know why because it is normally something I am pretty good at. I'm driving round 1.5 seconds slower than the leaders and one is my team-mate but I can't go any quicker."

[MIKA27]

RON DENNIS SHEDS LIGHT ON HAMILTON CONTRACT TALKS:

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about championship leader Lewis Hamilton’s next F1 contract, with his long term deal with McLaren due to expire at the end of this season.

Hamilton is now managed by Simon Fuller’s XIX entertainment group and clearly the next contract for Hamilton is an important one, both financially and in terms of his competitiveness.

Yesterday McLaren group chairman Ron Dennis shed some light on how they see it, in an interview on Sky,

“It’s a complex situation,” said Dennis. “He is on the end of a contract which was signed a at a time when the economy was somewhat different. Now there has to be a balance.

“He’s obviously going to look at what’s available, where could he go. We’re going to look at who’s available. At the end of the day, hopefully the fact that he’s been part of this team from the beginning of his career will play a significant role in whatever decisions both sides make. But it’s a little early to be talking about it.

“He’s very highly paid,” Dennis added, “He’s certainly paid more than I am.”

Hamilton signed on to race for McLaren in 2007 and after a stunning debut season he inked a longer contract to the end of 2012. The world economy was indeed in a boom at the time and McLaren also had Mercedes Benz as a partner and shareholder.

Since then the global financial crisis and the departure of Mercedes as a shareholder in 2009 means that McLaren is in a different place.

Although it is set to receive a boost to its share of income from the commercial rights of the sport, with the agreement it made with FOM in March, McLaren clearly feel that they are in a reasonable position in this contract negotiation round.

Hamilton’s options are Mercedes, who must be looking carefully at him as a replacement for Michael Schumacher and, perhaps less likely, Red Bull, where his presence would electrify things on a marketing level, but would be considered by the racers in the team to be potentially destabilising with Sebastian Vettel. However if they feel that there is a realistic chance of losing Vettel to Ferrari in 2014, then they may move for Hamilton.

Dennis and McLaren F1 team boss Martin Whitmarsh have enormous experience of these kinds of negotiations. Anyone who went through several negotiating rounds with Senna in particular, will have been to hell and back in trying to get the best deal for the team.

One solution may be for Hamilton to be allowed to have his own sponsors, something the team has been reluctant to do since Ayrton Senna had Nacional bank on his overalls and cap.

Hamilton’s win yesterday was his 18th in 97 starts. According to GP Guide.com he has an 18.56% win ratio and a 47.4% podium/starts ratio.

[MIKA27]

HOW THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX GOT AWAY FROM ALONSO AND VETTEL:

The Canadian Grand Prix was always set to be a close finish because of the nature of the track, the options for race strategy and the effectiveness of the DRS rear wing for overtaking.

And the data shows that the performance of the McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari on race day was remarkably close, perhaps only a tenth or two of a second in it. The difference was tyre management and, more importantly, strategy.

Post race, Red Bull and Ferrari have been accused of making strategy errors which cost the race, but is it true?

Here is our customary in depth analysis of how – and why – the big decisions got taken, with input and data from some of the decision makers.

The race had three leaders, any one of whom could have won: pole sitter Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, Fernando Alonso led with seven laps to go and finished 5th, while Lewis Hamilton was the only driver to make a 2 stop strategy really work and he won.

Background

The danger with doing one stop in Montreal is that, although you are in front of a two stopper when he comes out from his second stop, he's on fresh tyres and with the DRS wing he will find it easy to pass you. However with a 71% chance of a safety car, which would swing the race to the one stoppers, it can be worth a gamble for midfield runners looking to make up places.

To gamble from the front row of the grid, however is a different matter.

Practice on Friday had shown the teams that the tyre degradation was not a problem and that it would be possible to do one stop effectively, even if it would mean a fair amount of nursing the tyres. However McLaren were convinced that they needed to do two stops, so it would be an attacking race for Lewis Hamilton. They believed that a two stop would be around 10 seconds faster than a one stop.

McLaren only really had one car running on Friday, as Jenson Button lost most of the day to an and oil leak and double gearbox change. Meanwhile Ferrari didn't really do any long running, the longest run was a 12 lap stint by Massa, but this was punctuated by slow laps. And this may well have contributed to what happened on Sunday.

But the track temperature on race day was 15 degrees hotter than Friday and going into the race even teams who had plenty of data on the long run performance of the tyres could not be sure that one stop would turn out better. The only way to find out would be to try it and to monitor the heat degradation, because when it comes in with these Pirelli tyres it is very sudden and the lap times drop off straight away.

The rear tyres were the limitation, and the soft tyre looked like the preferred race tyre.

How the race got away from Alonso and Vettel and went towards Hamilton

The leaders got away in grid order with Vettel leading Hamilton and Alonso. But at the first round of stops, where they all switched from used supersofts to new softs the order changed: Vettel pitted first on lap 16, Hamilton on lap 17 and Alonso on lap 19. Hamilton jumped Vettel in the stops and Alonso jumped both of them. But it took Alonso's Ferrari time to warm up the tyres and Hamilton attacked and repassed him for the lead.

So for the second stint the order was Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel. At this point all three had the option to stop again.

Only Hamilton knew for sure that he would be doing that and so, with clear air ahead of him, he kept pushing. He opened out a gap of four seconds on Alonso and maintained it. For Alonso and Vettel the problem was not knowing how hard to push, as they didn't want to find themselves one stopping and have the tyres go off at the end, but equally they didn't want to do too little and find at the end that the tyres still had plenty to offer.

Decision time

Hamilton noticed that the other two were not staying with him and asked his team if they were certain that Alonso and Vettel were not one-stopping. The team reassured him. This confirmed to Red Bull and Ferrari that Hamilton was stopping again and they will have recalculated their race model based on this information. It will have shown them ahead of him after his second stop, but the unknown was still the tyre degradation on this warm day.

In the laps leading up to Hamilton's stop, Alonso's pace was consistent; in the high 1m 17s and low 1m 18s. Vettel's was a few tenths slower and he sat 3 seconds behind Alonso.

When Hamilton pitted on lap 50 Ferrari and Red Bull had a decision to make. Should they react and pit too? In Vettel's case he would not have got ahead of Hamilton by doing that, but he may have got Alonso.

Ferrari's decision was more finely balanced. As he came down the back straight, Alonso had a lead of 14.8 seconds over Hamilton, about the time it takes to make a four second pitstop. With Ferrari's strong pit stop performance there was every reason to believe that Alonso would be at least side by side with Hamilton as he exited the pits, but more likely just ahead. However they knew from the first stops that Hamilton might be able to pass them again as they struggled to warm the tyres.

But they were concerned about Vettel too. So they did not pit Alonso on lap 51. But they had perhaps also taken their eye off the other cars coming through from behind, especially Grosjean.

At this stage Alonso could have pitted and rejoined ahead of Grosjean, consolidating his position. However they had some time to reflect, because even if they were to pit and come out behind Grosjean, the Ferrari on fresh tyres and with DRS would have no problem passing the Lotus on worn tyres.

The longer they and Red Bull left it, the more other cars came into the picture, like Perez, who's signature strategy seems to be to get to the flag quickly on one stop. So even a delayed pitstop in the laps after Hamilton's would still have given both Alonso and Vettel a podium, but they didn't do that either.

This is one of those situations where it is easy to say with hindsight that they made a mistake. Ferrari argues that they thought they would get similar tyre performance to Lotus and Sauber and make a one stop work.

However what puzzles rival strategists is that by the decisive moment around lap 51/52, the other Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's tyres were 40 laps old and already showing signs of going off. Perhaps Ferrari estimated that Alonso would have better wear, but they were looking to get 51 laps out of Alonso's tyres, ten more than Massa had done to that point.

So it's hard to see where their confidence to stick with one stop came from.

Even as late as lap 60, when Grosjean was just 10 seconds behind Alonso, the models showed that Ferrari could have pitted Alonso, who would have rejoined 5 seconds behind the Frenchman and on fresh tyres Alonso would have been able to pass him in the 10 remaining laps, as Vettel did with Alonso when Red Bull realised their mistake and belatedly brought Vettel in with seven laps to go.

Lessons from Canada

Grosjean's result shows that the Lotus has the potential at times to do one stop less than some of its rivals and still be competitive. It's weakness lies in single lap qualifying pace; if Grosjean or Raikkonen could start in the front five, ahead of Rosberg for example, then they could really make their tyre advantage pay.

Perez' excellent podium again highlights his ability to keep the pace up while also protecting the tyres. It must be a combination of many details in his driving, that he has brought with him into F1, because Kobayashi in the other car can rarely stretch the tyres out in the same way.

Perhaps more worryingly, this was the second race which could be done by cruising around on a one stop strategy and although the climax was exciting due to Hamilton's strategy, the majority of the race was quite dull and processional.

These cars and tyres work best in two or three stop races, where the drivers are able to have periods when they can push more.

Tyre Choices, Canadian GP

SS= Supersoft; S= Soft: N= New; U= Used, DT= Drive through penalty; (17) = Pit Stop lap

Hamilton SSU SN(17) SN(50)

Grosjean SSU SU(21)

Perez SN SSN(41)

Vettel SSU SN(16) SSU(63)

Alonso SSU SU(19)

Rosberg SSU SN(19) SU(38)

Webber SSU SN(17) SN(52)

Raikkonen SN SSU(40)

Kobayashi SSN SN(24) SN(25)

Massa SSU SN(12) SSU(58)

Di Resta SSU SN(13) SN(44)

Hulkenberg SN SSN(21) SN(42)

Maldonado SN SSN(29)

Ricciardo SSU SN(17) SSN (58)

Vergne SSN SN(16) SN (43) DT (47)

Button SU SSU(15) SSU(33) SN(52)

Senna SSU SN(23)

Kovalainen SS SN(17) SN(42)

Petrov SSN SN (18) SN(43)

Pic SSN SN (28)

RACE HISTORY, Supplied by Williams F1 Team

[MIKA27]

MONTEZEMOLO CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION ON F1'S COSTS:

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has issued an call for F1 teams, the FIA and the governing body to come together urgently to resolve the issue of costs in the sport.

With Europe teetering on the verge of a major financial crisis as the Euro is threatened by the Spanish debt situation, Montezemolo argues that the sport can no longer talk around the subject, but must put a plan in place.

The failure to agree an extended Resource Restriction Agreement was the reason why FOTA fell apart last Christmas when Ferrari and Red Bull withdrew taking Toro Rosso and Sauber with them. The RRA served a purpose up to a point, but was fraught with problems as the big teams all found ways around it, particularly in the last 18 months.

It has been a subject on the agenda ever since the break-up, but now with many of the teams feeling the pinch and some target companies holding back on sponsorship deals due to uncertainty over the economy, the situation is acute.

With the June 30 deadline looming to bring in a new FIA regulated plan in time for the 2013 season, the Ferrari boss says that all parties need to act now in the interests of the sport.

“The world economic situation and that of Europe in particular, is very serious and the world of Formula 1 cannot ignore the fact,” he said on Ferrari.com today.

“We cannot lose any more time: we need to tackle urgently and with determination the question of costs. Ferrari is in agreement with the FIA’s position that drastic intervention is required.

“We are absolutely convinced that, as I have always said, the teams and the commercial rights holder must work together with the Federation on this front. This is no longer the moment for getting bogged down in sterile discussions or the meanderings of engineers, usually only concerned in defending the interests of someone or other: the question has to be tackled at the highest level, without further delay.”

The smaller teams argue that a cost cap is the only effective solution; teams would be given a budget limit, controlled by the FIA, but they could spend the money however they want. Drivers, marketing and engines would probably have to sit outside of it.

At the same time, the subject of the cost of the 2014 engines is also on people’s minds, with some factions within the sport keen to see introduction of the new generation 2014 engines delayed.

As with all new technology there is significant development cost and although the two main engine manufacturers in F1, Renault and Mercedes, want to go with the new generation engines, there are plenty of people, led by Bernie Ecclestone, who don’t.

The fear is that the cost will be passed on to customers and that will be prohibitive for smaller teams.

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug admitted that there would be up front costs for teams, “It’s a bit premature to give a figure, but we should realise where we are coming from. The engines cost twice as much 10 years ago as they do right now and that’s due to the hard work of the manufacturers in the first place. It’s absolutely clear that if you introduce a new engine it will cost more in the beginning,” he said at the weekend.

“What we should do is consider a five-year period where the target is close to current spending levels and I think that’s achievable.”

Watch out for quite a bit of behind the scenes action on costs in the next two weeks as that June 30 deadline approaches.

[MIKA27]

Schumacher stands by his team

Despite a run of technical failures, Michael Schumacher remains committed to Merc GP and retains the utmost faith in the team.

Schumacher suffered his fifth retirement of the season in Canada on Sunday when he was forced to pull out of the race after his DRS flap became jammed in the open position.

The German has had problems from the word go this season, suffering gearbox failure at the season-opening Australian GP. Two races later in China, an error by a mechanic saw Schumacher's wheel come loose following a pit stop, again forcing a retirement.

A collision with Bruno Senna put pay to his race in Barcelona before falling fuel pressure saw him retire in Monaco.

Many have been critical about Mercedes' apparent inability to provide Schumacher with a competitive car, but even after the fiasco in Montreal, the former World Champion backs his team, insisting such problems are part of racing.

"I wanted to emphasise once again that Formula 1 cars are prototype vehicles and hundreds of components are made specially for them. For me, it's completely understandable that things can go wrong from time to time," Schumacher wrote on hisofficial website.

"Of course it was a disappointing outcome in Montreal. But I won't lose my nerve or my faith in the team. I still believe that we will achieve something special together with Mercedes.

"There is no reason to blame anyone - unfortunate circumstances like these are part of motor racing. Indeed, I'm certain it's even tougher for the guys in the team. That's why I sat down with my race engineers immediately after my retirement, to discuss how we should approach the time before the next race and to make sure we stay in close contact over the coming days.

"Perhaps the only small advantage from the situation was that I managed to beat the traffic to get to the airport. I had already planned to fly back to my family as soon as possible after the race, so at least I was able to get away from the circuit just before the chequered flag was waved."

MIKA: I'm one of those who are unhappy with Mercedes!

I am getting tired hearing from Brawn on how they need to back Schumacher and provide him a good car, reliable and fast yet time after time albeit 1 race, it has been a mechanical fault. They want to sign MSC for another year, maybe MSC won't becuase of this? I am sure it's hard enough to get into racing after retirement to a degree, but clearly the guy has form and speed but needs a decent car. This season sees a very good Mercedes such as Nicos, I just wish they can offer MSC a reliable car. Get a new crew of mechanics!?

The same issue plagued Kimi back when he was at McLaren in his last season where he had a super fast car but he ended up losing the WDC which was clearly his because of reliability issues.

[MIKA27]

Haug: Affordable V6s not impossible:

Mercedes Motorsport chief Norbert Haug believes that F1 can move to 'greener' V6 turbo engines at a reasonable cost if the plan is phased in.

From 2014, teams will be expected to make use of the V6 engines and there are fears that the V6 will cost almost double what the current engines cost to produce. If this is the case, smaller teams may find it no longer financially viable to take part in the sport.

However, Haug feels that if the plan to use V6s is phased in over a five-year period than the problem will not be so great.

"It's a bit premature to give a figure," Haug is quoted as saying by grandprix.com. "But we should realise where we are coming from. The engines cost twice as much 10 years ago as they do right now and that's due to the hard work of the manufacturers in the first place. It's absolutely clear that if you introduce a new engine it will cost more in the beginning.

"What we should do is consider a five-year period where the target is close to current spending levels and I think that's achievable."

Haug's comments come at a time when doubts remain whether V6s will indeed be introduced in 2014. They were initially meant to come into play next year but the move was pushed out by a further season and it is possible that move could be further delayed.

[MIKA27]

Senna wins prestigious award

Bruno Senna will receive the 2012 Lorenzo Bandini Trophy, it was announced on Tuesday. The Williams driver will receive the award following a ceremony at Brisighella in central Italy on 15 July.

First awarded in 1992, the trophy is presented to a driver who has made a promising start to his career. It is named in memory of Italian driver Lorenzo Bandini, who tragically died following the Monaco Grand Prix in 1967.

Previous winners of the award include former World Champions Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Räikkönen, as well as current champion Sebastian Vettel.

"It's a great honour to receive the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy, particularly when you consider the excellent racing drivers that have been awarded it in the past," said Senna.

"I would like to thank the people of Brisighella for their kind support and generosity as well as all of those who have helped me in my career so far," added the 28-year-old nephew of legendary racer Ayrton Senna.

Traditionally the winner would drive the 12kms from Faenza to Brisighelal to reach the venue of the ceremony, using public roads where fans will gather to celebrate.

"I'm very much looking forward to the prize giving ceremony next month, which promises to be a great event," he concluded.

[MIKA27]

Pirelli hints at five compounds in 2013

Pirelli's Paul Hembery has hinted at the possibility of introducing a fifth compound in 2013.

The Italian company currently supplies four slick compounds - super soft, soft, medium and hard - but only two are available at each grand prix and both must be used.

Hembery believes a fifth compound, therefore giving them greater choice when it comes to deciding which two to use on a race weekend, would allow them greater flexibility.

"We want to make some changes, probably structurally to the tyre and possibly to the compounds, maybe a qualifying tyre," Hembery told FM103.3.

"Maybe even ask if we can have a few more compounds so that we can maybe adapt our show to each circuit a little bit better. Four compounds for 20 circuits is a tough challenge."

Pirelli's current test driver Jaime Alguersuari agrees, and suggests maybe three tyres could be allocated to a race weekend with the third being optional.

"It could be (optional)," he said. "Nothing has yet been confirmed because we still have so many things to test. We have already done one test and we have some good conclusions, but there are a lot of things to follow, a lot of things we must continue to work on.

"We will make our opinions for next year. And for me it's great because it gives me the chance to know a product that no else knows. For me, that's fantastic."