Seagulls and poop: The 2016 Canadian GP

Hamilton drove like a champ, Vettel drove like a champ.

People will criticize Ferrari but everyone is a genius afterwards.  I'm not sure the Ferrari would have been a match for the Mercedes, not with those long DRS zones, so it was correct to gamble,

Rosberg is in contract negotiation and once again Hamilton made him his dog.  I guess he will never learn.

Max Verstappen destroyed Ricciardo today and his defense against Rosberg is just preview of things to come from the Dutchman.

That's about all there is to say about the Canadian GP,  much more entertaining was the Hamilton Vettel comedy show after the race,  the main topic?   Seagulls!

Hamilton lifts and coasts his way to victory in Canada.

Photos: Jim Hunter

Formula 1 succeeded in  turning what has historically been an exciting and entertaining race, the Canadian GP,  into one of the dullest races of the season so far.



Saving fuel was something World Endurance Racing used to do back when it was boring, even they have figured that out.   If the WEC did sprint races fans would abandon F1 in droves at th is point.    As it is,  we're told there were less stands erected on the Ile de Notre Dame this year.

Rosberg said afterwards he "pushed like mad" which is at odds with radio messages from his engineers telling him to save fuel and brakes every time he got anywhere near DRS range of Hamilton.   Rosberg seems way too passive accepting his fate.

amazing fans in montreal. Merci! wasn’t a perfect weekend for me. here is my video for you. #CanadianGP https://t.co/wzhvOlZ9zo

— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) June 8, 2015

then there was this:



What's wrong with a fuel gauge and why is one driver allowed to get information on his teammate but not the other way around?

Bah.

The only entertainment today came courtesy of Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel both starting from the back after having mechanical issues in qualifying.

Vettel's race, 18th to 5th without the aide of a safety car,  was especially impressive.    We'll never know if he,  had he stated third, might have put enough pressure on the Mercedes duo to push them over the fuel consumption / brake wear limits.

Raikkonen was certainly not able to.  It's likely his carbon copy of 2014 spin on his out lap was caused by some odd engine behavior but then again, Kimi is being paid big money for his skills.  
I can understand his frustration but did he need to fry his rear tires once he spun? National Donut Day was Friday, not Sunday.
No wonder he could not catch the Finn who will replace him at Ferrari next year....



The comedian award of the race has to go to Romain Grosjean:



And then there's Mclaren-Honda

One day we might learn the truth about the McHonda spectacular failure of 2015 and Alonso, one of the most talented and worst managed driver in F1 history, wanted that bicycle and now he's got to pedal it but you have to feel for him, his frustration perfectly encapsulates that of many fans with this current Formula.



So Ferrari is the best hope for F1 redemption in Austria, nothing necessarily against Mercedes but it sure is boring watching those two not really race each other.

#DriverExcuses

"I had a big shunt"

Was the radio call from Sauber's Felipe Nasr after crashing his car on Casino Straight in Montreal during Saturday's practice session.

"The tires were way too cold"

Crashing while warming your tires happened more often than you'd think (just ask CG! ) and Nasr followed the prescribed procedure for all racing drivers: Always blame the car first.

...until you get busted that is which, in Felipe's case, was about 12 seconds later when everyone realized he was warming tires at speed with the DRS open.

Clearly, the tires were way too cold!

Surfing, F1 style...

F1 surf board exposed

Lewis Hamilton surfed a wave of water as he went off into the Turn 10 runoff area in Montreal.

Hamilton was leading the second practice session, about 3/10th from Vettel and Raikkonen when rain came.  Mercedes sent both its drivers out on intermediate tires.  Hamilton could not complete a lap.

When you or I experience aquaplaning, it's because water fills the grooves in our tires with enough pressure to lift the contact patch.

Hamilton's  W06 instead,  was literally riding the wave of water which build up underneath the leading edge of its bottom plank and lifted the whole front end off the ground.



No major damage for Hamilton but one wonders, on a circuit everyone knows floods quickly, why did Mercedes engineers send him out with such a low setup?

Checking computers rather than looking out the window again?

Canadian GP Executive Summary

It was set to be another boring race, with just the battle of the unicyclists to hold our interest and then....

Please excuse the delay on this, I was unavoidably detained in Montreal,  a long story, with a happy ending thankfully (...oh, stop it!) .

In any case, all's been said by now so just some quick thoughts:

Lewis may be back to the beginning but he's better off than he was after Australia.


Rosberg did a masterful job nursing the car to the end.  Epic drive.

Hamilton cooked the brakes, Rosberg did not, would love to know how that was.

It was correct not to penalize Rosberg for the first chicane cut:  Lewis was not close enough to pass there or in the second DRS zone that lap.

Is anyone not super happy Ricciardo won?  I think even Vettel was happy.

That said, Mercs had a 25 second advantage before their engines started acting up.

and that also said, I'm not sure they really lost 160hp and most of their brakes and were still able to lap with the pack...

We were at the race in the stands opposite the braking zone for turn 2.   TV pictures do not do justice to Ricciardo's pass on Perez:  There was not one person on those stands who though it would end well.  It was amazing.



TV pictures also do not do justice to the violence of the the impacts of Massa and Perez's cars.   The fact that the engines are quiet made the crash even more dramatic as you could hear every screech, scrape and thud.

The stewards were NOT correct in assigning the blame completely to Perez.  Every pass made in turn two was done on the outside, not the inside.  Massa, Alonso, Ricciardo they all passed on the outside.    Perez did brake visibly early but Massa was maybe a bit too eager to make that low percentage move and misjudged it.  Racing incident.
Shame for Perez who put in a spectacular drive on a one stopper. Shame for Massa who never gets a break, ever!

Someone has to figure out why Ferrari is so inconsistent,  in the final portion of the race both Alonso and Raikkonen were putting in the same lap times as the leaders but what's the point if you are so far back by then?

Jenson Button is the master of Montreal opportunist!

The sound you ask?  Yeah, they sound like interstellar lawn mowers.   It is what it is, the problems with these F1s is not the sound,  the problem is that they are non linear and that they can only be pushed for a lap or two,   Honestly the sound is the last thing wrong with them, it's actually OK not to have your ears bleed,  what's not OK is to be bored.

Lucky for us in Canada, Mercedes' issues were our gain.

Enjoy the Executive summary!

Ferrari Challenge Montreal

A great week end of racing for CG and Axis in Montreal.

Two second place finishes, two fast laps and two survived brushes with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's infamous Wall of Champions!

Both races were won by Ricardo Perez, F1's Sergio Perez's cousin and an experienced touring car racer in his native Mexico, with CG glued to his bumper.

Montreal, 7 June – The drivers of the North American Ferrari Challenge, fueled by the glamorous and exciting Formula One backdrop, put on a true racing spectacle in the fourth race of the 2014 season.
In the first leg of the two classes, there was some hard racing all the way to the flag. Damon Ockey (Ferrari of Ontario) started in pole, and tried to defend his position from the attack of Ricardo Perez (Ferrari of Houston) who finished first despite several attempts to overtake him by Carlos Gomez (Ferrari of San Francisco). In the end, the Trofeo Pirelli podium was completed by Emmanuel Anassis (Ferrari of Quebec).
Of the Coppa Shell drivers, the victory went to Chris Ruud (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who led from the start all the way to the finish line. James Weiland (Ferrari of San Francisco) maintained his position as well, arriving in second place. Robert Herjavec (Ferrari of Ontario) moved swiftly ahead of the pack and finished third.
The second and final race of the Ferrari Challenge weekend will take place tomorrow morning at 11:15 AM and will precede the official 2014 Formula One Grand Prix of Canada which will start at 2 PM.

Race 2 saw a hefty shunt when Chris Ruud and Ugo Colombo tangled exactly where Massa and Perez would later in the day.   Colombo walked away from the 150 mph hit, a testament to Ferrari engineering and safety design of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Montreal, 8 June – A glorious Ferrari weekend continued today with the second Ferrari Challenge race taking place just hours before the official start of the 2014 Formula One Grand Prix of Canada. The Trofeo Prielli and Coppa Shell drivers prepared the ground this exciting race Sunday morning.
In the Trofeo Pirelli class, Ricardo Perez (Ferrari of Houston) maintained his ground, fiercely battling for his first place win against Carlos Gomez (Ferrari of San Francisco) who finished second with the fastest lap time in today’s race. Damon Ockey came in third after a daring overtake in the first turn of the race, competing against his Ferrari of Ontario teammate, Marc Muzzo, to ultimately take the podium.
Robert Herjavec (Ferrari of Ontario) was all smiles as he finished on top of the podium today, taking victory in the Coppa Shell class. Herjavec took the lead from Chris Ruud (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) after a collision with Ugo Colombo (The Collection) at the end of the straightaway. However, Ruud was able to maintain his podium standing, finishing behind his teammate, Jon Becker, for a third place finish.
The fifth round of the North American series of the Ferrari Challenge will stay in Canada to take place at Mont Tremblant in Quebec on June 27-29.

Postcards from Montreal

Not a good Saturday for Ferrari, especially for Kimi and barring alien intervention it will be a very long Sunday too.

On the other hand CG did very well in the Ferrari Challenge race coming second overall despite one of his competitors out braking himself, cutting through the Senna essex and not giving the position back.   CG also collected the fastest race lap by a good margin.

Race two Sunday morning will have the Axis car starting on the front row with a clear shot at turn 2.

How to Ricky Bobby a 458 Challenge around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Set aside for a moment that this report was redacted by one 'Mike Honcho",   there's a lot of great information from the team coach in this handout CG got before his first Ferrari Challenge race in Montreal, two years ago.   (Names of the drivers have been redacted to protect the innocent...)

All data geeks and driver coaches will love this!

2012 MON Pre Race Report Blanked1

Do you believe in a Canadian peace?

We've been friends a long time&as friends we have our ups&downs. Today we spoke&we're cool, still friends #noproblem pic.twitter.com/xhZlf4qMv9
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) May 30, 2014

Do you buy it?     Not a chance.   I'll get the usual flack from the Lewisistas but it's fairly clear that motivation behind that tweet owes more to bad press Hamilton has received in the last 10 days since Monaco than any new found détente.    If his behavior after the race could most charitably be described as petulant,  his comparing himself (once again) to Senna was  just plain ridiculous and Lewis got a global hammering for it.


It will be interesting to see if Lewis can thrive in this high tension situation he's creating for himself.  Everyone is sure he will dominate in Montreal, it's "his" track, he's won there three times and more than any other driver currently racing.   But here's the kicker: if Rosberg manages to to beat him, it will be a big psychological blow and maybe the turning point of the season.

That said,  it will take something unusual to stop Hamilton.

As for everyone not in a Mercedes,   despite what they might say publicly, for many it's time evaluate if to let 2014 drop and concentrate efforts on 2015.  That really means Ferrari and Red Bull.  Mclaren is probably doing that already and other teams are probably just doing what they can to stay afloat.

It's rumored Ferrari will bring a significant engine power boost via software,  that the core of the problem with their engines is that they were too conservative and worried too much about reliability (which has been good so far).    We'll see.

As for Renault, the big concern is Red Bull  running out of components:  As of Monaco Vettel had used 3 Internal Combustion Engines out of the 5 allowed,  3 Turbos, 3 MGU-K, 3 MGU-H and 4 control electronics PSU.   There are 13 races to go so the math is not in favor of the German.

Hopefully tires will play a role mixing up the cards a bit and the race will not be a procession.

Vettel Gives The Finger In Canada

Sebastian Vettel dominates the 2013 Canadian GP in true old school Schumacher style.

RedBull Photo

Vettel lapping everyone up to sixth position did not make for the most entertaining race,  it was a real crushing performance from the first corner for Red Bull in Canada.

Meet the Axis of Oversteer Ferrari 458 Challenge.

Yup, it's wicked.

The Axis of Oversteer / Capital Managers Ferrari 458 Challenge will make its debut this week end in Montreal, competing in the Ferrari Challenge support races, Saturday and Sunday.   At the helm around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will be our own Carlos Gomez, aka CG, making his second appearance at the Canadian track.

Wrapped in chrome and dayglo orange, I don't think anyone will have trouble spotting this 458 either from the stands or in their rear view mirrors.   Many times in single make series, liveries can be a tad dull,  we think we don't have that problem with this one!

If you are going to be at the track, cheer for the Axis car and please do send us pictures!

Below is Carlos last year in Montreal,  he had to start last on the grid and finished 5th overall.

Ferrari Challenge Montreal: The Epic Week End.

It was an epic, epic week end for Team Axis in Montreal as CG raced in both IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup and Ferrari Challenge before the Formula One paddock, a tracktard's dream.

Exclusively for you Axis readers, we have onboard pictures from the Sunday Challenge race. Read Carlos' story and catch part 2 of the race after the jump. 

Along with Montecarlo, Montreal is my favorite venue for an F1 race. A track in a beautiful setting, close to a walk-around friendly city makes the whole experience better (and definitively wife approved, so you get an eager companion for the race weekend)

A year ago, the 2011 F1 weekend in Montreal was the very first race in my then brand new Porsche GT3 Cup but the big monsoon we got that day left me wanting a good dry race for 2012 in that non-ABS beast.

I have always been curious about racing Ferrari Challenge, especially since the 430 Scuderia has been my favorite and the best street/track car I've owned. I do love the midengine platform as I have tracked and raced mid engine cars (Lotus Elise, Exige S, Cayman S) for the last 8 years, which is a lot longer than what I've been racing Porsche 911s.

Lucky for me, one of my NGT Motorsports teammates who now races Ferrari Challenge, could not make the Canadian races this year so, one last minute phone call to him and another to Scuderia Corsa and we were all set to race in Montreal.  Ferrari Challenge is sanctioned by GrandAm so my having a Rolex GT license from the Daytona 24 eased everything.

Ferrari, being an active Formula One player gets two races during the F1 weekend while our IMSA Porsche schedule gets restricted to only one so, despite a bit of overlap and the need for some quick car changes it was very feasible to race both series on the same week end.

Had to show up as early as Thursday for the mandatory Ferrari PR events. All dressed up in our official driver suits (provided by Ferrari) we went to the start finish line to have our picture taken with the F1 team. Alonso, Massa, Domenicali and Marco Mattiacci, head of Ferrari N.A. were there with us and a had chance to chat briefly. Coolness factor so far: 110%!

Back to civilian clothes for a track walk with Ferrari driver's coach Didier Thyes. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is relatively simple to learn. It's a sequence of three basic chicanes where the trick is to get on the power early on exit, two left - right complexes that require a lot of patience on exit of the second part (Turn 2 for example), One slow hairpin (probably slowest corner on any track I've raced on) and just one fast corner that requires commitment and throttle modulation (Turn 5).

Casino de Montreal

I can't figure out why I've been cool towards F1 recently,  after all, seven winners in seven races,  that's special.   Perhaps because once again after Monaco we had another objectively dull race.   Sure Hamilton fans will be jumping up and down and I don't mean to take away from his drive which was  great but, reality is that most passes were in the DRS zone or in the pits.
I simply don't find that exciting any more.

Couple with a nagging feeling tires are a lottery, that there is an an element of luck in getting a consistent set of PZeros  on any given race day.  

Having  said that, kudos to Hamilton who drove the right strategy to perfection despite more pit stop shakiness.

Epic fail from Ferrari who cannot hide behind performance excuses for the newly developed F2012 any more.  Not after Massa qualified sixth and was moving up, like the old Massa until the new Felipe (or should I say, the new Button) returned.

Why Ferrari would be covering Vettel  behind rather then Hamilton in front remains a mystery.  Why when the writing was on the wall they did not stop,  even more.  Alonso may come away from Canada only two points behind Hamilton but  that may be the championship right there.  Strategy seems to be Ferrari's weak point right now.

Ferrari's wasn't the only epic fail of the day, Button, Webber, Mercedes.

Mixed feelings aside, being at the track in Montreal was great  (and a full report on the Axis CG epic week end in Ferrari Challenge and Porsche GT3 Cup is coming...) ,  sure you miss a lot in the chaos but you also get  things you just miss on TV.

A good example is sound and how exhaust notes change though out a week end.  In qualifying the Renault engined cars, Red Bull in particular, had a clear honking resonance as they accelerated out of turn 2 and a buzzing sound on the overrun.   These were absent in the race.

I put the question to someone who would know and they confirmed that indeed RBR used different maps in qualifying and for the race, different ones at different stages of the race too (and not always the correct one at the correct time).  This of course, all in an effort to preserve tires.  Think of it as traction control through engine mapping.  I never did get a good explanation about the buzz on the overrun though....

Also with some access to the pit you  catch small details you never would otherwise.   Ferrari's Pit signal board box contains the names of all the 2012 runners and one more,  Robert Kubica.

And all of a sudden your faith in the humanity of Formula 1 is restored.

Please comment on Ferrari's strategy or your view on the championship so far,  love to hear from you guys.

Canadian GP Preview

Photo: Victor Burnett

You have to feel web sites devoted exclusively to F1 in the past two weeks, there really has been very little to fill pages. What news has been out there has been, at best, thin: Luca Montezuma says Ferrari must win, Hamilton says he should win, web sites guess drivers salaries following an obvious tip from Red Bull trying to counter their image as the spendiest team.

2 accidents, 2 flat tires, 5 pit stops, 1 penalty FTW!

OK, OK... here it is. Seriously if these GPs keep having so much action I'll have to stop making these, too much work, this one is close to ten minutes!

As the Canadian GP was so long (and we got so soaked in the stands) I'll keep the comments short:

Great race, tainted a bit in my view by the safety car start. It was barely raining as the race started and the excuse that teams were not familiar with the Pirelli rains was just sad. Hey, If AxisCG could go out in the rain, never having driven on Yokohama wets, you mean to tell me the worl's best drivers in the world's most sophisticated cars cannot handle it...pppft.
It was a completely unfair advantage to Vettel and Red Bull. Lame

Button, crowd favorite, nice to the Jense the Gent (or anyone for that matter) get such a great win. Yeah he had some luck but the trick was to keep your cool and Button was an icicle in Montreal. Fantastic race.

Vettel, well, he chocked didn't he? it was just one mistake but a costly one. Inevitably people might question how Vettel handles pressure on track.

Hamilton: don't want to dwell too much, but he drove yet another brainless race with too many people afterwards falling all over themselves to find excuses for the dolt. His bump into Webber was the stuff of first year rookies and the collision with Button completely illogical given the conditions and the racing line (check out the last lap pass Massa made on Kobayashi on the outside of the kink, he made it, but he never made turn 1, same thing would have happened to Hamilton). Yawn.

Alonso: penalyfed by the SC start, Ferrari blew it when they came in for inters seconds before a downpour. Collision with Button was just one of those things, Alonso gave him some room, Button could not turn in any tighter. Racing incident.

Schumacher: the magic was back but the car was not. Respect for Webber, another true gent, who said in a post race interview that he passed "grandpa" because "he does not have the car I do"... You're the man @aussiegrit !

Kobayashi: he's crashed a lot less than Hamilton of late. Has gotten to a point where people know he's going to go for anything vaguely possible, just ask Massa who conceded turn 1 to Kamui. That is a fantastic card for him if he's smart about it.

Feel free to discuss... clip after the jump

Axis of Oversteer scores top ten finish in Montreal

Carlos Gomez (Bogotá, Colombia) driving the Axis of Oversteer/Capital Managers 2011 Porsche GT3 Cup, scored a fantastic sixth place finish at the IMSA GT3 Challenge by Yokohama race in Montreal. The race marked the first time IMSA GT3 Challenge has returned as support to the Formula 1 Canadian GP since 2008.

Gomez, on his first visit to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and in his first race with a Porsche GT3 Cup, started the race in P9 and survived an incident filled wet race to finish in 6th place. A remarkable performance, especially considering he had had no wet weather testing at all before the race, the first time he drove the car in the rain was on his out lap before the start!

The Axis of Oversteer GT3 Cup was expertly prepared by Spencer Cox of SpeedSport Tuning and supported by the mighty TRG team.

The next appointment for Carlos and the Axis of Oversteer Porsche will be at Lime Rock Park on July 9th in support of the American LeMans Series race. We hope to see many of you there and thank you again to all those who sent us pictures of the car in action!

Check out the slide show after the jump and don't forget to "like" Axis of Oversteer of Facebook.

For more information on the Porsche IMSA GT3 Challenge by Yokohama please visit the official site

Montreal Marshals

With all due respect for our Canadian friends and volunteer marshals, I can understand it was a long day with long delays but guys, lay off the brews eh? :)

Home

Renault Exhausts

In case anyone was still wondering where they blow...

end of post

Montreal IMSA GT3 Challenge Qualifying live

Thank you Andris Kanins for posting on our Facebook page this great picture of CG exiting the hairpin in Montreal yesterday.

Carlos was 10th in first practice, quite good for his first time on the track and the first time in the GT3 Cup in a competitive setting. He reported some crazy driving in the ranks which turns out to have been the reason Porsche Cup has not been invited to the Canadian GP since '08, Apparently Bernie does not appreciate having his grass torn up and advertising banners ripped by the Superclowns. Drivers were warned at the briefing, let's see how it goes.

Qualifying will take place today at 11:15 am. You can follow along at http://www.imsachallenge.com/timing/


.

Bienvenue au Quebec, Sebastian!

Sebastian Vettel tasted the famed Montreal Wall of Champions only eight laps into the first practice. Only his pride was hurt, looks like the marshal who inexplicably fell going to his aid probably suffered more damage.

Vettel wasn't the only one who gained some intimate knowledge of the Gilles Villeneuve track, Kamui Kobayashi, Machete Sutil and Jerome D'Ambrosio experienced the walls up close and personal. Kind of a funny radio transmission from Machete....check it out after the jump but don't miss Heikki Kovalainen's epic scandinavian flick save!...Perkele!