Canadian Grand Prix 2011, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve - Race 7/19

I think we'll see the red bull gap decrease once the BDs are limited. McLaren will be stronger, so will Ferrari

To be fair to Vettel, it's always easy to follow a car in these conditions than it is to be the lead car. Doesn't escape the fact that he hates pressure though.
 
Many seem to think RB are using the BD more than other teams, I guess we will see. The RB is not as far ahead as it used to be, but still plenty fast enough to win the championships very soon.
 
The first few races, RBR were definitely quicker. As the season has progressed Ferrari and McLaren have moved forward on race pace.

In Canada, McLaren were (race pace) quicker and I suspect that Ferrari would also have been faster.

In Monaco, we also saw Alonso and Button, both faster than Vettel, at the end of the GP. Once again, Ferrari and McLaren had the quicker car on race day.

Given that RBR had the 3rd fastest car (on race day), in the last race, I would suspect that RBR no longer hold the advantage. Obviously, as you stated there will be some tracks which suit RBR, but for the time being at least, on race day, RBR are not the super dominant team we saw at the start of the season.

The problem with the last 2 races is that Monaco is a drivers circuit, which would've prevented the RBR car from showing its class. And Canada was a such a wet race, again, any car advantage would've been negated (driver skill is more important in wet races).

If I was a betting man though, I would say that on a dry track, RBR is currently the 3rd fastest car on race day.
 
It'll be interesting to see if the banning of BD makes more impact on Quali or the race. So far RB have been outrageously dominant in Quali but for some reason the car just isn't as fast in the race. Since the list of what you can change between Q3 and the race is fairly small with engine modes being one of those things, I want to see if the RB7 can still hold its own in Q3 or if it's going to be more similar to its race pace.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
I would agree with you sunama - problem is while McLaren and Ferrari keep taking points off each other, Vettel is extending his lead.
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This does appear to be a problem, however, given RBR's reluctance to introduce KERS (fully), I'm wondering if we may see RBR completely on the backfoot as the season progresses. So what I mean is that, could we see RBR struggling to finish in the top 5? If this were to happen and Vettel's luck runs out (which at some point it will), Vettel could find himself getting caught by Alonso and Hamilton, in the title race.

I think also that people are underestimating Alonso a lot (just as they did last season). Based on what we saw in the last 2 races, it is quite possible that in the hands of Alonso, the Ferrari is now the fastest race car. The red flag prevented him from winning in Monaco. Button prevented Alonso from continuing the race at Canada. I cannot believe that Alonso, in what may be the fastest race car, is going to be denied victories, for much longer.
 
sunama said:
I think also that people are underestimating Alonso a lot (just as they did last season). Based on what we saw in the last 2 races, it is quite possible that in the hands of Alonso, the Ferrari is now the fastest race car. The red flag prevented him from winning in Monaco.
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Don't forget that Ferrari are crap on the harder tyres which they have not been on for the last two races so once we get to tracks that are going to use the harder tyres we will see if Ferrari have made an improvement in that area.

EDIT: also the next race is the last race we will see the blown gases being used to the extreme.
 
Mr.Fantastic said:
Don't forget that Ferrari are crap on the harder tyres which they have not been on for the last two races so once we get to tracks that are going to use the harder tyres we will see if Ferrari have made an improvement in that area.
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Yep. Good point. Was it Spain, when Alonso went on hard tyres and got lapped, after leading the race?

Mr.Fantastic said:
EDIT: also the next race is the last race we will see the blown gases being used to the extreme.
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Hang on. I thought the FIA were going to have a hearing first of all, after which they would decide whether to ban/reduce the EBD? From what I know, EBD is not pending a ban/reduction.
 
sunama said:
Hang on. I thought the FIA were going to have a hearing first of all, after which they would decide whether to ban/reduce the EBD? From what I know, EBD is not pending a ban/reduction.
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From what i remember it's just reducing off throttling down to the legal limit of 10%, RBR are going to try there hardest to keep it like it now because they know come Silverstone they will have a much harder fight for pole.
 
Mr.Fantastic said:
From what i remember it's just reducing off throttling down to the legal limit of 10%, RBR are going to try there hardest to keep it like it now because they know come Silverstone they will have a much harder fight for pole.
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..but is this a confirmed rule change or are the FIA first going to have a hearing to decide whether this needs to be done?

M.Brundle was talking as if the rule change has already been sanctioned, but from what I remember, the rule change had not yet been decided upon.
 
Wow, I am surprised there are people that actually think the marshall was in danger when he fell, I was just chuckling and never thought he was in any danger, especially now that cars have to slow down or get a drivethrough like Jenson.
 
And F1 car 'slowed down' for the SC deltas will still lap the track quicker than the Merc SLS at full speed. Quite significantly faster too, as JB showed when he caught the pack up.
 
well technically yes, but reducing it to 10% will make a huge difference...next year the exhausts will have to be round and exit behind the diffuser
 
With the FIA having made it clear in Montreal last weekend that it is pushing ahead with plans to ban teams from off-throttle use of blown diffusers from the British Grand Prix, many outfits are currently working on necessary changes to their car designs and engine mapping.
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The language being used is not explicit.

My understanding is that the FIA want to reduce the off throttle mapping system to 10%, however, from the above quote, it would seem that this is not a done deal. Can RBR appeal this decision and get it reversed?

I'm beginning to think that this is not a done deal yet and is merely being proposed by the FIA and if there is no opposition to the new rule, it will be sanctioned and enforced from Silverstone onwards. But, what if RBR oppose this new rule...what happens?
 
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