French Grand Prix: Preview

This weekend the Formula 1 circus moves to France to shatter the idyllic peace of the French countryside region of Nevers, and for possibly one of the last ever times at the Circuit Magny-Cours. If it is to be the last ever race here, hopefully the track can provide us with one final dramatic race to give us something to remember it by. Traditionally the circuit has been a Ferrari stomping ground with Michael Schumacher in particular enjoying incredible success here. With one of their main rivals suffering a 10-place grid penalty for this race, Ferrari would have to be strong favourites to continue their rich vein of form here on Sunday.

All the talk in the wake of the excellent Canadian Grand Prix has revolved around Lewis Hamilton and his uncharacteristic mistake in the pit lane. The controversial incident eliminated both Hamilton and current Champion Raikkonen, thereby handing a debut race victory and the World Championship lead to Robert Kubica. As a result Hamilton will start the race with a 10 place grid penalty, and something of a mountain to climb if he is to avoid losing ground in the championship battle to the likes of Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen.

Last year's French GP winner Kimi Raikkonen will be looking to rediscover his touch and get his title defence back on track. Obviously, last time out he was unlucky to be taken out of the race in that bizarre pitlane incident, but prior to that he had been looking rather indifferent. Indeed, after a troubled start to the year it is his teammate Felipe Massa who has been looking much the stronger of the two Ferrari drivers on current form. The young Brazilian will see this weekend as an excellent chance to depose Kubica from his spot at the top of the standings.

One man who could have a key role to play here is Heikki Kovalainen. After some bad luck and a couple of weak performances it is looking like he is out of the running for the WDC. However, his McLaren team will be desperate for him to get amongst the Ferraris and Kubica to try and take as many points off them as possible. With Hamilton likely to be fuelled extremely heavily from the start, McLaren may run Kovalainen light to cement pole position and to try and control the pace of the race from the front for as long as possible.

A lot of the discussion and speculation in the media in the run up to the event has revolved around Renault's Fernando Alonso. He will be looking to put on a good show in front of the French Renault fans who fell in love with him as he stormed to two back-to-back titles for the team in 2005 and 2006. It is highly unlikely though that he will repeat his excellent victory here in 2005, or even come close to it. The Renault isn't competitive enough, and that is the main reason so much speculation has continued to follow the Spaniard. He is yet to commit to another year at Renault and is said to be considering his options for 2009, with strong rumours in the air that he has already signed a pre-contractual agreement to drive for Ferrari in 2010.

The track itself here isn't a bad one. It is super smooth and usually in excellent condition, and the highlights are two super-fast chicanes where you really get to see Formula 1 cars being worked to their limit. With sweeping changes to the aero regulations for 2009 it is unlikely that we'll ever see cars cornering at such vicious speeds through corners like these again, so it's definitely worth paying as much notice as possible before F1 cars get somewhat neutered. There is also one VERY tight hairpin which creates overtaking opportunities aplenty. This will be the point where we'll no doubt see Lewis Hamilton making his moves on the slower cars to try and battle his way through the field.

The other big factor here this weekend could well be the weather. We have been predicted scattered thunderstorms throughout the weekend, and they could play havoc with race day if they hit at the right time. The predicted rain didn't quite come in Montreal, and we'll have to see whether the drivers will be as lucky this time with the weather. One man praying for the rain to come will be Hamilton. It will open up options for him to get creative with his strategy to try and drag himself up toward the podium places, and also he just loves the rainy conditions as Monaco last month, and Fuji last year proved.
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Canadian Grand Prix: A Star is Born on a nightmare day for the sport's major players!

Robert Kubica has taken a surprise maiden Grand Prix victory in a thrilling race on the tarmac (and cement!) of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. It marks an incredible rise to prominence of the young Pole, who gained notoriety after an horrific accident here twelve months ago. This time though it was his driving talents that took the headlines, as they have been doing all season long. And after years without a win, the BMW-Sauber team took their first ever victory in style by making it a one-two with Heidfeld in second ahead of Davic Coulthard's Red Bull. And as if this wasn't already fairytale stuff for Kubica and BMW, the victory means Kubica now leads the WDC standings with BMW just 3 points behind leaders Ferrari in the WCC!


From the start Hamilton and Kubica both got perfect starts from the front row. As they filtered into turn one Fernando Alonso was the big loser as he got out of shape mid way through the complex and saw Nico Rosberg drive right around the outside of him and up into fourth. Barrichello got an excellent start and found himself up two places to 7th place after the first few corners, and Nakajima managed to leapfrog both Red Bulls and get himself up into P10.

By the end of the first lap Barrichello had surrendered one of the two positions he'd gained back to Kovalainen, and then within a couple of laps he was back where he started in ninth after Heidfeld made a good move on him into the hairpin. As drivers gradually got to grips with the inconsistent track there was some good racing out on track. Nelson Piquet was finally showing some signs of fighting for his F1 life as on consecutive laps he first passed Timo Glock into turn 1, and then Glock's teammate into the hairpin. Whatever work the organisers had done to the track before the race seemed to be working early on, as the track surface wasn't breaking up as badly as first feared.

The first retirement of the race wasn't due to the suspect track, but a simple mechanical failure for Adrian Sutil. His car ground to a halt on the side of the track and it all seemed pretty undramatic. However, this most ignominious of endings for the Force India actually ended up bringing about the most significant action of the race, and arguably the whole championship so far...

Sutil's brakes caught fire at the side of the track and marshalls were required on track. Race director Charlie Whiting decided to err on the side of caution and called for the safety car. By this point Lewis Hamilton had earned himself a comfortable lead and was looking on course for an easy victory. The safety car immediately negated his advantage, and he and the McLaren team decided to make their first stop, along with second placed Kubica and third placed Raikkonen. As they reached the end of the pitlane the red light was still on. Kubica and Raikkonen stopped side by side on the white line, but both Hamilton and Rosberg didn't see the light in time. Hamilton tried to take evasive action but couldn't avoid hitting the back of Raikkonen, and Rosberg in turn hit the back Hamilton.

Both title protagonists were now out of the race with their cars too badly damaged. Rosberg was able to continue but needed another stop for a new rear wing. It was a mistake from Hamilton, but his McLaren team must also have to take a portion of the blame. They should have learned their lesson after Juan Pablo Montoya was black-flagged from the race in 2005 for running a red light, and should have been screaming at Hamilton over the radio to watch out for the red light. But the team are also culpable because Hamilton shouldn't have been behind Kimi and Kubica anyway; it was a poor pit stop from the McLaren boys before it all kicked off at the pit lane exit. Lewis was suitably apologetic towards Raikkonen as he trudged sheepishly down the pit lane to his garage, but it would have been of little consolation to Kimi who saw any chance of points evaporate through no fault of his own.

Of course, the big winner from all of this was Robert Kubica. He was able to rejoin the race with no damage at all, and was looking comfortable for the race win. He was well back in the field, but had plenty of fuel on board. As a strange twist of fate it ended up being a straight fight between Kubica and his own teammate Heidfeld for the win, with not a Ferrari or McLaren in sight. Heidfeld was fuelled longer from the start, and having plenty of laps under the safety car allowed him to brim his tank at his first stop and run right to the end of the Grand Prix. He emerged from his lengthy stop just in front of Kubica with Fernando Alonso also in close attendance.

Kubica and Alonso both had to make one more stop but had an extremely heavy BMW in front. After a couple of laps Nick Heidfeld was given the order to let Kubica through, but obviously parked his BMW right on the apex of turn 2 to stop Alonso getting through too. The chase was now on for Kubica, as he knew he had to gain himself a 21-23 second gap for his second stop. He started putting in some great laps in the clear air he had and pulled away from Heidfeld at a rate of knots. Arguably Kubica's biggest ally was now Fernando Alonso. Heidfeld was spending his time fiercely battling off the Renault man, and it was undoubtedly hindering his lap times. With hindsight it would perhaps have been advisable to to let the much lighter Alonso through and concentrate on his own race, but it was better for the neutral fans as we saw the two having an excellent scrap.

Alonso looked like he may have gotten past at the hairpin a couple of times, only to run wide on the cement dust and let Heidfeld back through. By the time Alonso spun off the track and into the wall on the “marbles” at turn 7, both of their races had effectively been spoiled. Kubica had gained himself the time he needed, and Alonso had lost an eternity stuck behind the BMW which would have ruined his strategy anyway.

While all this was going on there was plenty of action elsewhere. Nelson Piquet spun in turn 3 and just managed to avoid the wall. He reversed out and VERY nearly got collected by Felipe Massa at high speed in what would have been a very nasty accident. Piquet was later to retire due to badly worn brakes in what was yet another massive disappointment for the young Brazilian, although there were slight signs of improvement early on. The way the safety car interrupted many teams' strategies meant that the order on track was highly unfamiliar. At one point Barrichello led from Coulthard and Trulli; surely one of the oldest top threes in Formula 1 history!

The strategy really didn't work out well for Barrichello, as after his stop he ended up plummeting down the field to finish in 7th. Still, a couple of championship points is more than he would have expected from the weekend. Kazuki Nakajima was having a decent race, having some good battles with the likes of the Toyotas and Hondas. Things went pear-shaped however, when he damaged his front wing by getting too ambitious under braking and needed to pit. As he turned into the pits his front wing got trapped under the car, lifting his front wheels off the ground. He was a complete passenger as he car careered into the pit wall.

So what of the other Ferrari and McLaren cars? With Hamilton and Raikkonen out it was a great opportunity for Felipe Massa to take the lead in the tile race. He wasn't having the best of days with regards to strategy and traffic though. He ended up making THREE pit stops when all of the front runners made just one, which was really through no fault of his own. There was certainly no lack of fighting spirit from Massa as he produced some thrilling moves throughout, most notably a DOUBLE passing maneuver in the hairpin. One of the men he passed there was Kovalainen, who wasn't having a good day at all. After being thrashed in qualifying by his teammate he seemed to be struggling more than most to get to grips with the tricky conditions. He did get unlucky with the strategies and had to pit twice, but still in the closing stages he was ousted from the final points paying positions by young Vettel who had yet another stellar day in the Toro Rosso.

Giancarlo Fisichella spun out in turn 4 and ended up in the barrier. Strangely, this didn't bring out a safety car even though it looked like a more dangerous position than the one Sutil's car ended up in. Ferrari brought Massa in for a splash and dash expecting a safety car, but it simply never came.

Robert Kubica was now cruising to a comfortable debut victory for him and the BMW-Sauber team, with Heidfeld and Coulthard nailed on to round off the podium. It wasn't a formality lower down the field however, as Massa was still desperately trying to gain as many points as possible. He came across the back of the two Toyotas who were running line-a-stern and was pressuring hard. Exiting the hairpin Glock lost traction on the loose surface, meaning Trulli was forced to back out of the throttle. This allowed Massa to cruise past Trulli on the long back straight. He couldn't quite get past Glock too, but still an excellent battling performance from the Brazilian.

So after a breathless and thrilling race with plenty of action and passing, and some high profile mistakes too, we have a new race winner on Formula 1's books and a new leader in the title standings to boot. Of course, it would be hard to imagine Robert Kubica ending the season at the top of the pile given the strength of the Ferraris and McLarens. Hamilton, Massa and Raikkonen will still be ahead of him in the betting for taking the title. It does though marks a rise to stardom for the young Pole, and will certainly have the sports big money teams taking plenty of notice. He is out of contract at the end of the year, and BMW may well have a serious fight on their hands to keep him with the Hinwil based team. The world could well be his oyster...

Provisional Race Results

1. Robert Kubica
2. Nick Heidfeld
3. David Coulthard
4. Timo Glock
5. Felipe Massa
6. Jarno Trulli
7. Rubens Barrichello
8. Sebastien Vettel
9. Heikki Kovalainen
10. Nico Rosberg
11. Jenson Button
12. Mark Webber
13. Sebastian Bourdais
ret Fisichella
ret Alonso
ret Piquet
ret Nakajima
ret Raikkonen
ret Hamilton
ret Sutil Read more!

Canadian Grand Prix: Qualifying Report

Lewis Hamilton recorded his second consecutive Montreal pole position with a blistering last minute lap to oust the impressive Robert Kubica. He wasn't just faster by a small margin either, he completely blitzed the field, which suggests that he may be running lighter than the other front runners on the grid. However, arguably the biggest story of qualifying was the condition of the track; it looked truly terrible as it broke apart throughout the session. The lap times were slow, and the drivers were incredibly cautious. Heaven only knows what sort of state it will be in during tomorrow's race after all the support races.

The session today was perfectly dry, and it was a beautifully warm and sunny day. Ideal conditions for driving a race car in theory. In practice however, things panned out rather differently as the track slowly began disintegrating from early on in the session. It was really disappointing to see, and Mark Webber in particular vented his frustration about the state of the track after he spun off at the end of Q2 and ruined his shot at the top-10 shootout. Lewis Hamilton's pole-setting time was a full TWO seconds slower than his pole time last year, which just shows how awful the track had become by the end of the session.

The first of the three sessions was fairly uneventful. With Vettel already out after his practice crash, and Button pulling out with a broken gearbox, there were only three more people to be eliminated. There were no shocks to be had, as the remaining Toro Rosso driver and both Force India drivers dropped out. Hamilton was comfortably fastest, and the only man to break under the 1:17s mark all afternoon.

The second session was a little more eventful. Jarno Trulli entertained the fans with some beautiful pirouetting in his Toyota. Needless to say, it didn't do him much good as he finished 14th ahead of Piquet and dropped out. Coulthard also dropped out, but complained about getting held up by Piquet who was on one of his patented epically slow hot-laps. Nakajima also dropped out after looking decent all weekend, and he was joined by Glock who put in one of his best showings of the season by beating his teammate for the very first time. As previously mentioned, Webber ended the session in the barriers and was robbed of the chance to fight it out in the final shootout.

Rubens Barrichello impressed by making it through to the final shootout for the first time in a while. He couldn't improve from ninth and last of the runners in the final session, but plenty of reason to be optimistic for one half of the Honda garage. For the rest of the field, it seemed to be a question of "who dares wins". Many drivers were extremely cautious in the deteriorating conditions, whereas the likes of Kubica and Hamilton seemed to throw caution to the wind and were throwing their cars over the kerbs with abandon. It seemed to work for them as they locked out the top row quite comfortably.

The Ferraris weren't too impressive, finishing in 3rd and 6th place for Raikkonen and Massa respectively. Whether they are heavier on fuel or not remains to be seen, but they may have their work cut out to stop Hamilton extending his lead in the championship.

Heidfeld and Kovalainen didn't impress at all, down in 8th and 7th place. More worryingly for them they were both comprehensively thrashed by their teammates. They were also well beaten by arguably the two stars of qualifying; Williams' Nico Rosberg and Renault's Fernando Alonso. They both managed to split the two Ferraris, and can be extremely happy with their day's work. They will both be hoping to convert their good performances into solid points finishes tomorrow after they both missed out in Monaco with accident filled races.

So tomorrow will be something of a voyage into the unknown for the drivers as they set out on a track which seems almost certain to fall to pieces throughout the course of the race. Lewis Hamilton is certainly in the ideal position as he will be able to avoid the trouble that will almost inevitably occur. There will probably be plenty of safety car periods throughout, just like last year. I think Mark Webber summed things up perfectly when he said they should be out on motocross bikes tomorrow, not Grand Prix cars...

Provisional Race Grid

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:17.886
02 R. Kubica BMW 1:18.498
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.735
04 F. Alonso Renault 1:18.746
05 N. Rosberg Williams 1:18.844
06 F. Massa Ferrari 1:19.048
07 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:19.089
08 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:19.633
09 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.848
10 M. Webber Red Bull no time
11 T. Glock Toyota 1:18.031
12 K. Nakajima Williams 1:18.062
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:18.238
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:18.327
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:18.393
16 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:18.916
17 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:19.108
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:19.165
19 J. Button Honda 1:23.565
20 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso no time Read more!

Canadian Grand Prix: Third Practice

Sadly your intrepid reporter didn't get to see this session, but apparently it was a rather eventful one. Piquet spun out (again), Bourdais bent his rear suspension on the barriers, and his young teammate Vettel trashed his car in the same place. His car was so badly damaged he will be forced to sit out qualifying, but should be ready in time for the race tomorrow. It's a real shame, as he had been looking really strong all weekend. Stay tuned for today's qualifying report! Read more!

Canadian Grand Prix: Second Practice

After a quiet first session, World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton showed his hand in the second free practice session of the day by taking P1 on the time sheets. He ended the dry session over a quarter of a second faster than Robert Kubica, who had his second P2 of the day. The BMWs seem to have recovered somewhat after two races off the pace, and seem to be right back in the thick of things with the Ferraris and McLarens. It looks very close between the top 3 teams, and should make for a fascinating qualifying day tomorrow.

The big news for the Tifosi though will be the sight of Felipe Massa's car grinding to a halt on out on the circuit with what could have been gearbox problems. It didn't look good for the Brazilian, and we will have to see whether he will end up incurring a penalty. Certainly some headaches for the Ferrari engineers.

The Red Bull and Williams cars again looked like the best of the rest, although Mark Webber almost trashed his car in the dying minutes of the session with a spectacular spin. The gravel trap did its job though, and he was able to continue without any damage. It was a poor session for Renault, with Fernando Alonso looking out of sorts. He had a shocker of a race here last year, and any anxieties about that performance won't have been helped with a couple of spins in the session, one of which ended in him stalling the car and needing to hitch a lift back to the pits.

Sebastien Vettel yet again impressed for Toro Rosso, while Toyota had a marginally better session this time out despite a big spin for Glock. The Hondas failed to improve however, and again looked pretty horrible all session long. Button in particular seems to be struggling to find a good setup on the Montreal circuit. The only man he was able to beat was Nelson Piquet Jnr, who again looked completely abject and devoid of any confidence whatsoever. He really is having a torrid time for Renault so far this season.

01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:15.752 42 laps
02 R. Kubica BMW 1:16.023 41 laps
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:16.093 39 laps
04 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:16.331 36 laps
05 F. Massa Ferrari 1:16.413 27 laps
06 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:16.589 43 laps
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:16.604 39 laps
08 N. Rosberg Williams 1:16.767 37 laps
09 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.019 43 laps
10 J. Trulli Toyota 1:17.068 46 laps
11 K. Nakajima Williams 1:17.242 37 laps
12 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:17.334 31 laps
13 R. Barrichello Honda 1:17.462 39 laps
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:17.508 39 laps
15 T. Glock Toyota 1:17.549 31 laps
16 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:17.559 38 laps
17 F. Alonso Renault 1:17.644 30 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:17.813 37 laps
19 J. Button Honda 1:17.842 39 laps
20 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:18.076 17 laps Read more!

Canadian Grand Prix: First Practice

The first practice session for Sunday's Grand Prix got underway under stormy skies in Montreal, with few cars venturing out on track for the first 15 minutes or so of the session. It was raining quite hard, and the conditions out on track were extremely tricky, as evidenced by the performances of those who did try their luck. About half way through the session the rain stopped and the track began to dry out. Inevitably the times began to tumble, and in a very busy final five minutes it was Ferrari's Felipe Massa who took top spot.

The likes of Trulli, Fisichella, Alonso and Sutil were the first drivers to tip-toe out on track, and they were finding that traction was virtually non-existent. In the slow corners like the opening complex and the hairpin, the cars were chugging along as though they were driving on ice, such was the difficulty in getting any power down. Once they got a bit more accustomed to the conditions they tried to push a little bit, and Trulli was the first to find himself bouncing across the wet grass at the Turn 8 and 9 chicane. He wasn't to be the only one by any means, and indeed Trulli himself had more off track excursions than any other driver on track.

The big hitters were choosing to keep their powder dry early on, leaving the smaller teams to clean the track up a bit before they headed out. The only driver from the "big 3" teams to go out early on was Heidfeld, and he immediately went fastest. Those in the crowd who came to see the likes of Raikkonen and Hamilton would have been slightly disappointed by the lack of running from McLaren and Ferrari. Indeed, Hamilton turned just 8 laps in the session (the fewest of anybody) on his way to P6 on the time sheets.

His teammate Kovalainen was the second quietest driver out on track with just 10 laps under his belt, although his 3rd place proves that the McLaren has plenty of raw speed here. Kubica and Raikkonen each drove 12 laps, finishing 2nd and 5th respectively. The busiest of the headline drivers was also the fastest, as Felipe Massa took the honours in this first session. The session wasn't without its dramas for Massa though, as he went skidding through the wet grass at one point towards the end of the session as the drivers started to switch to dry tyres.

The Red Bulls, Williams and Renaults seemed pretty evenly matched (Nelson Piquet Jnr excepted). Vettel added another impressive session to his already glowing CV by beating the likes of the Hondas and Toyotas. The Toyotas drove more laps between them than any other team, and by some margin. It didn't appear to do them much good in terms of lap times though as they languished down in 13th and 14th place. The Hondas looked even worse throughout the session. Button and Barrichello both spent time in the grass run-offs, and they finished the session with a dismal 18th and 20th (last) place.

So first blood to Ferrari, but there was so little running in the session it is difficult to draw any conclusions from this session about how things will shape up in qualifying tomorrow...

Times

01 F. Massa Ferrari 1:17.553 14 laps
02 R. Kubica BMW 1:17.809 12 laps
03 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:18.133 10 laps
04 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:18.182 13 laps
05 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:18.292 12 laps
06 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:18.303 8 laps
07 M. Webber Red Bull 1:18.712 11 laps
08 D. Coulthard Red Bull 1:18.809 12 laps
09 K. Nakajima Williams 1:18.971 24 laps
10 F. Alonso Renault 1:19.005 13 laps
11 N. Rosberg Williams 1:19.093 20 laps
12 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:19.228 21 laps
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:19.346 28 laps
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:19.568 31 laps
15 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:19.815 16 laps
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:19.888 15 laps
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:20.091 23 laps
18 R. Barrichello Honda 1:20.173 17 laps
19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:20.541 16 laps
20 J. Button Honda 1:21.542 17 laps Read more!

Canadian Grand Prix: Preview

After the thrills and spills of a soaking wet Monaco two weeks ago, the Formula One circus crosses the Atlantic for its one and only trip to North America this season. As well as all the technology and speed, the glitz and glamour, and the controversy, Formula One appears to have brought the wet weather from Monaco with them to Montreal. The predictions are for scattered thunderstorms throughout the course of the weekend, mixed in with some high humidity and occasional sunshine. We could very well have our second wet race in succession!

With the controversy relating to FIA President Max Mosley still circulating the media, the F1 teams, manufacturers and drivers will be glad to get back to motor racing and hopefully making the headlines for all the right reasons. This time last year the Canadian Grand Prix made big headlines for two main reasons; firstly the debut victory of McLaren prodigy Lewis Hamilton, and secondly Robert Kubica's miraculous escape from a horrific mid-race accident.

There have been some much needed modifications to the track and the safety barriers that line the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve which will hopefully reduce the chances of another monster crash. Work has also been undertaken to try to improve the track surface itself, which has caused severe problems for the past two Grand Prix here as the surface breaks apart due to the heavy use from the F1 cars and all the support racing. The surface hasn't been fitting of the world's elite motor racing competition for some time now, but hopefully those problems will have been successfully remedied this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton returns to the circuit that holds so many happy memories for him after taking the lead in the World Championship standings last time out in Monte Carlo. The Ferrari duo of Massa and Raikkonen will be looking to hit back at McLaren after a disappointing race in Monaco, and they are the pre-race favourites to be on the top spots of the podium this weekend. Monaco suited the McLaren car, but the long straights here in Montreal should suit the Ferraris perfectly. Lewis Hamilton has already spoken of his worries over the superior straight-line speed of the red cars.

If the race does indeed turn out to be wet, then it could be another rare opportunity for some of the minnows at the back of the pack to make a name for themselves. Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Vettel were the two youngsters who shone in Monaco; will someone else get the chance to shine on Sunday? We'll have to wait and see... Read more!