Formula 1: Montreal Grand Prix - What happens next in Round 7?

It seems to me that McLaren is finding their feet in the 2008 Formula One season, and may I say:

It’s about time too.

It certainly hasn’t been a great start for the Woking outfit and with a turbulent run for Heikki Kovalainen, most of the responsibility has been put onto the ever-maturing shoulders of Lewis Hamilton to keep them as near the top of the Constructors Championship as possible.

Over the last two rounds, Monte Carlo and Istanbul, the McLaren team have sparkled in the most superior of fashions.

In Turkey, tyre reliability was an issue and thus they had to adopt a three-stop strategy to overcome these problems. They prevailed with an exquisite class managing to secure a 2^ndplace finish, not bad on a three-stop strategy.

The pit crew was OUTSTANDING, banging out their pit stops in great times (Lap 16 – 6.4 Seconds, Lap 32 – 6.2 Seconds, Lap 45 – 5.9 Seconds). This great strategy, great backroom work and an outstanding drive from the 2007 Championship runner up all contributed to a successful result for McLaren.

In Monaco there were early problems for Heikki, who had a problem with his steering wheel not selecting 1^stgear. Hence the stall before even the formation lap. This meant a pit lane start, but Heikki still managed to finish in a points scoring position of 8^th.

Only six laps later Lewis Hamilton overcooked his MP4-23 exiting the corner at Tabac and he was unlucky enough to clip the barrier, causing a rear right blow out. The Potenza held itself in a great fashion and Lewis managed to get into the pits for a quick change. The pit crew were good to go and the pit wall team had restructured the race strategy within the space of about 20 seconds. Hamilton ran a one stop from then on and it paid dividends as he drove to the chequered flag on lap 76, just over the two hour mark to claim his first Monaco Grand Prix win.

So what of Ferrari, where did it go wrong for them over the last two races?

Let’s start with Istanbul. What went wrong there?

Well, not much to be honest. In Turkey they were at their dominant best, barring a few minor hitches. Felipe Massa managed to take the race, again completing his Istanbul hat-trick. In Felipe’s words: "It’s fantastic to have got the hat trick here in Istanbul: it might really almost be worth asking for a Turkish passport!” Apparently he likes Istanbul.

It was further down the grid you see where the Ferrari problem lay. Kimi had managed to sustain some structural damage to his front wing from an earlier incident with fellow countryman Heikki Kovalainen. This caused major vibrations on the car for the remainder of the race and cost him his 2^nd place. The McLaren team seemed very smart in their approach to the race in terms of set-ups.

Moving onto Monaco: great qualifying, a front row lock out, the first time that had happened since 1979, so where do we start with what went wrong? I honestly think it may be easier to list the problems (Apologies to all Ferrari fans. You might want to look away now)

• Lap 1 - Kimi Raikkonen had a bad start with a build-up of wheel spin, costing him 2^nd place in the race.
• Lap 11 – Kimi Raikkonen is advised that he must serve a drive-through penalty due to not having the chosen set of tyres on the car by the three minute warning on the grid.
• Lap 13 – Kimi Raikkonen completes his drive through penalty.
• Lap 16 – Felipe Massa spins his car at Ste Devote corner and loses race lead to Robert Kubica in his BMW Sauber.
• Lap 27 – Kimi Raikkonen goes straight on at Ste Devote and damages his front wing. He pits at the end of the lap and is down to 6^th.
• Lap 68 – Kimi Raikkonen almost loses the car completely on the exit from the tunnel under heavy braking in preparation for the chicane. He rams Adrian Sutil in his Force India and Kimi needs another front wing. He re-joins in 9^th.

Incorrect fuel strategy, countless driver errors, wrong wheel choices... All culminating in a pretty bad day at the office for the Scuderia Ferrari team, whilst McLaren was have a storming day in contrast—quite literally blowing the Ferraris out of the water.

(Okay Ferrari fans, you can come back into the room now. No offence caused I hope?)

So as my headline reads, where next for the Championship?

We next fly out to Montreal, Canada for round 7. The scene is set for some chest puffing and shows of excellence in an attempt to show just who the dominant team in this year’s championship is.

If history is anything to go by, it could be a good weekend for McLaren. Last year Lewis Hamilton nailed his first career grand prix win here after obtaining pole position the previous day. Will he be looking for a repeat this year? You can count on it. Felipe Massa was disqualified with a black flag last year due to exiting the pits under a red light.

So what have we got?

Well Montreal is a nice open track, not a very taxing track for the drivers to be honest, but with its high speed straights punching the cars up to speeds of 196MPH and then its low speed tight corners dragging them right back down to 35MPH you can be sure of some action-packed racing with plenty of overtaking possibilities.

Ferrari certainly won’t want a repeat of last year’s performance, but McLaren I think may be right on course and in the right frame of mind for another upset. I think Heikki Kovalainen could use Montreal to springboard his championship assault this year, possibly with even a win. Hamilton will no doubt be right up there within the top three and then of course comes Felipe and Kimi: what can they do?

It’s wide open people.

Just before I make my prediction for the Montreal grand prix, I would just like to point out that I correctly predicted a Ferrari front row lock out for Monaco, I was correct in predicting a Hamilton win although I was slightly off with 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th. Can’t win them all I guess!

So now we go to my prediction for Round 7 in Montreal.

Like in Monte Carlo I think the Ferrari will prove to be very strong but I think that the McLarens may just pip them this time. Heikki is going very fast when he actually is on the track and his fastest laps are right up there. His speed trap classifications are always high on the list and this kind of track will suit him right down to the ground. On the back of some rather poor results I think it could be his time to shine, so I am predicting either 1^st or 2^ndon the grid for Heikki Kovalainen. Hamilton, I think, will nick whatever position Heikki doesn’t get, so either way it’s going to be front row McLaren, first blood.

I don’t necessarily think it will be an all-Ferrari second row. I am quite fancying Robert Kubica for an upset this race weekend and think he could take his BMW Sauber F1.08 and plonk it right there in 3^rdplace then followed by the two red bullets of Raikkonen and Massa, in that order.

My race result prediction is as follows:

• 1^st– Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes)
• 2^nd– Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes)
• 3^rd– Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
• 4^th– Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari)
• 5^th– Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari)

Pretty much the same as my qualifying prediction with the swap at the top for the McLarens. I just have a feeling that this could be time for the young Finn to shine in his MP4-23. Surely he has had all the bad luck now? Lewis will have a flawless race again and I think Robert Kubica will continue on his fine form.

Again, race strategy will be key and great team work from the paddock will most certainly have a huge outcome on the day’s results, which is why I have went for the McLaren 1-2.

Now over to you guys. Let me have your predictions: how do you think Round 7 will run out in Montreal? Any shocks, upsets, any great drives like that of Adrian Sutil last weekend or will it be all plain sailing for the big guns? Will Heikki Kovalainen’s bad luck dry up? Will Kimi’s ice melt? Will Felipe stop giggling? Will Hamilton have sobered up from this week’s monumental win? Will Robert Kubica smile? Comments please...

Ben, over and out.