I can't get a video feed, so I wonder if someone can explain something for me...the 2 mercedes drivers are currently sat 18th and 19th in the standings, have they got some sort of issue, or are they running very heavy fuel loads? Anyone?
Crofty said there struggling, but spent most of the session evaluating the rear of the car. Edit from Autosport : Schumacher is also on super soft tyres, but Mercedes has been working solidly on race pace throughout the session.
Mercedes were 100% on tyre preservation in that practice session. Nico said he was happy with the pace, but was still concerned over the tyre degradation.
Ferrari are looking very strong, but I'm pretty sure that McLaren have more to show. I remain convinced that McLaren were running with more fuel onboard - and in qualifying it will be very close between McLaren and Ferrari. I think a combination of the low downforce nature of the track and successful updates have given Ferrari a really good chance to fight for the victory here. As usual, Vettel is the most likely to get pole, but we shouldn't rule out Alonso or Hamilton for the win - they both have very good chances, even if it stays dry. Should everything run smoothly, the top 3 on the podium in any order will be Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel.
The Sauber Seamstress (Christine Sauber) has apparently already completed the intricate and protracted conversion of de la Rosa's race overalls so I don't think there's anything to worry about on that count. BEFORE: please log in to view this image AFTER: please log in to view this image
High fuel loads for Mercedes: Mercedes Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:15.591, 1st; P2 - 1:18.601, 19th "It was a positive start to the weekend, and we seem to have made some progress with our race pace. I felt comfortable with the car today and we completed a lot of laps despite the interruptions, which was good. The tyres are holding up well so it will be interesting to see the comparison once we start working on low fuel tomorrow. Overall, I'm quite happy." Michael Schumacher, P1 - 1:16.549, 3rd; P2 - 1:19.209, 20th "We covered quite a lot of work today. Obviously we didn't do any times on lower fuel and just concentrated on high fuel due to the red flags shortening our programme this afternoon. That's why we are at the opposite end of the timesheets to this morning, when it looked encouraging for a weekend that we did not enter with the highest expectations. We will now sit and analyse our performance and hope for another encouraging day tomorrow." Ross Brawn, Mercedes GP team principal "We've had a good day to start our Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Today's running was obviously interrupted with the various incidents, however we have focused very much on our race preparation, particularly this afternoon. The loss of track time meant that we did not complete any low fuel running, but from our long run work, the car looks reasonable." Norbert Haug, vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport "A good and productive first day for us here on the Ile de Notre Dame at this great track. In the afternoon we concentrated on race simulations with both types of tyres: Nico's times looked consistent in both cases, but for Michael there is still some more set-up work to be done. Nico's time this morning was comparable to the best times from the afternoon when the track in Montreal has more grip and is therefore usually quicker. Today was certainly one of our better Fridays. The weather forecast for tomorrow currently predicts a 75% chance of rain at 1300 when qualifying starts, and it is possible that this will be the first wet running of the weekend, because P3 should still be dry. Qualifying could therefore be even more interesting and challenging than usual; hopefully we can repeat our good form from today." This must surely mean they are confident and can challenge a good result.
Mercedes big problem has been their balance while the car is fuelled up, sometimes it looks like they're driving in the wet it's so bad, so probably best they test the car fuelled to the max as much as possible when they get the chance.
Well qualifying is almost certainly going to be dry, which screws my prediction, but should allow someone to snatch pole off Vettel. N.B. Of course Vettel could turn his exhaust map up to gas mark 9 and still get pole.
No rain expected for FP3 or Qualy. Now for the Pole Lap Time what do you guys reckon??? I think it could be a 1:14:3.
I went mid 1:13's, although I think that may be optimistic. I know during FP1 they were anticipating mid 1:14's.
BLS and DHC I think 1:13s are a bit to optimistic, but we could have those laptimes if we see low 1:14s in FP3. Just started on the Red Button and online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9510120.stm
Webber's car is up on the stands and only 3 mechanics working on it... His running could be compromised....
