Villeneuve
favourite to take the 19th Canadian Grand Prix in
front of a home crowd. Jordan headed for the podium..
Situated on the Isle Notre Dame
in the middle of the St Lawrence Seaway the Circuit
Gilles Villeneuve is laid out in parkland amidst
the ‘retro futurism’ of once thrilling
pavilions of the 1967 Montreal Expo. It was designed
by Roger Peart as a quick remedy to fulfill
the requirements of the ever increasing speed of the
new breed of Formula 1 cars, too fast for the
outdated road circuit at Mosport Park in
eastern Ontario. The requirements of rising
local hero Gilles Villeneuve had to be
fulfilled after his trouncing of James Hunt
and Alan Jones in the Formula Atlantic
‘round the houses’ at Trois Rivieres
in 1976 and he repaid the faith of his fans by
winning his first Grand Prix at the inaugural race in
1978. Paid for in part, by the Canadian brewers Labatts,
it was severely criticised by drivers for being too
slow. It was subsequently modified but, with its
ultra long straits interrupted by slow corners and
chicanes, it is extremely hard on the cars,
especially under braking.
Montreal is no
stranger to tragedy as the events in 1982 showed,
when the track was renamed just a month after Gilles
Villeneuve’s death in Belgium, in his
honour. Ricardo Paletti drove his Osella
Ford into the back of Didier Peroni’s
stalled Ferrari on the grid and, after being pulled
from the burning wreckage, died a short while later.
Whilst it seems to be
generally liked by drivers 20 years on, it is often
regarded as a ‘stop ‘n go’ track. As Mika
Salo said last year, "...you have to have
really good brakes and super traction. What you
really need is a dragster..." For this
reason the ‘point and squirt’ technique can
produce rather dull racing.
Jordan Peugeot,
currently the fastest car in a straight line should
be extremely optimistic about a podium this weekend.
Technical Director Gary Anderson says of the
circuit, "The Montreal track should suit our
car quite well as the important things are good
traction, braking and lots of power. As a circuit, it
is similar to Imola - lots of chicanes, but it is
much dirtier since it isn’t used very often. The
exit of the corners is more important than the entry,
which makes things tricky." He continues, "Braking
is the key and there is a good deal of pressure on
the brakes especially in the last chicane where you
are approaching at speeds of 310Kmph and brake down
to 70Kmph in the middle of the corner. It’s easy
to miss the chicane and find yourself in the
pits!"
The omens look good
for Jordan generally. Not only was it in Montreal in
1995, that the team achieved its best ever race
result with a second and third finish for Rubens
Barrichello and Eddie Irvine but it was
there last year when current driver Giancarlo
Fisichella scored his best Grand Prix finish of
1996 with an eighth place in a Minardi.
Despite his guarded praise for the circuit,
Fisichella said, "The long sweeping curve
after the first chicane is very difficult and also
quite dangerous. And I am not so keen on the hairpin
bend.." Always one to take his racing
seriously, he did express his desire to go shopping
and take advantage of Montreal’s excelent
R&R facilities to mix with the girls.
Barrichello, now
driving for Stewart Ford, has less reason for
optimism this year, the car and engine package is not
ideally suited to such a power circuit. But,
undaunted by his team’s disadvantages he said, "Canada
will cause us problems because the circuit does have
a long straight, but on the other hand the surface is
different from the abrasive one we have just raced on
in Spain. I think Montreal could suit our car very
well."
His expectations are
not shared by Stewart’s Technical Director, Alan
Jenkins who sensibly thinks that if anything will
make a difference to their chances it will be the Bridgestone
tyres and their performance in race conditions. The
long straight, now with the chicane removed
(installed to reduce speed, in one of many knee-jerk
reactions to Ayerton Senna’s death in
1994), could prove to be their undoing. "It’s
very much a horsepower track these days and will be
no easy trip." He said. "In recent
years, Montreal with it’s slow corners and long
straights has changed and become a low downforce
track. We shall be taking advantage of further
development of the two-plane rear wing and a low
downforce front wing flap originally intended for Hockenheim."
The team to savour the
optimism this weekend is undoubtedly Williams.
With every chance of either Jacques Villeneuve
or Heinz Harald Frentzen taking the chequered
flag, the victory will be even sweeter for Boss Frank
Williams as it will give him his 100th victory,
making him the third most successful team in F1
behind Ferrari (109 wins) and McLaren (105)
since the Championship was first staged in 1950 and
at his current strike rate, by the end of the season,
he could (just), be top.
Damon Hill took
the French Canadian’s home Grand Prix from him
last year but there looks little likelihood of a
repeat performance despite the decision to run the
new marginally improved Yamaha D-spec engine
in the Arrows in practice on Friday. If all
goes well, they will use it for Saturday qualifying,
but it is doubtful that confidence in the engine will
be such that they would dare use it for the race.
Like all the teams Steve Clark, Arrows
Technical Director, is worried about the braking. "Braking
puts a lot of energy into the discs and heats them up
to about 1000 degrees and it’s when they are hot
that they wear a lot." He said, "With
the long straights they will cool down and with the
short straights between the chicanes they will
overheat."
Keen to produce a
better show than last year, when his Ferrari lost
a half-shaft and a load of assorted nuts and bolts
pulling away from a pit stop, is Michael
Schumacher. His team mate Eddie Irvine,
fared no better with a broken front push rod on the
second lap. Better prepared and seemingly more
reliable this year, Ferrari should be in
contention for a podium finish. "if our
excellent reliability continues the way it has been
this season, I am sure we can stay in strong
contention for the title even though we might not
have the quickest outright package at the
moment." Schumacher said recently.
"I am confident that with the things we have
coming throughout the season our chances will be
getting even better,"
Benetton Renault
seem to be rediscovering themselves after their poor
performances in the early part of the season.
Fundamental design flaws in the B197 have been
addressed and modified and in recent testing at Magny
Cours Jean Alesi set the pace and the
fastest times. He will no doubt remember his one and
only win in Canada in 1995, for Ferrari, after 91
tries, breaking a winless drought for the Scuderia.
After such a brilliant
start to the season McLaren are desperate to
prove that after a string of poor yet inexplicable
performances, the win for David Coulthard was
not a flash in the pan. The new high revving Ilmor
prepared, F-spec Mercedes could be run for the
first time in a race this weekend. After proving so
impressive during qualifying in Barcelona last
month, temptation is high but confidence in it’s
reliability under racing conditions is not unanimous
and the decision will be made after qualifying on
Saturday.
Olivier Panis
must be in with a shout in the Prost Mugen-Honda.
Bridgstone will be taking great care to provide their
teams with the correct tyres, a harder compound seems
to be the current choice for the Japanese shod cars.
Rumours of a new link with Reynard the chassis
manufacturers for next year could also link
Villeneuve with the French team despite his recent
announcement that he will be driving a Williams. But
when money talks a driver walks, so nothing can be
certain until you see their name painted on the side
of the cockpit.
Several teams have
indicated their desire to run a one stop race
strategy, but much will depend on the relationship of
fuel load to tyre performance on the bumpy track.
Also ‘grippy’ tyres will be of a distinct
advantage. Eddie Irvine commented, "You have
to qualify well ‘cos you can’t overtake.
But you need to have tyres that are hard enough to
take you through the race with just one stop. It
could be a casino out there."
Of course he’s
right. As usual the smart money is on the Williams
and especially Villeneuve, after his rude defeat last
year. But if you’re really clever you would lay
down a few dollars on the Jordan team to get yet
another podium position and possibly a water tight
contract for three more years of Peugeot power.
But one can’t but
help wanting the young Villeneuve to win if only for
the sake of his countrymen. "I am really
proud of my father," He said last year, "and
no matter what success I have as a driver, it will
not diminish his accomplishments or what his memory
means to F1 fans." He will be the first to
tell you that there is no pressure to win just
because he is his father’s son, but the desire
to win in front of a home crowd is probably the
greatest motivation there is.
Chris Richardson
