2018 Canadian GP : Preview

The second part of FF1M’s North American pilgrimage takes place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a temporary circuit located on a man-made island somewhere in Montreal. It is a stop-start circuit that favours those who have good straight line speed and where aerodynamic grip isn’t such a significant factor due to there being not many long corners. The nearby barriers can sometimes spring up incidents and a variety of winners with seven different drivers winning the last seven races here with only Tornado winning more than once in those seven races. Based on the previous race, they could add another win to their tally.

Charles Leclerc takes maiden triumph in Road America rumble

The previous race at Road America was an indication that Alessandro Farina wasn’t going to have things his own way in 2018. Despite taking his maiden pole position, Charles Leclerc kept the Italian more than honest during the first stint, staying within two seconds virtually throughout. The Monegasque took on less fuel for the middle stint which allowed him close up to Farina and force a small error at the first corner before taking the lead into Moraine. As well as a heavy fuel load, Farina was nursing a brake issue which eventually became terminal at around two thirds distance. Things got worse for Gojira AutoSport as James Clark also retired with an exploded engine.

In fact, reliability was at a premium with a total of 14 drivers failing with nine suffering car failures. These included Max Verstappen who bowed out on only the second lap, both FJR drivers who couldn’t make the most of their race set-up, Tomas Gonzalez whose fine drive in 2nd ended seven laps before the end of the race with gearbox problems, and Sebastian Vettel whose car at the moment seems completely allergic to chequered flags. The key beneficiaries were Lewis Hamilton who took an unexpected podium finish, Tildesley who took their first career points finish courtesy of Antonio Giovinazzi, and Monolith with Nico Hulkenberg overcoming a reliability issue of his own to return to the points. The other benefactor was Fernando Alonso. Aside from Aragon, Shake ‘n’ Bake have been very reliable this season, in part thanks to upgrades Megatron had brought to Road America, and Alonso’s 2nd place moves him to within 11 points off of championship leader Farina. Gojira and Shake ‘n’ Bake will share the same Group for Friday Qualifying with the rest of the running order being as follows:

Paddock News

• A return to 11 teams for 2019 was announced by the AFIA with Ajay Motorsports and Galaxy Grand Prix missing out on the roster. The news puts Hart’s future involvement in FF1M into question with a possibility that they may pull the plug on their engine programme, but a transfer of manufacturer status to another team could also be on the cards
• Mugen have brought new ICE, ERS and CE components for their 2nd upgrade of the season

Montreal ready to catch out the unwary

Despite four decent straights, overtaking isn’t particularly easy around Montreal. The final chicane is widely seen as the best place to make a move but the tightness of the so-called ‘Wall of Champions’ chicane can lead to drivers cutting the second apex, crashing into the outside wall, or in the more serious cases, a collision followed by unsuccessful attempts to backtrack into the pitlane. Therefore, prioritising a race set-up may not necessarily be the best approach as it puts them at risk of an incident. Tornado are one team who like to slant their approach towards the race rather than qualifying, but it didn’t pay off for reigning champion Vaino Kimminen in Road America, who uncharacteristically crashed out. After two difficult races, can he bounce back?

Support Races

FF4M NA will support the FF1M meeting here with the regional series entering its penultimate weekend. Six drivers can still mathematically win the championship, but realistically, it’s between Leon Burgmeister and Enzo Moreira with the American holding a 20 points lead over the Brazilian. If Burgmeister holds a 31 point lead after the two races, then he’ll leave Montreal as the new champion.

Coverage Details

The race highlights will go live on Sunday at 16:00 BST

About The Author