After the frustrations of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend the Williams F1 now focuses on the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix to further show that the team can again achieve a good result. Both Williams drivers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna are confident that they can show good pace at a circuit that they both enjoy.
Mark Gillan, Chief
Operations Engineer:
On the back of a mixed weekend in Monaco the whole team is looking to
demonstrate further improvement in Montreal, with the aim of getting
both cars home in the points. Montreal is a great race and usually full
of drama with a very low pit lane loss which pushes the strategy towards
having more stops. The high likelihood of a safety car deployment adds
to this drama. The track layout is very hard on brakes and one must also
ensure that the aerodynamic package has an appropriately high efficiency
target. Pirelli bring to Montreal the same tyre compounds used in
Monaco, namely the soft and super soft tyres. Weather wise we are
expecting ambient temperatures into the high 20Cs with corresponding
track temperatures in the high 30Cs, although there is a chance of rain
throughout running.
Bruno Senna:
Canada is one of the most challenging tracks of the season. It is a
combination of a street circuit and a normal fixed circuit with a
mixture of very fast, long straights and tight slow corners with heavy
braking. It is also important to have as much track time as possible
before the weekend to learn the track surface because it can evolve
quickly. Our car is looking competitive at this stage of the season so
hopefully we can show good pace here.
Pastor Maldonado:
We have been working very hard to improve the performance of the car and
I can feel it getting better all the time. I am therefore hoping for a
strong finish in Canada, a circuit which I really enjoy. It has a nice
combination of corners with very high speed straights followed by slow
speed chicanes, and the feeling of speed is increased by the closeness
of the walls. There is a big DRS effect on the straights as well so we
should see some overtaking this week.
Rémi Taffin, Head of
Renault Sport F1 Track Operations:
Canada is a completely different track to Monaco and
also unique in itself. The long straights demand good top end power but
the heavy braking zones of the hairpin and chicane need effective engine
braking and good pick up on the exit, so it’s rightly called an ‘engine
breaker’ because the engine doesn’t get any respite at all. The
challenge is to find the right balance between delivering maximum
performance and maintaining 100% reliability, just like at Spa and Monza
where the risks have to justify the gains.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli
Motorsport Director:
Montreal is a great place and a fantastic race track, which has thrown
up more than its fair share of unpredictability and excitement in the
past. We have the same nomination as for Monaco – P Zero Red supersoft
and P Zero Yellow soft – but they will be used in a very different way,
as Montreal is much faster and gives greater tyre degradation. So there
will definitely be scope for a lot of strategy, with teams having the
possibility to be quite inventive in their approach. The rear tyres in
particular have plenty of work to do in Montreal, due to the heavy
traction demands, so looking after those will be crucial.
Race Data Friday:
Practice 1: 10:00 - 11:30
Practice 2: 14:00 - 15:30 Saturday:
Practice 3: 10:00 - 11:00
Qualifying: 13:00 – 14:00 Sunday: Race: 14:00
Canada has seen plenty of heartache for Williams in the past. It's usually a demolition derby where keeping a cool head at the start and amongst traffic reaps dividend. I can think of a safer pairing for such a job...
2011 was wet, but 2010 saw RedBull looking fairly vulnerable to Mclaren due to the straights. Hopefully Renault drivability will help look after tyres, but in terms of pure speed, at least in qualifying, I have my reservations...
How has the car been in terms of straight line speed with the new rear wing config? It must be better because we improved our quali dramatically. I'm assuming we will see another special rear wing like the "whale tail" wing we saw last year.
I have a good feeling about this one. FW34 has ok acceleration and great traction through slow corners but we still lack straight line speed. So though we may be vulnerable down the long straight, we have the likelihood of being far enough in front after the first two sections to hold off challenges into the chicane. Passing there is not something you can do with a marginal advantage: the wall awaits any imperfections.
When you add in the supply of soft and supersoft tyres, I'd say a 3 stop strategy is the most likely. Cars that preserve tyres might be on 2 sets of each with others opting for 3 softs and 1 SS. I doubt many teams will try a 2 stopper with the pit stop time loss being so small.
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