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[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com:

Hamilton: Ferrari will be hard to beat

By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Thursday, June 5th 2008, 17:56 GMT

Lewis HamiltonLewis Hamilton believes Ferrari's straightline speed will make them hard to beat at this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

The Briton arrives in Montreal, scene of his maiden grand prix win last year, in the championship lead after winning in Monte Carlo.

Ferrari, however, were very strong on the streets of the principality, where they struggled to match McLaren last season.

They also failed to match their rivals in Canada, but the Italian squad are adamant they will also be fast in Montreal.

Hamilton reckons Ferrari's top speed could give the Maranello team the edge.

"I think it is difficult to say," said Hamilton when asked to compare this year's McLaren with last season's car. "Last year I think we had a very good car. Obviously with the driving aids we had, I think the package was stronger in some areas than the ones we have right now.

"But that is because we have had some aids taken away. But we should be slightly better over the kerbs, which is definitely suited for this sort of circuit. And we've improved the engine and improved the aero, so we should be quicker overall. </p>

"It is going to be interesting to see who is quick tomorrow. The car with the quickest car down the main straight, you know who they usually are, so it will be difficult to beat them (Ferrari). But I still feel quite optimistic and feel that we can make quite a big difference here."

Thanks to his win in Monaco, Hamilton stopped a three-race winning streak from Ferrari, and he reckons his team's morale was boosted by it.

He claims, however, that it didn't change much for him.

"I don't think it really made much difference to be honest," he said. "We had had a couple of strong races. But I think mainly for the team, not for me, it was a big confidence boost.

"They have been working so hard and they deserved it more than anyone I think. For me, though, I didn't particularly need a confidence boost.

"I had had a couple of strong races before, so for sure it was nice to have a win - but I am not going to get overly excited about it."

The McLaren driver admitted he was not too surprised to see Ferrari fighting on top at Monaco, despite their problems in previous years.

"I don't really think they made any progress. I think they have been quick all year and I don't think they particularly made a step compared to the previous race. But their car is better this year than last, so it was to be expected."

[McLaren Fan]

they have smoothed the curbs so it will favour Ferrari now

Yup. Or at least level the playing field as McLaren traditionally is better over curbs.

True. Hamilton said today that McLaren are better over the curbs, but, as bud said, they've been smoothed out, and the Ferraris have super straight-line speed. On sheer speed alone, it's tough to see past a Ferrari one-two, but if it rains of if the safety car is deployed, then McLaren could capitalise.

[bud]

The McLaren is no slouch in straight line either though, might not be so clean cut 1 - 2 Ferrari here

[EwanM]

Well im watching live practice now, and it's damp. Rain is coming in to it seems.

[racechick]

Lewis will win!!! How many peolpe have i just annoyed?! im going for a record

[racechick]

Did michael schumacher have anything to do with curb smoothing?? Its just i remember him redesigning another track to suit the ferraris - but I cant remember which now

[McLaren Fan]

autosport.com:

Hamilton quickest in practice 2 - Canada

By Simon Strang Friday, June 6th 2008, 19:32 GMT

Lewis Hamilton left it until the last ten minutes of Friday's free practice to lay down his marker for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The McLaren man, returning to the scene of his maiden Grand Prix victory, put in a lap of 1:15.766 that was within an ace of his 2007 pole lap.

Then, with the matter already seemingly beyond debate, the Briton produced a spectacular final lap to lower his time to 1:15.752, getting airborne as he thumped the kerbs at the final chicane.

Until then it looked as if Robert Kubica would take the honours after hustling BMW to the top of the times.

The BMW driver set a 1:16.023 with just under half an hour of the session left, despite brushing the wall on the exit of Turn Four.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was third fastest, but twice he looked as though he could have gone quicker had he not been forced to back off in the middle sector.

The first time it happened while track officials cleared away Timo Glock's Toyota - the German having clouted the same wall slightly harder than Kubica - and the second time when David Coulthard spun at Turn Six.

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen also might have gone quicker as well but for a small error, but still managed the fourth fastest time.

Felipe Massa was fifth quickest, but missed the last 15 minutes of the session when his Ferrari appeared to suffer a technical failure on the exit of the hairpin.

Kubica's teammate Nick Heidfeld was fast early in the 90 minutes, but dropped back as the session continued.

Mark Webber was seventh, his attempt to improve further ruined by a spin, while Nico Rosberg put in a late effort to push the impressive Sebastian Vettel back to ninth. Jarno Trulli completed the top ten.

Both Renaults were in the wars. Fernando Alonso spun halfway through the session at Turn Two and couldn't get his car restarted.

Meanwhilem Nelson Piquet's woes continued as he suffered a gearbox failure.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:15.752 42
2. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:16.023 + 0.271 41
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:16.093 + 0.341 39
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:16.331 + 0.579 36
5. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:16.413 + 0.661 27
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:16.589 + 0.837 43
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:16.604 + 0.852 39
8. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:16.767 + 1.015 37
9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.019 + 1.267 43
10. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:17.068 + 1.316 46
11. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:17.242 + 1.490 37
12. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:17.334 + 1.582 31
13. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:17.462 + 1.710 39
14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.508 + 1.756 39
15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:17.549 + 1.797 31
16. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.559 + 1.807 38
17. Alonso Renault (B) 1:17.644 + 1.892 30
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.813 + 2.061 37
19. Button Honda (B) 1:17.842 + 2.090 39
20. Piquet Renault (B) 1:18.076 + 2.324 17

There's the times. As always, you have to take them with a pinch of salt, for different teams are trying different things, and, indeed, some teams sandbag. Those times suggest that McLaren and Ferrari aren't that far apart, and that BMW aren't too far behind them, but things could completely reverse, as seen at Monaco a fortnight ago.

[AKR]

Dry: Ferrari 1-2
Wet: Ferrari 1-2.

AGREED, AGREED, AGREED.

[AKR]

Lewis will win!!! How many peolpe have i just annoyed?! im going for a record

Mene

How many people predicted that would be the case.

[texasmr2]

My only prediction is that a F1 car will win the race!!

[McLaren Fan]

From autosport.com: Rosberg fastest in final practice - Canada

By Matt Beer Saturday, June 7th 2008, 15:05 GMT

Nico Rosberg emerged fastest for Williams in the final practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix, as late incidents frustrated the teams' attempts to complete flying laps on the softer compound tyres.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen took second behind Rosberg, with Lewis Hamilton third for McLaren and Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa in fourth.

After an uneventful first 45 minutes, the session was halted with 14 minutes to go when Sebastian Vettel crashed his Toro Rosso heavily at the exit of Turn 9.

The young German got out of the car unaided, but his incident left a significant amount of debris for the marshals to clear up, and only six minutes remained on the clock when the action resumed.

That led to a frantic dash on the super-soft tyres, as the entire field (bar Vettel) took to the track to attempt qualifying simulations as soon as the green light came on at the pit exit.

But they were interrupted again when Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais also crashed - damaging his Toro Rosso's suspension on the Turn 5 wall and parking on the grass next to the circuit.

Although there was no need for another stoppage, the yellow flags for Bourdais' stranded machine prevented any late improvements.

That meant Rosberg remained on top, having been quickest throughout the second half of the session. He twice swapped the top spot with Raikkonen as both completed their first runs after 20 minutes, before settling at the head of the timing screens with a 1:16.555 lap - 0.034 seconds faster than Raikkonen's best.

Hamilton was 0.170 seconds slower than Rosberg in third, ahead of Massa.

Kazuki Nakajima jumped up to fifth in the second Williams just before the yellows for Bourdais' crash emerged, with Toyota's Jarno Trulli also improving at the same time to earn sixth.

Heikki Kovalainen was only seventh for McLaren, while Renault's Nelson Piquet was an encouraging eighth despite a quick spin at Turn 8 mid-way through the session and then another rotation at the final chicane on his last lap. He narrowly missed the wall and escaped damage.

Behind ninth-placed Mark Webber (Red Bull), Vettel was able to hang on to 10th place despite his accident.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:16.555 16
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:16.589 + 0.034 22
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:16.725 + 0.170 17
4. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:16.787 + 0.232 19
5. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:16.898 + 0.343 16
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:16.946 + 0.391 20
7. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:16.952 + 0.397 16
8. Piquet Renault (B) 1:17.060 + 0.505 19
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:17.062 + 0.507 16
10. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.085 + 0.530 16
11. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:17.109 + 0.554 17
12. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:17.282 + 0.727 17
13. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:17.322 + 0.767 20
14. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:17.557 + 1.002 19
15. Glock Toyota (B) 1:17.557 + 1.002 20
16. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:17.608 + 1.053 24
17. Alonso Renault (B) 1:17.683 + 1.128 16
18. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:17.766 + 1.211 17
19. Button Honda (B) 1:18.178 + 1.623 19
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:18.424 + 1.869 21

All timing unofficial