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Chances to shine as F1 teams head to Montreal
Track characteristicsMontreal – 4.36 kilometers.
Race distance – 70 laps = 305 kilometers.
12 corners in total.
A circuit made up of straights, chicanes and a hairpin
Aerodynamic setup – Medium downforce.
Top speed 326km/h (with Drag Reduction System active on rear wing) – 316km/h without.
Full throttle – 60% of the lap (quite high). 15 seconds unbroken full throttle on main straight.
Time spent braking: 17% of lap (high). 7 braking zones. Brake wear – Very High.
Total time needed for pit stop at 80km/h: 18.8 seconds.
Weather ForecastSet on the St Lawrence seaway, Montreal can experience extremes of weather for the race; it can be very hot and humid, but also cold and wet, as it was in 2011 (above). This will have a huge bearing on the tyres. It is common to see huge temperature variations – 15 degrees of track temperature on one day and 35 degrees on another. It is one of the most extreme circuit locations for this phenomenon.
Likely tyre performance and other considerationsPirelli tyre choice for Montreal: Prime tyre is Soft and Option tyre is Super Soft. This is the same combination as in Monaco.
This combination of Pirelli tyres in Monaco proved very durable and quite hard to warm up and this is likely to be repeated this weekend.
The track surface is smooth and the lack of long corners means relatively low energy going into the tyres, which means longer life, but difficulty with warm-up. The key to making the super soft last is to limit sliding and wheel spin with the rear tyres. This happens when the drivers accelerate out of the low speed corners. This is even more of an issue this year with the high torque levels from the hybrid turbo engines, which really spin up the rear wheels.
Race Strategy: Number and likely timing of pit stopsAt Montreal the winning strategy is always to plan your fastest race from lights to flag and then prepare to be flexible in the event of a safety car.
Because pit stops cost less time (18 secs) the temptation is to do two stops, but a Safety Car at the wrong moment can hand the advantage to a one-stopping car. There are many examples of this in recent years.
Because of the ease of passing, track position is less important than at many other venues. The most important thing is to qualify well and run your fastest race and see where that puts you at the end, because you will not have problems overtaking. Running in clear air as much of the race as possible is key, so if a car doesn’t qualify as well as expected, we may see the team try an aggressive strategy to keep the driver in clear air. For a fast car out of position, getting out of sequence is an idea, so the car can run in clear air as much as possible.
Historically it has worked out that going with one stop would mean that the car was ahead of the two stoppers at their final stops, but they can usually pass the one stopper in the closing stages as his pace drops on worn tyres. However a safety car would swing things towards the one stopper, so there is always an element of gambling in Montreal.
One stop would pit around Lap 26/28. Two stops, which should be faster, would pit around Laps 16 and 44.
Chance of a safety carThe chances of a safety car at Montreal are very high at 56%. Seven of the last 12 Canadian Grands Prix have featured at least one safety car.
This is because, with the track lined with walls and several blind corners, there are frequent accidents and the conditions for the marshals when clearing debris from an accident are dangerous.
After the agony of defeat, success will be sweet!
There'll be dancing in the streets!! 
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
mostly I can't remember which race is which. I get them muddled up.
