Friday Practice for Canadian GP Breeds Interesting Developments

Photo Credit: Mercedes GP

The 7th race on the 2011 Formula 1 championship calendar, the Canadian Grand Prix represents the only time this season the most premier open wheel racing series visits the North American continent. Situated in the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on an island off the coast of Montreal, 24 drivers and cars arrived Friday to start the race weekend with two practice sessions.

An accustoming site throughout 2011 is the Red Bull-Renault of Sebastian Vettel at the top of every Formula 1 chart (practice, qualifying and the race). Following the first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix, the sight of Vettel's Red Bull-Renault against the start/finish line stretch represented a rare mistake in a near flawless season. While Sebastian Vettel started the grand prix weekend on a sore note, the reigning Formula 1 World Champion immediately rallied. In the second practice session Friday, Vettel recorded the second fastest time at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve course. “Canada is a very unique place. It’s not a real track because it’s on an island and also used for public roads." Vettel said detailing the track which has hosted the Canadian Grand Prix since 1978. The German racer compares the race course to the Australian Grand Prix's track saying "It’s a bit similar to Albert Park in Melbourne, as it’s mainly used for traffic with a second function as a race track. It’s very slippery there, the asphalt is very smooth and we saw last year that tyre degradation is huge, but it’s always good fun to go there." Racing in Canada, Sebastian Vettel shares "It’s a great race, the atmosphere is fantastic and the fans are very special"

Fully prepared with a counter-attack against the dominant Red Bull-Renault, the Friday practices shined light on a possible change to the course of the entire Formula 1 season to date. In the first practice, Mercedes GP showed some serious muscle in Montreal. The German factory team's Nico Rosberg was fastest with 7-time world driving champion Michael Schumacher piloting his Mercedes GP to a third fastest run. The track where Schmacher holds a Canadian Grand Prix record 7 wins, the driver comments “Montreal is a great city to visit and the Canadian Grand Prix is always one of those races where it feels like the whole city gets involved and creates a really nice atmosphere. The circuit itself is very much a stop-and-go scenario with much of the focus on top speed and braking."

Separating the Mercedes GP cars was the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa also flew quickly around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for a fourth fastest time. In the second afternoon practice Friday, Alonso bettered his effort from the previous track session by placing the Ferrari at the top of the time sheet. Lapping the track at 1 minute, 15.107 seconds, Fernando Alonso was 0.369 seconds faster than the resurging Sebastian Vettel. Felipe Massa's Ferrari again was close to Alonso on the time charts just 0.494 seconds slower than the lead Ferrari Formula 1 car. In 4th and 5th, the Mercedes-Benz engined McLaren cars of Lewis Hamilton as well as Jenson Button were strong. In contrast to the strong showing in the first Friday practice, Mercedes GP team were deep down the session's results in 19th and 20th place.

A new ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend was the health of Sauber driver Sergio Perez after a hard crash near the end of the Monoco Grand Prix qualifying. Given medical clearance to run the Canadian Grand Prix, Perez returned to the track Friday driving his Sauber-Ferrari. Posting a very respectable 11th fastest time, it became evident to the Formula 1 rookie Perez that his recovery was not quite completed. Sergio Perez will sit out the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix and the Sauber F1 team has sought the services of last season's team driver Pedro de la Rosa to substitute.

The top-four drivers and cars were separated by just a little over one second in the first practice but the gap decreased to 0.8th of a second after practice two.

Montoya Strikes Bulls Eye at the Glen

Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/ Getty Images for NASCAR

Taking the grid for the 25th race at the Glen in the NASCAR modern era (28th since the 1957 debut of the stock car series at the New York state road course), the NASCAR Sprint Cup series readies for their final road race of 2010. Tolerating just two events per year, the special driver skills for mastering the 9-turn, 2.45 mile track provides fans with a specific enjoyment seeing their favourite drivers negotiating right turns along with the left turns.

Carl Edwards posted fastest time in qualifying but would find his stint at the from extremely short. Within the first lap, the #99 Ford was immediately displaced from the lead by the #1 Chevy of Jamie McMurray where he would lead the initial 5 laps at Watkins Glen. On the fifth lap, the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing #1 Chevrolet was hounded his Target-sponsored teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Conceding to the ultra-fast Colombian native, McMurray gave the #42 car pretty of room to complete the lead change. Montoya would lead through the next 20 laps around Watkins Glen

The first caution came out after a round of green on lap 29 for a stalled #07 Toyota driven by PJ Jones who would retire as result of a fuel pump failure. Unlike the NASCAR Nationwide series race which involved a major 10-car crash, the Sprint Cup event was a more subdued affair when it came to on-track carnage. However, there would be some major incidents of note transpiring deeper into the Heluva Good! Sour Cream at The Glen.

Being the 5th race left before the cut off to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the finishes at Watkins Glen as well as the remaining rounds prior to New Hampshire are going to be very important to teams contending for the top-12 spots. On the outside of the final Chase spot, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman both made a habit to lead at least one lap for 5 valuable driver points. Both drivers also required some struggles for drivers embedded within the Chase-eligible top-12. The Heluva Good! Sour Cream at The Glen produced the circumstances Martin and Newman were looking for to aid their Chase hopes. The most significant event occurred on lap 62 when the #33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer encountered a driveline problem. Leaving debris on the track which drew a lap 63 caution, behind the wall repairs required of Bowyer's car took 3 laps. Clint Bowyer would gain 2 of those laps back through free passes on subsequent cautions but would ultimately finish 34th on the day. Falling to 13th in Sprint Cup series points, Mark Martin is now in the 12th place spot heading into Michigan next week.

Compacting the field, drivers eagerly fought for positions on the track through the final 1/3 of the Watkins Glen event. A result of the heightened aggression, drivers were less willing to show courtesy contributing to the final two cautions of the Heluva Good! Sour Cream at The Glen. Shortly after the debris caution, the yellow flag fell for a violent impact of the #83 Red Bull Toyota through turn 2. Driven by Boris Said during the weekend, the #83 car was accused of crowding the #14 Chevrolet of Tony Stewart through turn 1 running the Chevy wide. In an incident which had similarities to Leffler's triggering of the big wreck in the Nationwide race, Stewart forced himself back into the race surface bumping into Said. As the #83 Toyota was sent into the Armco, all other cars were able to miss the stopped Red Bull machine. Later in the garage, Boris Said testified to he did not see Stewart.

Following the lap 66 crash, another more high-profile accident collected 2 of the top contenders for the Sprint Cup. Through turn 7, Jimmie Johnson's #48 Chevrolet was sent around on lap 72 into the outside wall. While Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports car suffered minor damage from the wall impact, the #11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin would quickly get caught within the tire smoke of the #48 car. Colliding with the spun vehicle of Johnson, Hamlin made head-on contact with his #11 FedEx Toyota. Hamlin's day was at Watkins Glen was over but Johnson was able to soldier on to finish 28th. Starting the season as the driver and team to beat winning 3 of the first 5 races, Johnson has only 1 top-20 finish in the past 5 Sprint Cup race events.

Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/ Getty Images

In a similar dominating performance to Ambrose's walk away from the field in the Zippo 200 NASCAR Nationwide series race the previous day, Juan Pablo Montoya led for 74 of the Heluva Good! Sour Cream at The Glen's 90 laps. Out front through the final 28 laps, Montoya's Chevrolet pushed to over a 4 second interval over second place. It was a triumphant win for Montoya and crew chief Brian Pattie as the pairing his performed a multitude of strong runs with victory still eluding the #42 Chevrolet. Juan Pablo Montoya's 2nd win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series since his first win at Infineon Raceway in 2007. This was Montoya's first win in a Chevrolet.

Chasing the Colombian-born racer through much of the race distance was Marcos Ambrose trying to swap at Watkins Glen. Looking to be a match for the #42 Earnhardt/Ganassi

Rounding out the top-5 at Watkins Glen was the Richard Petty Motorsports driver AJ Allmendinger and pole sitter Carl Edwards who were both driving Ford Fusions.

Next Sunday, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will return to the two-mile race at Michigan International Speedway.


2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dip At The Glen
Race Results

Top-10

Pos #  | Car # | Driver   | Sponsor/ Car Make

1 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet

2 2  Kurt Busch Miller Lite/Vortex Dodge

3 47 Marcos Ambrose Little Debbie Toyota

4 43 A J Allmendinger Insignia HDTV Ford

5 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford

6 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's Chevrolet

7 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet

8 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota

9 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet

10 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet

Other Notable 

11 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet

12 39 Ryan Newman U.S.Army Chevrolet

13 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford

19 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet

21 26 Patrick Carpentier Air Guard Ford

26 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet

28 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet

40 36 Ron Fellows Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet

How the 2009 Chase for the Cup could shape

Saturday night's Chevy Rock and Roll 400 of the 2009 Sprint Cup series once again becomes the stage for what has been 25 races of hard work for competitors and teams. Besides dicing around the ultra-competitive 3/4 miles Richmond International Raceway, 14 drivers are fighting for the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will finally be set at the end of the night for an 10 race run between 12 Sprint Cup drivers.

I thought it would be entertaining to compute a possible prediction to the how the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship may shape. Since drivers 1st through 4th (Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin) are locked into the championship, the drivers on the so-called bubble remains undecided at the green flag tonight's (September 12) Chevy Rock and Roll 400. What I have compiled is a statistical calculation of two scenarios that may shape positions 5th to 14th place going into the Chase for the Cup. The first involves a comparison and averaging of the past 3 Richmond races and the other uses average finishes through the past 3 races in 2009. Neither of the averages account for points leading a lap or the most laps.


Kyle Busch

Current position in Cup points: 14th (3,040)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 1.33
Average Last 3 Races: 12.33


Brian Vickers

Current position in Cup points: 13th (3,057)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 26.3
Average Last 3 Races: 6.67


Matt Kenseth

Current position in Cup points: 12th (3,077)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 30
Average Last 3 Races: 13


Greg Biffle

Current position in Cup points: 11th (3,125)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 15
Average Last 3 Races: 11.33


Mark Martin

Current position in Cup points: 10th (3,126)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 4.33
Average Last 3 Races: 12.67


Ryan Newman

Current position in Cup points: 9th (3,138)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 14.33
Average Last 3 Races: 10


Juan Montoya

Current position in Cup points: 8th (3,145)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 24
Average Last 3 Races: 15.67


Kurt Busch

Current position in Cup points: 7th (3,152)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 21.33
Average Last 3 Races: 27


Kasey Kahne

Current position in Cup points: 6th (3,153)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 19.33
Average Last 3 Races: 13.33


Carl Edwards

Current position in Cup points: 5th (3,162)
Average 3 Finishes at Richmond: 15.33
Average Last 3 Races: 19


Points 5-14 According to Past 3 Richmond Finishes

5. Mark Martin 3259
6. Carl Edwards 3280
t7. Ryan Newman 3259
t7. Kasey Kahne 3259
9. Kurt Busch 3252
10. Greg Biffle 3243
11. Juan Pablo Montoya 3236
12. Kyle Busch 3225
13. Matt Kenseth 3150
14. Brian Vickers 3142


Points 5-14 According to Past 3 Races

5. Kasey Kahne 3277
6. Ryan Newman 3272
7. Carl Edwards 3268
8. Juan Pablo Montoya 3260
9. Greg Biffle 3255
10 Martin Martin 3250
11. Kurt Busch 3234
12. Matt Kenseth 3204
13. Brian Vickers 3203
14. Kyle Busch 3167


With this being a statistical calculation, one thing NASCAR racing teaches us is that the race takes place for a reason. Likely to foil these numbers Brian Vickers, Kurt Busch, and Juan Pablo Montoya have put together much better 2009 Sprint Cup season runs overall than compared to 2008. Also, Kyle Busch (a driver never needing motivation to win) will be inspired to break into the Chase after leading the race into the championship last year.

The broadcast for the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 is set for 7PM Eastern with the green expected to drop at 7:30PM tonight.