Circuit Gilles Villeneuve resembles in some ways the Australian Albert Park, and in other ways the Austrian A1-Ring. This resemblance bodes well for Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, but much will depend on the Michelin tyres and the weather. Atlas F1's technical writer Craig Scarborough analyses the upcoming weekend

Formula One now takes a break from the mid European season for a one off flyaway race. All equipment is packed up and flown over to Canada, and then flown back to Europe right after the race is over.

The Montreal circuit itself is equally unique and much like the track in Melbourne, as it is a semi permanent circuit with purpose made roads set in parkland. Uniquely, the parkland is set on an island on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Montreal. But unlike Melbourne, the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit is fast, with long runs into tight chicanes and a hairpin. This makes the track similar to Austria and a precursor to the super-fast tracks in the late European season. With the unusual setting, exciting layout, and enthusiastic Canadian fans, this weekend stands out as one of the favourites for the teams and drivers.

Named after the great Gilles Villeneuve, who took his maiden F1 win there in the track's debut race in 1978, the circuit provides a race with overtaking opportunities and a chance to play different strategies. The race also provides unpredictability, with mixed weather and accidents. The circuit layout has changed this year - the infamous exit from the last chicane on to start/finish straight, has been given a larger run off.

Set up and Layout

Montreal has a simple layout and simple requirements from the car, but it's a place where strategy can make up a large proportion of a team's performance.

Due to the layout, straight-line speed and brakes are the primary factors, both built up by a number of smaller requirements from the car.

Straight-line speed is largely a combination of a low drag / low downforce aerodynamic set-up and engine power. The teams compromise the set up of the car for the straights; a lot of downforce is sacrificed to gain the maximum speed. Teams with lower engine outputs compensate by running dramatically small wings, while the teams with an excess of power can afford to run larger wings to stabilise the cars under braking.

This year, traction control will aid the cars to get out of the slow corners and get up to speed much quicker. For the race, the teams will want to run even less wing for overtaking or protection on the straights. If a team is expecting to get clear of the field at the start then a higher downforce/drag set-up could be considered to preserve the tyres, but it carries the risk of struggling to lap the faster backmarkers.

Braking performance has more to do with the mechanical qualities of the car, as such small amounts of downforce are run. Keeping the car under control in the braking zones and maximising grip has to be done with careful damper and suspension set-up. Montreal has several high speed stops into the chicanes and hairpin. These braking zones are important, as they form a real opportunity to overtake in the race and reduce the lap time.

Braking a modern F1 car with carbon fibre brakes is also a case of heat management. Carbon fibre brakes were introduced, as they were lighter than steel discs, but they have to run in a high temperature range. Run them too cold and they won't provide the deceleration; run them too hot and they start to degrade and wear out much faster, to the point where the disc disintegrates.

Even at Monaco, several teams suffered brake overheating - the subsequent incidents affecting Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa and Mika Salo were believed to be caused by fading Brembo brakes. To keep the brakes up to temperature the complicated cooling ducts will need to feed air to the disc, the pads and the callipers.

A Lap of Montreal with Jarno Trulli

"I start the lap on the short pit straight reaching around 300kmh in fifth gear before braking hard for the first corner.

"The first part of the corner is a left-hander taken in second gear at around 115kmh but as soon as I exit this corner I drop down to first gear, dabbing the brakes to set the car up for the very tight right-hand corner. I apex this corner at around 65kmh and this is followed by a short straight where I will reach around 245kmh in fourth gear before dropping down to second to take the first right-hand part of the corner at around 115kmh.

"I accelerate gently through the left-hand part of the chicane, kissing the apex at around 130kmh. Before reaching the next chicane I have to negotiate a fast right-hand corner which I will accelerate through flat out between 240kmh and 265kmh. Even though it's taken flat, this is not an easy corner, and as I exit, even while I have still got some cornering force on the car, I have to brake to enter the second chicane.

"Again I will have drop down to second gear taking the first part of the corner at 90kmh before accelerating through the second half at around 130kmh. On the next straight, I will touch 300kmh in fifth gear before braking for the third chicane.

"Braking here is very difficult because the circuit is quite bumpy and I need to choose my line into the corner very carefully. I need to drop my speed down to around 105kmh so will again be using second gear. Just as in the previous two chicanes, I stay in second gear then accelerate carefully through the left-hand second part of the chicane, apexing at around 145kmh.

"Leading down to the hairpin I will once again be expecting to hit around 300kmh in fifth gear. During the race, this will be one of the best overtaking opportunities, and practice is a good opportunity to look at the different lines that I can use in the race.

"Once again, I brake extremely hard for the hairpin, as I need to get my speed down to around 60kmh in first gear. Following the hairpin is the longest straight, where I will be at full throttle for around 15 seconds, which gives me plenty of time to think about the very difficult final chicane.

"I will approach this at the highest speed we reach on the circuit, roughly 320kmh in top gear. Once again, as is the nature of this circuit, I will be braking extremely hard and will take the first part of the final chicane at around 120kmh in second gear. Through the second part I can increase my speed slightly and remaining in second gear, I will be apexing at around 135kmh and using every inch of the track in order to get good speed over the finish line."

The Teams

A major test at the British Silverstone circuit preceded the race. A lot of the running was aimed at obtaining a set-up for the Canadian race and as such, large brake ducts and small wings were tried. This is an important point in the season - the Championships are shaping up and each team's form is better understood.

The early season kicked off with surprise results following first corner shunts, but the intermediate races have shown the teams' real form. For the teams that found their initial design was lacking, the factories have now had the time to prepare the updates - or "steps" as they are termed in F1. The first of these steps will come in Canada for BAR; Jaguar and Williams also have steps coming in the next few races.

Some teams - notably Ferrari, Renault and McLaren - appear to be at ease with the performance they are getting from the car, although McLaren have openly admitted that this year's car is inadequate and are not pushing all out to provide an update for it.

Further back down the field, Sauber, Jordan, Toyota, and Arrows are working on detail development and do not see the need to produce a big step this season. Minardi have been at work developing new front wing solutions. These are pointed more at performance than fixes for the breakage seen in Spain.

Team by Team

Ferrari

If the Montreal circuit is similar in style to the A1-Ring in Austria, then the team should come here full of confidence. Ferrari have proved the car is competitive on any circuit; they have had compliments paid to the engine by the BMW engineers and universal praise for the chassis from all the teams. The main questions for Ferrari are: will Michelin produce a tyre that can make up the performance deficit for their teams, and which of their drivers would find the quickest pace in qualifying.

The team come to Canada after a rare testing appearance in the UK - Canada set-ups were tried as well as preparation for the British race. Brake problems for Barrichello in Monaco will have concerned the team and some running on Friday will no doubt be paid to assessing brake wear and temperatures.

Williams

Monaco proved Williams can run well on a circuit that requires mechanical performance from the car. Furthermore, the BMW power has never been in doubt and the team have worked on their brakes all season. So all the ingredients for a successful weekend are in place, and arguably the car should be equal on pace to Ferrari given parity in tyres. But the team's ultimate pace will be dependant on the Michelin tyres. Even if the weather turns wet - the test at Silverstone allowed the team to evaluate wet weather tyres in both full wet and drying conditions - comments from the drivers suggest that Michelin have made great stride this year with their wet tyres.

Competition between the drivers will spur the team on. Juan Pablo Montoya showed his form in Monaco after a spell in Ralf's shadow. Whether this pace was down to Monaco or a resurgence in Montoya's form will need to be seen in Canada, as both drivers have suffered some reliability problems largely from the BMW engine and the circuit is a tough test for the engine's durability.

McLaren

Ron Dennis is keen to downplay suggestions that Monaco is the start of a renaissance for the team. The circuit suited the car and David Coulthard is something of a Monaco specialist. However, the power nature of the Montreal track and the team's lowly placing on the speed traps so far this year, lower the team's expectation from the race.

Nevertheless, the car works well on the brakes and in slower corners, and being out of serious running for the Championships means the team can afford to take a gamble on strategy and see if it pays off. Should the race turn wet, the team could well be near the very front at the end of the race.

Renault

After the early season resurgence, Renault are now looking more settled in fourth than chasing McLaren for third. Their Championship position has been battered by unreliability, and too many points have been lost through failures usually frustratingly close to the races' end.

On paper, Canada would appear to suit the car, but the heavy demands on the engine will mean the team will have to be cautious with engine set-up rather than risk more failures. The frustration of unreliability faced by the drivers, has lead to some mistakes - such as Jenson Button's haste to recover from his startline problem in Monaco.

Likewise, Jarno Trulli is still searching for stability, and when he can't get the balance he likes from the chassis he doesn't seem to be able to drive around it and his weekend suffers as a result. Nevertheless, in line with the team's aims, both drivers should knuckle down and look for a solid points' finish this weekend.

Sauber

After a race in Monaco that the team would prefer to forget, it is hard to predict what to expect from Sauber in Canada. Being a Bridgestone customer team has placed them at the mercy of the tyre company's form more than their own. Having said that, this year's car - while holding another solid and neat design - does not have the advantage over the opposition that the 2001 car had.

More was expected of Sauber this year and Montreal should be a circuit that suits the car and the drivers. The increasingly divergent styles of the drivers is becoming clear - Nick Heidfeld's driving is becoming smoother, more mature and much talked about by team managers. Felipe Massa's style is 100% committed and reliant on reflexes, but he is overdriving in order to get the pace out of the car, and this enthusiasm need to be curbed before he gains the wrong type of reputation.

Jordan

As expected in Monaco, the team's upturn in form is continuing and the car is finding its pace on circuits as diverse as Monaco and Austria. In fact, it is their form in Austria that should boost their confidence for Montreal.

The team have been reorganised internally, losing some key staff but crucially finding a solid base for the technical department. The return of original Jordan designer Gary Anderson cannot be underplayed in this change about. When Anderson departed Jordan a few years ago, it was believed he was unable to delegate his workload and his cars suffered as a result. Now he has returned to a role where he is better able to manage the engineering staff.

The team's improvement in pace and the resolution of the hydraulic problems blighting them in the early season, is still counteracted by the problems of the Honda engine. The pace of development of the unit is startling - with major steps at each race, but it seems to undermine the stability required to make the unit totally reliable.

Jordan's upturn in the past few races has been solely reliant on Giancarlo Fisichella's driving - his teammate Takuma Sato hasn't been able to reflect the stunning form he found in the lower formulae. This is not unusual for drivers coming into F1, but there is a limit to the amount of time he has before he is no longer seen as a viable star of the future.

BAR

The season so far this year has been a tough one for the team - the departure of Craig Pollock and the subsequent firing of a large portion of the workforce, should have seen the team in total disarray. However, to the credit of the team's staff and new manager David Richards, they have remained focussed and gone to work on rectifying the problems within the team and on the car.

Long time BAR designer Malcolm Oastler left the team and replacement Geoff Willis found many areas needing attention. The fruits of this first analysis will be seen this weekend with a major development step for the car. Tested last week by Olivier Panis but yet unseen by the media is a new aerodynamic package, largely added to the sidepods, and a heavily revised 7-speed gearbox to cure the persistent clutch problems dogging the team at every race and test this year.

Considering Canada is Jacques Villeneuve's home race and considered the team's spiritual home race, it is one that has never provided the results expected. Whether it's because of pressure from the local media or because of self-inflicted pressure, Villeneuve has a tendency to overdrive at Montreal and retire from the race due to his own mistakes.

Villeneuve needs to get a result to rid him of these demons, and teammate Olivier Panis always seems to be able to match Villeneuve's pace. If the Honda engine can hold together and the new development can be made to work, the team could find their first points of the season here.

Jaguar

While not as bad as Monaco, Jaguar does not expect to go well in Canada. The car still awaits its development step - designer John Russell spoke briefly on the progress on the car in the team's new wind tunnel, stating that the new aerodynamic treatment may not be ready for Silverstone, but in simulations is providing the figures they are looking for. Russell's aim to make Jaguar the "British Ferrari" by building the entire car and building it well is a lofty aim, but one he feels they are making progress on.

Eddie Irvine needs to be looking over his shoulder. With Fernando Alonso testing for the team last week and Jenson Button increasingly seen in the Jaguar motorhome, there are signs that Eddie's salary or even his seat are under threat.

Arrows

For a team that have never had a powerful engine, Arrows usually put in a good show in Canada. They take advantage of their chassis effectiveness and run very low amounts of wing, which gives them the speed on the straights and lets the driver sort out the car around the bends.

Last year, Arrows were running a very small fuel tank, and running the extra pitstop in the race allowed the drivers to exploit the lower fuel load in the first stint and star on the TV coverage. This year, the team have a more normal fuel range but should still provide a better performance than their engine would normally allow.

Toyota

Toyota has been hard at work all season, and going to Monaco they were believed to lack mechanical grip but in reality - due to co-operation with the excellent Michelin tyres - they proved that progress had been made since Imola. This improvement and the impressive engine should put the team in line for another top ten result this weekend.

Toyota's brakes are a concern after Mika Salo's failure in Monaco, and the team will introduce a revision of a design Prost used in 2001 to help cool the brakes more effectively. The new duct extends to the outside of the brake disc and small cooling flow is passed to the outside of the brake calliper. This set up has also been adopted by Jordan, but Toyota have tested it on both the front and rear brakes. Also, the barge boards and sidepods have updates to cope with the demands of the Montreal circuit.

Monaco also found both drivers on an equal pace all weekend for the first time. Allan McNish found his confidence for the early part of the weekend, and his teamwork with Mika Salo is paying dividends for the team.

Minardi

For a team with so little funding and resources, Minardi have been hard at work developing new front wing packages under the direction of aerodynamicist Loic Bigois in a private test in Italy. Two new front wings were tried and at least one will make it to Canada.

A low drag strategy - much like Arrows's - have been adopted in the past and is the main option for the team. The Asiatech engine is largely reliable but lacks outright power.

Mark Webber is clearly the driver in charge within the team, while Alex Yoong continues to have question marks placed over him by the media. Both drivers are aiming for a clean weekend with lots of track time to evaluate the new front wing packages and can be confident of a finish on Sunday, however far behind they are.