Canadian Grand Prix Preview
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal
by Toby Waller
England

Circuit Length: 2.752 miles / 4.429 km
Race Length: 69 laps (189.943 miles / 305.670 km)

As I sit and think back over the recent history of the Canadian Grand Prix, my mind fills with moments that have helped change the shape of many a Grand Prix season - Nigel Mansell crawling to a halt in 1991 with only the length of the straight between him and his first win of the season; Ayrton Senna and Mansell colliding in the 1992 event; Senna and Gerhard Berger wheel-to-wheel along the back straight in 1993 and, more recently, Jean Alesi taking his first ever victory last year. But, every year, one previous event at this circuit dominates all others in the thoughts and minds of the local fans - 1978. It was the year that local hero Gilles Villeneuve won his first race and, more importantly, won it at this very circuit in front of his home crowd. When Jean Alesi won the race here last year, the crowd went wild again. After all, it was a hard charging Frenchman in a number 27 Ferrari taking his first win on the 91st attempt. Jean, celebrating his birthday on the same day, was a massive fan of Gilles and even requested the no. 27 car when he joined Ferrari. A Hollywood scriptwriter couldn't have created anything more poignant. With the recent improved form of Ferrari and Benetton, this year's race looks as if it will provide another cracker. Also, with Jacques Villeneuve making his Formula One debut here, expect the atmosphere to be nothing less than electric...

Lap Guide
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, situated on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence Seaway, offers a real challenge for the drivers when setting up their cars. With two hairpins, and a wide variety of slow and fast corners, traction and good braking balance are required. Straight line speed is often sacrificed for greater downforce. So, what's a fast lap like? Crossing the start finish line, the track kinks right slightly before turning sharp left. The drivers take this corner in 2nd before slowing down further for the 1st gear Pits Hairpin. Accelerating out of this tight right hander, the cars pass through a fast, twisty set of curves before slamming on the brakes once more for the 3rd gear left/right complex. The track then has a short straight before the next corner, the drivers often using the opportunity for overtaking manoeuvres. This chicane is taken in 2nd gear and helps close the field up before the final hairpin. The hairpin is the slowest point on the circuit but often causes the most excitement, opponents often driving side-by-side as they enter the final straight. The longest straight on the circuit used to contain two flat out kinks but was interrupted by a temporary chicane for the 1994 and 1995 events. This year though, the straight runs the entire length uninterrupted once more. The final corner before the start/finish line is another fast chicane that sees the drivers slide wide before beginning another fast lap of this tough, bumpy circuit.

What Happened Last Year?
Who could have predicted it? After dominating the majority of the race, Michael Schumacher pulled into the pits to have his gearbox re-programmed, giving the lead to Jean Alesi who went on to take his first ever victory. Alesi had started fifth, but took advantage of Coulthard spinning off to move up to third, past team-mate Gerhard Berger. He was soon past Damon Hill to take second - the Williams driver would eventually retire with hydraulic failure - and looked set for the lower podium step until the German made his unscheduled stop on lap fifty-eight. As Alesi crossed the finish line, the crowd - seeing a distinct similarity between the French-Sicilian and their own racing hero, Gilles Villeneuve - invaded the track. The atmosphere along the entire pitlane was one of jubilation for the Frenchman. It was even his birthday - he will probably never receive a birthday present like it again. The crowd invasion, though driven by justified passion, was foolish and there was nearly a catastrophe as Mika Salo and Luca Badoer were still racing each other to the line.

1995 Results
1.  Jean Alesi              Ferrari          1h44m54.171s
2.  Rubens Barrichello      Jordan-Peugot       + 31.687s
3.  Eddie Irvine            Jordan-Peugot       + 33.270s
4.  Olivier Panis           Ligier-Mugen Honda  + 36.508s
5.  Michael Schumacher      Benetton-Renault    + 37.060s
6.  Gianni Morbidelli       Arrows-Hart         + one lap

Pole Position    Michael Schumacher  Benetton-Renault    1m27.661s
Fastest Lap      Michael Schumacher  Benetton-Renault    1m29.147s

After the previous two wet races, it's hard to judge the teams current form guide. The tricky conditions provided interesting finishing lists but failed to accurately demonstrate the team's relative performance. Hopefully this weekend will be run fully dry - after all, it's about time the fans had a chance to sunbathe whilst cheering their favourite drivers on. Still, here's the best estimate I can give of how the teams will perform this weekend:

Ferrari
Despite their win last weekend, I expect that the team will still be running behind the Williams cars in qualifying and, more importantly, the race. A new steel gearbox and aerodynamic tweaks are apparently going to be run at Canada and may close the gap slightly. Michael Schumacher seems able to wring the lap times out of the car whatever parts are stuck on it and Eddie Irvine now seems to be getting the hang of the Ferrari after some recent testing. They'll be up there again this weekend, but don't expect them to be dominating the proceedings. If the rumoured second a lap can be gained from the new aerodynamic parts, then expect a few surprises at France.

Benetton-Renault
Jean Alesi seems to be finally settling down at Benetton. Many journalists and fans seemed disappointed with his pace, especially since Alesi is one of the acknowledged 'rain-masters', but his performance was, in my eyes at least, encouraging. He drove a calm, non-eventful race from fourth on the grid to take a well deserved second place in atrocious conditions. Expect the French-Sicilian to keep his seat for the remainder of the season, regardless of rumours to the contrary. Gerhard Berger had a similarly positive qualifying session, eventually lining up fifth, but his race ended after an unfortunate spin on lap 44. Expect better things from the Austrian this weekend.

Williams-Renault
The Williams team are beginning to look under pressure. Whilst most pundits commented on their brilliant job during qualifying, they soon found source for complaint by the end of Sunday afternoon. The cause of Damon Hill's bad race form was soon traced to 'guessed' setups on the grid. It will have done the team, and Hill, no favours in terms of confidence though. Jacques Villeneuve drove a steady race in the awful conditions to finish third, but many were disappointed with his pace, relative to Alesi, and the ease with which Schumacher sailed (literally) past him. There appeared to be a major problem with his pitstop as well. Jacques managed to lose the second place despite Jean Alesi taking his Benetton off-road between their stops. Above all, the Williams team need to keep a relaxed, calm attitude this weekend or face destroying the benefits of their Saturday toil once again.

McLaren-Mercedes
The Woking team had a fairly disappointing trip to Spain - especially after their recent run of success. David Coulthard was out by the first corner, and Mika Hakkinen drove conservatively to finish fifth. Even more disappointing were their qualifying performances. Using the long wheelbase car, David Coulthard lined up a disappointing fourteenth - and, not for the first time, outqualified by team-mate Mika Hakkinen in tenth spot. The team have been testing both versions of their car at Silverstone during the week but, as yet, it is unclear which they will race at Canada. With the twists of Canada suiting the shorter wheelbase better, and its strong performance at Monaco, I expect the McLaren will be measuring up a little on the short side come Friday morning scrutineering.

Ligier-Mugen Honda
After a lucky, if well deserved, victory in Monaco, everyone was expecting the French marque to slump back to the midfield. Olivier Panis defied the critics though, eventually lining up eighth on the grid. He was out during the first lap of the race though and , for once, was overshadowed by his team-mate, Pedro Diniz. The Brazilian has been getting some stick recently but proved his detractors wrong by being in the points come the end of Sunday afternoon. An interesting statistic also emerged. The BBC commentator Jonathan Palmer remarked that Diniz has been the only driver not to retire through a spin or crash - i.e. his own fault - so far this season. Technically, his Monaco retirement - due to mechanical failure - was probably caused by a spin into the armco, but I guess I'm just being picky.

Jordan-Peugot
I predict that, come Sunday, there will be huge smiles on the faces of the Jordan crew. I'm surely not predicting a pole position for the Irish team am I? Well, not exactly. With their previous run of success in the annual mechanics raft race, the team look likely to take the honours there. At Spain, however, the team had mixed fortunes. Rubens Barrichello lined up seventh on Saturday afternoon but Martin Brundle, still suffering from set-up gremlins, ended up fifteenth. Both cars retired on Sunday with transmission failure. The team need a bit more luck in qualifying and the races if they are to successfully catch the top teams this season.

Sauber-Ford
For the first time this year, Johnny Herbert outqualified team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Frentzen couldn't complain and responded with the better race performance of the two, finishing fourth after taking advantage of the many retirements. Herbert apparently went the wrong way on setup and aquaplaned off the circuit. If the team are expecting to land a works engine deal for next season - something any team desperately needs - then they need to start winning points and places on merit rather than through other people's misfortune.

Footwork-Hart
Over the Spanish weekend, there was some light shed on the reason for the car's recent lack of performance. It seems that the TWR engineers cannot understand the behaviour of the car, or how to successfully remedy it. Their qualifying performance was disappointing, the car's natural understeer being greatly emphasised on the Barcelona circuit. Jos Verstappen was able to run consistently in the top ten during the race, despite being incredibly lucky to get away with a complete 360o spin. He eventually joined Riccardo Rosset in retirement though. Verstappen is apparently jetting over to Japan this week to test Bridgestone tyres - any bets on Footwork cars being shod with Japanese rubber next year?

Tyrrell-Yamaha
The radically new front suspension on the Tyrrell cars failed to improve the car's performance. Both Mika Salo and Ukyo Katayama were disappointing in qualifying and found themselves struggling further in the race - Salo with electrical problems on the grid and Katayama with eventual engine failure. The team deserve some better luck this weekend, but will probably struggle to score points again.

Minardi-Ford
The most positive thing that can be said about the Italian team's Spanish trip is that they made the grid. For the second weekend in a row, the drivers collided before even reaching the first corner - much to the annoyance of team boss Giancarlo Minardi. The team are rapidly gaining themselves a reputation for being the back row boys in qualifying, despite having had some fairly competitive machinery in recent years. The Canadian Grand Prix, with it's emphasis on reliability, offers a good chance for the team to pick up its first points of the season - if they can just make that first bend.

Forti-Ford
Whatever happened to the luck of the Irish then? Sporting a new colour scheme, in deference to new sponsors from the Emerald Isle, the plucky bunch of Italians failed to make the grid. Teams with yellow cars have often been unsuccessful and some believed the colour change was possibly to try and remedy their poor running. Not so. Here's hoping they qualify this weekend - after all, you have to admire their persistence.