From bumpy cars to the Ferrari crisis: this is what the Canadian race awaits – Formula 1

Sad face: Things are not going as planned for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari. © APA / AFP / Hamad i Mohamed

Formula 1 does not give pause to the battered backs of itself or its drivers. The ninth round of the season in Canada is scheduled for Sunday (8 pm), just a week after the race in Azerbaijan, which is about 9,000 kilometers away as the crow flies.

16 June 2022

From: fop

World champion Max Verstappen arrived in Montreal with a tailwind and as the leader of the world championships. The debate continues about the harmful effects of jumping cars. The world federation FIA intervened on Thursday.

Racing teams are required to “reduce or eliminate this incident” “in the interest of safety,” according to a statement. This decision has been taken after consultation with the doctors. Teams must now make “necessary adjustments”. In addition to short-term technical measures on the cars, the FIA ​​will also convene a meeting with the teams to define further steps that will ensure that problems do not occur in the long term.

“In a sport where competitors routinely race at speeds in excess of 300 km/h, there is an expectation that a driver’s entire focus should be on the task,” it said. Excessive driver fatigue or pain can have serious consequences. In addition, the FIA ​​has “concerns about the immediate physical effects on the health of drivers”.

Lewis Hamilton is following in his Mercedes so far. © ANSA / Ali Haider

Notably, former world champion Lewis Hamilton recently exited his cockpit. After the Azerbaijan race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also expressed doubts about Canada’s commitment, but their star denied a break. And support came from an apparently insightful team. Chief strategist James Voles said the setup settings in Hamilton’s car in Azerbaijan had been pushed too far. “We now have a responsibility to make sure this doesn’t continue.”

In fact, more and more drivers are framing their health concerns, which are probably due to the uncontrolled lifting of cars this season and less on the uprights. “The drivers put their heads together and everyone said it was a problem,” Wolff said at last. Only Fernando Alonso doesn’t care about the violent tremors that are a side effect of the new aerodynamic rules.

How is the FIA ​​responding?

It was recently heard that the FIA ​​may set a minimum floor height. Naturally, Christian Horner doesn’t think much about it. “It would be unfair to punish those who did their homework,” said the Red Bull team boss. According to Horner, other teams “can screw on a thicker base plate, or lift the car if they wish”.

The Red Bull team has recently won five races in a row, and Verstappen has won four of these. So while the bulls are in high gear, Ferrari is making a comeback in Canada after a three-year break with a series of breakdowns. The double failure at the race in Baku marked the initial low point of the recent form crisis at Scuderia.

“It hurts, but I never give up!”
Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari in pole position four times in a row, and never won a Grand Prix after that. Two engine failures, a driving error and a strategic disaster in Monaco threw the 24-year-old back into third place in the title race. 34 points behind Leclerc: “It hurts, but I never give up.” His team is working diligently to find the cause of the latest defects, which also affected teammate Carlos Sainz. “We have to fix the problem and strengthen our engine unit for the foreseeable future,” said team boss Mattia Binotto.

Montreal fans look forward to the return. The organizers expected a sold-out house. In the last appearance of the Premier Class at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, things heated up: Sebastian Vettel lost the win to Hamilton due to a controversial five-second penalty. In a fit of rage, he then swapped the stands for the cars of the first and second place winners and placed the 1 in front of his parking space.