The temperature is -12c, the white stuff is pouring from the heavens, and the visibility on the highway is barely three cars in length. Compared to Bahrain's clear and balmy 24c weather, watching F1 from Calgary seems like a moon’s distance away.
That said, visibility is still hazy after last week’s pre-season testing. We still won’t know how much progress each team has made until the season's first race. A lot of people are cautiously weary of Red Bull’s continual dominance, and there are a lot of signs pointing that way. It begs the question of how big of an impact their reduced wind tunnel time had on them.
I think the critiques from other team bosses are valid in that Red Bull has developed a robust starting platform with their overspending last year, and any penalties for this year were worth it. While everyone is playing catch up this year, they can focus on extracting more of their car and building on the momentum they gained.
From the driver’s side of things, this year’s spreadsheet has been updated to level the playing field with the length of their career, giving young and newer drivers a better shake. Fingers crossed!
As we do not have much information about the team’s progress this year, we can only judge their past performance on this track. Apart from their car, Column Q provides a filtered look at which driver had the most success here. Take this and add your own opinion about how the team looks during pre-testing, and you might come up with your fantasy picks. (The Aston Martin is looking good though…)
Regarding this track’s history, 42.11% of this GP’s winners came from the pole position, and 26.32% came from second. But keep in mind the first race of the season is always full of surprises, especially during qualifying.
So here’s my question for all of you, in light of last week’s pre-season testing,
Meme of the Grid:
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