Canada 2011 - GP Preview - HRT F1 Cosworth

The FIA Formula 1 World Championship makes a brief escape from Europe for the Canadian Grand Prix. Named after local Formula 1 hero, the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit combines long straights with slow corners meaning that cars are pushed to the limit. Engines are at maximum revs for long periods of time, brakes are given a tough time and gearboxes are worked extremely hard. Brake cooling and stability under braking play a big role in the performance of the car. The track also grains the tyres because of the constant acceleration and breaking which causes the wheels to spin up and slide, sheering the rubber, particularly on rear tyres.

Soft and Supersoft tyres will again be prime and option tyres respectively.

Colin Kolles, Hispania Racing Team Principal: “The Canadian Grand Prix is my favourite race of the year, the location and the track are fantastic, especially the last curve which is a real test”.

“This should be a better weekend for us, it’s an opportunity to prove our reliability and show some improvement in our performance. As in the majority of races this year, I’m sure we will see a lot of overtaking again in Montreal”.

“The team has come a long way since the start of the championship but we have to make bigger steps. In order to achieve this improvement we will be coming to Canada with some new aero parts that suit the circuit characteristics and a new exhaust system”.

Narain Karthikeyan: “Montreal is a beautiful city with great food and an exciting nightlife. The people are very friendly and knowledgeable about F1, so that’s a nice bonus too”.

“Our car has been reasonably reliable over the last few races so that bodes well for this circuit, which is notorious for its harshness on the engines and especially the brakes. We have some new aero parts for this race so I hope we are a lot more competitive and experience a significant boost in our lap times. The track should suit us better than Barcelona or Turkey as it is a low downforce circuit”.

“All of the chicanes here are quite challenging and you need to use them well to extract a good lap time, but you need to be very precise as the walls are very close. There is no such thing as a small mistake here, any mistake and you’re in the wall”.

“To be in Formula 1 you must always set yourself ambitious goals, so we must keep pushing harder and harder all the time”.

Vitantonio Liuzzi: “Montreal brings back good memories for me, such as last year when we had a really good qualifying session and race where I ended in 9th place. In 2007, I was having a great race, in 4th position but a suspension failure put an end to my quest. The Canadian Grand Prix is a crazy and entertaining race that is unpredictable up until the last lap and I expect nothing different from it this year. I’m certain that there will be a lot of overtaking and pit stops”.

“The long straight in Montreal will put our car under a lot of stress but this circuit is much better for the F111 than Monaco. My favourite part of the track is the last chicane, it’s not easy because you have to run hard over the kerbs and need to make sure that you’re really smooth in order to avoid oversteering”.

“I think the team is heading in the right direction. We need even more belief and more effort from everybody if we are to achieve bigger goals because we are definitely capable of achieving them”.